New filmmaker RoseanneLiang, independent producer Elizabeth Mitchell and industry champion DaveGibson were all honoured at New Zealand's annual producers' conference on Friday evening(Nov 18) in Wellington.

Gibson produced thecommercially successful feature TheIrrefutable Truth About Demons but is better known for the hours of televisionof all genres created at production powerhouse The Gibson Group.

Mitchell is producer of theTV3 animated hit series Bro Town, which has won a slew of comedy awards and is beingconsidered for adaptation into a feature.

A recent film graduate of Auckland University, Liang has made two short dramas that have taken her to the London and Berlin film festivals, and a feature-length documentary, Banana In A Nutshell, which won a majoraward at the inaugural New Zealand International Documentary Festival thisyear. It also played to sell-out audiences in both Auckland and Wellington at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Banana isa slang term for Asians brought up in Western society because they are 'yellow'on the outside and 'white' on the inside. BananaIn A Nutshell documents the turbulent time Liang and her white boyfriendhad persuading her parents that they should approve their partnership andmarriage.