In Oregon, in the United States, on Sunday night (NZ time) the 27-year-old’s latest short film, Invisible Dragons, was named Bend Film Festival’s ‘best indigenous short’ following its world premiere at the festival.
The script, written by Boult, was developed at the Show Me Shorts Screenwriting Lab and in 2023 received funding through the NZ Film Commission’s Kopere Hou — Fresh Shorts programme.
Of Ngāi Tahu descent, Boult told the crowd when accepting the award it’s "just the biggest honour, ever".
She says the short was inspired by a person in her life, "who was lost to conspiracy theories and ended up passing away because of that".
Co-produced by Mikaela Ruegg and Madison Henry-Ryan, and edited by Jack Woon, it’s set in Aotearoa’s remote bush where Ayala, 19, treks to the isolated hideout of her estranged dad, Stephen, who now lives in a ramshackle conspiracy-theorist fortress wearing a lizard suit.
Ayala attempts to reconnect over cockroach stew and heartbreak, revealing the death of her mum and begging him to return to reality.
As he refuses to budge, the film examines what happens when belief and grief collide.
Boult, speaking to Mountain Scene from Los Angeles, says Bend Film is one of North America’s leading indigenous film festivals, which has a "long, rich history of uplifting and empowering indigenous voices".
"For our film to be recognised there, as the best indigenous short, was a dream come true."
It was made even more special when Henry-Ryan delivered a karakia he wrote specifically for the short — "it was such a beautiful and emotional moment and feeling", Boult says.
The week prior to the festival, she attended the Bend Film Basecamp development programme with about 50 Americans, where she was also a finalist in a "pitch competition".
Invisible Dragons has also been nominated for the Hawai’i International Film Festival’s best short film — the winner will be announced next week.
It caps off a massive year for Boult. In May, two episodes of n00b, a TV series she co-created with Rachel Fawcett, screened at the Cannes International Series Festival 2025, in France, having been nominated in the ‘short form’ category. It was ultimately named runner-up in the Cannesseries Student Award.
