Robert Sarkies’ latest feature film, Two Little Boys, has been selected in competition at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival, which will run February 9^th – 19th this year. 

The film will screen in the Generation section of the Festival and will be judged by two juries: a young person’s jury which awards the prestigious Crystal Bear to the best feature film in the programme, and an international expert jury which awards a cash prize to the best feature film in the programme. 

New Zealand Film Commission CEO, Graeme Mason, said today “It’s wonderful to start the New Year with further international A-list festival endorsement of our filmmaking talent.  The Generation selection compliments the film’s youthful energy and recognises the fresh perspective Rob offers with this film.  I congratulate Rob, Vicky, Tim and all the cast and crew on the film’s selection.”

Two Little Boys is Sarkies’ third feature (Out of the Blue, Scarfies), and is based on the novel of the same name by brother Duncan Sarkies.  The film was produced by Vicky Pope (Trouble is My Business, Choice Night, The Graffiti of Mr Tupaia) and Tim White (Out of the Blue, No. 2, The Boys are Back, Sleeping Beauty).

The film is an irreverent comedy about Nige (Bret McKenzie - Flight of the Conchords) and his recently estranged best mate Deano (Hamish Blake - Hamish and Andy).  The film follows Nige and Deano’s riotous misadventures as they struggle with their imploding long-term friendship which has been put under pressure by an unfortunate incident involving a hot meat pie, a ginger cat and the untimely death of a Scandinavian soccer star.

Two Little Boys was made with the support of the New Zealand Film Production Fund Trust (The Film Fund), New Zealand On Air, Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill City Council, Community Trust of Southland, Invercargill Licensing Trust, Film Otago Southland, Fulcrum Media Finance and the NZ Film Commission.   NZ Film, the sales arm of the NZFC, is handling world sales of the film.  

The film is scheduled for a New Zealand release on March 15^th and is being distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Hopscotch Films. 

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ENQUIRIES:  Jasmin McSweeney, NZ Film (Jasmin@nzfilm.co.nz or +64 4 382 7682)

NEW ZEALAND MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Adria Buckton, Trigger Marketing & Publicity on behalf of Hopscotch Films (adria_trigger@orcon.net.nzor 09 834 3348)

INTERNATIONAL SALES ENQUIRIES:  James Thompson, Head of Sales and Marketing, NZ Film (james@nzfilm.co.nz or +64 4 382 7695)

NEW ZEALAND

New kiwi short film, LAMBS, has been selected to screen at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival – widely regarded as the world’s premiere short film event.  LAMBS was selected from over 5,000 worldwide submissions.

Funded through the New Zealand Film Commission short film funding initiative,  Fresh Shorts, LAMBS tells the story of Jimmy, a big-hearted fourteen year old boy facing a difficult decision – stay in his abusive home to protect his younger siblings, or leave to start a new life of his own.

Written and directed by Wellington filmmaker, Sam Kelly, the script for LAMBS emerged from research for a feature film he is writing, and time spent meeting ‘at risk’ youth from Wellington, New Zealand. 

“There were similarities in many of their lives, often facing neglect, abuse, drugs, and gang affiliations. I felt disturbed that children in my developed country were in survival mode, yet moved by the courage and heart that many of the kids showed“ says Kelly.

The film was shot just outside Wellington, in the Porirua City suburb of Cannons Creek.   Casting Director, Yvette Reid, spent six months casting the film almost entirely from non-actors. Reid and Kelly scoured schools, supermarkets, boxing clubs and netball courts to audition over 300 people for the film.  The lead role of 14-year-old Jimmy was a challenging role to cast, needing both a tough exterior and emotional openness. Waka Rowlands instantly stood out with his naturalism, belief in the situation, and emotional access. Waka’s performance as Jimmy has impressed New Zealand casting directors, and promises bigger things. 

Kelly was awarded New Zealand Young Filmmaker of the Year in 2010 by the Screen Producer’s and Director’s Association (SPADA). Together with LAMBS producer, Tom Hern, and an outstanding creative and technical team, Kelly harnessed the Fresh Shorts funding with the SPADA prize pack to deliver an exceptional level of storytelling and craft.

The 34^th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2012 runs between January 27^th and February 4^th 2012 -www.clermont-filmfest.com.

Debut writer/director Tusi Tamasese’s Samoan language film, The Orator (O Le Tulafale), has been selected to screen in the Spotlight section of the 2012 Sundance International Film Festival.   The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from 19th – 29th January in and around Park City, Utah.  The Festival is widely regarded as the premiere US showcase for American and international independent film.

The Orator (O Le Tulafale) is New Zealand’s first ever submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 2012 Academy Awards.  The film premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice International Film Festival receiving a Special Mention from the Orizzonti jury; the Art Cinema Award from the CICAE jury of the Festival and the CinemAvvenire Best Film Award from the jury of the Associazione Centro Internazionle CinemAvvenire.

More recently, The Orator (O Le Tulafale) script was shortlisted for the Best Feature Film Script Award of the Script Writers Awards of NZ, and lead actor F’afiaula Sanote was a finalist for the Best Performance by an Actor Award at the 5^th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film was honoured with the Audience Award at the Brisbane International Film Festival.

Introduced in 2010, the Spotlight section is described by the Festival as a tribute to the cinema we love, “Regardless of where these impressive films have played throughout the world, the Sundance Film Festival is thrilled to light a marquee for them.”

The Orator (O Le Tulafale) has been financed by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) with assistance from the Government of Samoa.  It is currently in theatrical release in New Zealand and Australia with Transmission Films.   NZ Film, the sales arm of the NZFC, is handling world sales for the film.

For more about the Sundance Film Festival go here: http://www.sundance.org/festival/

Maori Television is presenting the free-to-air exclusive premiere of the critically acclaimed New Zealand documentary  OPERATION 8 – which looks into the 2007 anti-terror raids.

The documentary screens on Sunday, 30 October at 8.30pm, four years after the nationwide raids that resulted in 18 arrests and just weeks after the Government passed controversial covert surveillance legislation.

In October 2007, more than 300 police raided 60 houses around the country, many in the Ruatoki valley in the heart of Tuhoe country.

The raids followed more than a year of surveillance of Maori sovereignty and peace activists accused of attending terrorist training camps in the Urewera ranges.

Directed by Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones, OPERATION 8 asks questions about who was targeted and how evidence was gathered, andincludes first-hand accounts from some of those arrested as well as academics and professionals involved in the case.

The case against the so-called “Urewera 18” has been mired in debate from the start. In September this year, the Supreme Court’s ruling that some evidence was inadmissible resulted in charges against 13 of the 18 being dropped.

It also led to the Government’s passing of a covert surveillance bill under urgency this month.

Made over three years, OPERATION 8 is a must-see for all New Zealanders interested in the debate between personal freedoms and national security.

Tune in to OPERATION 8 on Maori Television, screening Sunday, 30 October at 8.30pm.

New Zealand documentary feature The Last Dogs of Winter debuted in Toronto yesterday. Director/producer Costa Botes and film subjects Brian Ladoon and Caleb Ross received a standing ovation when they took the stage for the film’s post-screening Q&A session.

The films was selected to screen in the highly regarded ‘Real to Reel’ programme of the Festival, a programme renowned for its selection of the most insightful and fascinating documentaries of the year, screening alongside the latest offerings by documentary film makers such as Werner Herzog, Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney and Jonathan Demme.

Directed and produced by Costa Botes (Forgotten Silver, Candyman, Struggle No More, Daytime Tiger), The Last Dogs of Winter explores Brian Ladoon’s little-known struggle to preserve the Canadian Eskimo dog, the rarest registered breed of dog in the world, from extinction.

For the last three years young New Zealand actor Caleb Ross (The Tribe) has been working alongside Ladoon, committed to the dogs and Ladoon’s self-imposed task of preserving and breeding the dogs.

Jane Schoettle, a programme selector for Real to Reel said of the film: “Botes captures the remorseless northern landscape – as well as the political, financial and meteorological struggles that Ladoon and Ross face in preserving the Qimmiq – with a raw energy and relentless honestly. Captivating and compelling, The Last Dogs of Winter is a film about wildlife – and one wild life.”

Variety magazine described the film as an wilderness lover’s delight and said it was an “intimate, gorgeously rendered documentary.”

The Last Dogs of Winter has been financed by Lone Pine Films Ltd and the New Zealand Film Commission. NZ Film, the sales arm of the NZFC, is handling world sales of the film.

The New Zealand International Film Festival 2011 (NZIFF) will screen 20 short works as part of the MIC Homegrown Short Film Programme.

2011 has been a successful year for NZ short films and many of the films selected have screened to acclaim at international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca in New York.

Deborah Lawler-Dormer, the Short Film Programme curator said “This year it’s great to support such a diversity of voices. Alongside the NZFC funded films we have independent films that have been created purely by passion and commitment to the art form.”

NZIFF has also expanded its support of emerging film-makers this year through a new initiative in Auckland at the Wintergarden (under The Civic Theatre) which will be utilised as The Film Café. Additional historic short film collections, film maker discussions and panels are all being programmed to give local film makers a chance to get even more out of the International Festival.

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens in Auckland on July 14^th, for more information see www.nzff.co.nz. The MIC Homegrown programme will run in Auckland on July 15^th and 16^th before travelling with the festival nationwide.

Twelve of the films selected have been funded through the NZ Film Commission – details below:

KORO’S MEDAL, directed by James Barr, travels to Edinburgh International Film Festival next week for its International Premiere. As a film made for children it will screen at the NZIFF in front of a (currently secret) children’s feature film.

BLUE, directed by Stephen Kang, has just won the Best Short Film Prize at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. Stephen is travelling to Shanghai International Film Festival on Friday to raise interest in his next feature film.

MEATHEAD, directed by Sam Holst, was one of nine films selected to compete at Festival du Cannes this year. Meathead has also been selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival.

EBONY SOCIETY, directed by Tammy Davis, has screened at Sundance, Berlin and Message Sticks in Australia. Tammy has attended all three festivals and has been funded for his next short film which is in pre-production now.

GO THE DOGS, directed by Jackie van Beek, had its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Jackie is currently in post-production on two more short films and developing a feature film to be shot in the Mackenzie country.

PREFERABLY BLUE, directed by Alan Dickson, has screened at SXSW, Tribeca and Stuttgart Film Festivals. Alan has been short listed with the NZFC low Budget scheme ‘Escalator’ with an animated feature film he is developing.

HAURAKI, directed by Kirsten Green, had its World Premiere at Tribeca earlier this year. The film stars Kirsten’s daughter Coco Lovatt and was initially self-funded.

MENISCUS, directed by Maria-Elena Doyle, is about to have its World Premiere at Annecy International Animated Film Festival. It’s the first NZ film to be selected for this prestigious festival. Elena has also been funded to produce her next short film entitled ‘INORGANIC’ this year.

EELING, directed by Peter McCully, has recently been selected to screen at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea, Asia’s largest genre film gala.

BIRD, directed by Jane Shearer and Steve Ayson, has been selected by Sydney International Film Festival and Palm Springs in the US. This film is the third in a highly successful collaboration between the directors which started with The French Doors in 2001 and was followed by NATURE’S WAY which was selected for Cannes in 2006.

MONIFA, directed by Luke Savage, is hot off the press and has been completed just in time for the NZIFF so this screening will mark the film’s World Premiere.

ELAINE RIDES AGAIN is directed by Michelle Savill, who has just completed a 3 month internship with leading independent film company Killer Films in New York.

And the winners are…

Best Actor – Short Film (Aotearoa Audience Award)

HARLEN HOANI THOMPSON IN “KORO’S MEDAL” DIRECTED BY JAMES BARR

Best Male Actor – Feature Film (2011 Aotearoa Drama)

RANGIMOANA TAYLOR IN “HOOK LINE AND SINKER” DIRECTED BY ANDREA BOSSHARD & SHANE LOADER

Best Female Actor – Feature Film (2011 Aotearoa Drama)

MABEL WHAREKAWA-BURT IN “MATARIKI” DIRECTED BY MICHAEL BENNETT

Best Short Film (2011 Aotearoa Audience Award)

“TAKU RAKU E” DIRECTOR KARARAINA RANGIHAU PRODUCER MERATA MITA

Best International Indigenous Entry (2011 Festival)

“LANI’S STORY” DIRECTOR GENEVIEVE GRIEVES (AUSTRALIA)

Best Aotearoa Feature Drama or Documentary (2011 Festival)

“MATARIKI” DIRECTOR MICHAEL BENNETT

Mana Wairoa Festival Prize (Best Overall Entry Festival 2011)

“OCTOBER 15″ DIRECTOR KIM WEBBY PRODUCER PIETRA BRETKELLY

WIFT Mana Wahine Award 2011

KATIE WOLFE

Katie Wolfe (Ngati Tama, Ngati Mutunga, Pakeha) is a film maker, actor and director, having completed two short films (“THIS IS HER” and “REDEMPTION”) and most recently directed her first feature “NIGHTS IN THE GARDEN OF SPAIN” which is screening next month at Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.

International Indigenous Entry

“LANI’S STORY” is the true story of a young woman surviving abuse and addiction. Lani Brennan, the subject of the film, is of both Aboriginal and Maori descent.

Mana Wairoa Festival Prize

“OCTOBER 15.” The film profiles the day, October 15, 2007, that New Zealand Police launched anti-terrorism raids on the people of Tuhoe, in Ruatoki Valley and beyond. The Mana Wairoa Festival Prize recognises the most outstanding entry to the year’s festival and also has a kaupapa of supporting film makers whose work contributes to the advancement of the human rights of indigenous peoples.

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival is a non-political not-for-profit community event presented annually by Te Roopu Whakaata Maori Inc. Parts of the programme are travelling on to screenings in Auckland, Invercargill and Raglan.

Go to www.manawairoa.com for more information.

THREE NEW ZEALAND FILMS PREMIERE AT SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Desert, Love Birds and Tracker have all been selected to screen in the Panorama section of the Shanghai International Film Festival this year.

International Panorama is one of four major sections at the festival and showcases a wide selection of films from around the world.

Desert, the debut feature film from writer/director Stephen Kang, follows the story of Jenny, a young pregnant Asian girl living in Auckland who is left to fend for herself when she is abandoned by her Kiwi boyfriend just before they are about to get married. Rejected by her Asian community for getting pregnant to a westerner out of wed-lock and after unsuccessfully searching for her boyfriend, Jenny is forced to look inside herself to find a positive solution for her and her unborn baby.

Desert premièred at the Pusan International Film Festival in October 2010 and is currently in release in New Zealand. Kang’s debut short Blue was last week awarded the Grand Prix at Critics Week which is a sidebar alongside the Cannes Film Festival.  Stephen and producers will attend Shanghai where they will be doing preliminary casting for their upcoming feature ‘Summer Rhapsody’ which stars a female Chinese lead.

Love Birds is the second feature film collaboration for director Paul Murphy and writer Nick Ward (Second-Hand Wedding). A hilarious romantic comedy that tells the story of a regular Kiwi bloke who finds himself on a quest to find true love – all with the help of a native New Zealand Shelduck – Love Birds stars Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky, Made in Daggenheim)and NZ stand-up comedian and actor Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords). The film has just completed its theatrical release in NZ.

Tense chase movie Tracker completes the line-up of NZ films selected. Starring Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast, The Edge of Darkness) and Temuera Morrison (The Green Lantern, Once Were Warriors) Tracker tells the tale of a guerrilla survivor of the South African Boer War who lands in colonial New Zealand and is promised a huge bounty to capture Kereama, a Maori seafarer accused of killing a British soldier. A UK/NZ co-production Tracker was written by Nicholas van Pallandt and directed by Ian Sharp.

The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), founded in 1993, is China’s only A-category international film festival accredited by the FIAPF. It is an excellent platform to promote widely and communicate with media.  For more information on the festival: http://www.siff.com

Pollywood Pasifica Short film Festival is now into its ninth successful year, this is an event to watch out for. With each year growing bigger and better, Pollywood has largely become a launching pad for Pasifika Film and multimedia art for the past 9 years. The core focus of Pollywood is to showcase and celebrate Pacific Island writers, Directors and Actors.  Pollywood is the leading Pacific Island short film festival in New Zealand.

Each screening will be introduced by curator Craig Fasi, and promises to please audiences from across Auckland. “I am hubled by the status of films that have been sourced  for this years festival, in light of so much that has changed over the years. I am thankful that Pollywood is still delivering quality Pacific Island art for the community”says Mr Fasi.

There is seven films which will be screened in total with just over 80 mins of heartfelt stories to be showcased. With such a varied mix of short films there is bound to be something for everyone, so get your tickets now. All are welcome.

The premiere of Pollywood Nine2011 is set for Wednesday the 16th of March At Galatos, Galatos Street, Newton 7:30pm.

For more information on this event and ticket bookings please follow this link