Kai Communities – a student short film

New short film brings spotlight to Kaibosh & The Petone Depot

A team of four local Massey University Screen Arts students created an awesome short-film project profiling our Pito-one Kitchen Coordinator, Ange Holtslag!

Kaibosh loves collaborating with young people and supporting creative ideas, so it was a no-brainer for us to work with these budding filmmakers. They nailed the brief and were a breeze to work with, involving us closely throughout the production and review process. The important role Kaibosh plays is an underlying theme throughout the piece, as “…a connector between food that’s going to waste and helping it safely get to the people who need it.” 

When it came to selecting Ange to be the face of Kaibosh representing kai communities, we really felt it was a must to highlight her breadth of experience. Ange says, “I’ve been involved with community food projects in Pōneke for the twenty years that I’ve lived here. I run a koha cafe at a community venue called The Petone Depot. This pay-what-you’re-able cafe is one of the recipients of food from Kaibosh.” Ange also co-founded and serves as a trustee at Seeds to Feeds, a charity supporting communities and celebrating local food. 

The film students keenly attended our kitchen opening event and captured the essence of Ange’s unique role with Kaibosh, as she explains “My role is a relatively new project, running a kitchen that’s using up “second-sort” produce – that’s the squishy tomatoes and bruised apples – it gets sorted and made into pasta sauce or bottled.” 

We’re so pleased with how the film turned out and feel very grateful to the students for honestly capturing the heart of Kaibosh mahi as exemplified by Ange, who shares her “…passion for growing, preparing and eating food together [that] is so empowering for a community.” 

Ultimately, this film benefits all those who see it, as it spreads the word about our zero food waste, zero food poverty mission. It also sheds light on where we’re going, as personified by Ange, pioneering a kitchen for second-sort produce is a new endeavour that allows us to get a further 300 meals worth of kai fed to the community each week. As Ange sums it up, “We’d love for things to get to a point where the system doesn’t create food waste and those needing fresh food can get it.” Until then, watch this space as Kaibosh continues to rescue kai and feed people first.  

Thank you to the film makers!

We wish to say a huge thank you to Ange for featuring in this film, to Gwen Isaac, Senior Lecturer Bachelor of Screen Arts at Massey University, and to the film students: 

Kyan Cundy – Producer and Editor  

Naomi Ellis – Producer and Sound Recordist  

Caitlin O’Leary Nutter – Director and Editor  

Hanna Aboustait – Director of Photography