Year 11 student makes history at national film competition
Posted on October 29, 2025
Macleans College student Isaac Uammuang (Kupe House) made history with two films selected for the final of the national On Screen filmmaking competition - winning the award for Best Music Video.
The final event was held at Academy Cinemas in Auckland, showcasing 12 of the top narrative short films, documentaries and music videos. Student filmmakers from across New Zealand were flown in for the occasion. This year, more than 1,900 students participated, making Isaac’s success as a Year 11 student all the more impressive.
Isaac’s winning music video, ‘Some Change’, was inspired by a simple bathroom sign and developed into a striking animation exploring themes of connection and romance. For his achievement, Isaac received $1,000 in prize money and concert tickets, sponsored by ZM.
His second film, ‘Killer Code’, was an ambitious animation following a worker’s escape from a tech building overrun by rogue robots. The film earned multiple accolades, including Highly Commended for animation, direction, styling and editing.
Macleans College also received the School Spirit Award, along with $500 for the Media Studies department, recognising the school’s strong participation and number of entries in this year’s competition.
Before the final twelve films were announced, short lists were published. Of the ten shortlisted music videos three more Macleans College music videos were acknowledged:
- ‘Chasing Ghosts’ - Alec Bridger (Batten), Ben Duncan (Kupe) and Arthur Fang (Batten)
- ‘Down to Earth’ - Annie Fan (Mansfield)
- ‘Miss Me Too’ - Stephen Pragash Anthony (Kupe)
Several narrative films were also shortlisted:
- ‘Croc’ - Maegan le Roux (Rutherford) - which also received two technical awards: highly commended visual effects and highly commended producer
- ‘Just Hit Send’ - Jeni Nadarajah (Batten)
- ‘Last Year, Last Laugh’ - Michael Eccles (Snell), Sara Li (Upham) and Jessie Zhang (Upham)
- ‘Mind Lock’ - Juntai Chen (Te Kanawa), Abraham Kilgour (Kupe), Emily Lou (Hillary), Jesse Liu (Mansfield), Amber Wang (Te Kanawa) and Tim Yu (Snell)
A number of films picked up acknowledgement in the technical award categories:
- Best Lighting: ‘Miss Me Too’ - Stephen Pragash Anthony
- Best Sound Mix: ‘Down to Earth’ - Annie Fan
- Highly Commended Visual Effects: ‘Croc’ - Maegan le Roux
- Highly Commended Producer: ‘Croc’ - Maegan le Roux
- Highly Commended Set Design: ‘Down to Earth’ - Annie Fan
- Highly Commended Styling: ‘Down to Earth’ - Annie Fan
- Highly Commended Styling: ‘Some Change’ - Isaac Uammuang
- Highly Commended Editor and Director: ‘Some Change’ - Isaac Uammuang
- Highly Commended Animator: ‘Killer Code’ and ‘Some Change’ - Isaac Uammuang
All these films were showcased at the Macademy Awards earlier this month and can be found on the Media At Macleans YouTube channel.
Isaac Uammuang's winning music video, ‘Some Change’.
