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.

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.

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

Its now or never – Native Vision are on their last print cycle of the Crazy Horses Range of clothing.

Which means if you don’t get in quick you might not have another chance to get your patch and represent Crazy Horses in your area.

There are some specials on certain ranges, sizing and styles are limited.

Please follow this link to the Native Vision website, and a list of Crazy Horses BOY Merchandise available.

Sam Peacock director of award winning film "Manurewa"

Manurewa, directed by Sam Peacocke, was awarded a Crystal Bear in the Generation 14plus Youth Section of the competition.

The jury awarded the film the prize with these comments on the strength of the project: In a very short time this film synthesises and skilfully compresses independent story lines and characters, merging them together into a single irrevocable, ever-changing moment. Our winning film is not only about perpetrators and victims, but also about human beings.

Manurewa explores the tragic murder of Manurewa liquor store owner Navtej Singh and is acclaimed music video director Sam Peacocke’s debut short film. Produced by Kristian Eek, the film is a multi-stranded narrative impression of the real life robbery and fatal shooting that took place in South Auckland, New Zealand. The film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July 2010.

The Generation programme receives over 6000 submissions each year and the selection comprises 32 short films and 27 feature length films from 32 countries.

Manurewa was self-funded by the filmmakers and relied on the generous support of sponsors Fuji Film New Zealand, Panavision New Zealand and Park Road Post.

The film was shot on 35mm with a skeleton crew, utilizing available light as much as possible. It was shot on location in South Auckland and features mostly non actors. The film was made with the blessing of the Sikh community and the family of the victim.

Manurewa received post production funding from the NZ Film Commission who also supported Sam Peacocke to attend the festival. International sales for the film are handled by NZ Film, which is the sales arm of the NZFC.

The 61st Berlin International Film Festival ran from the 10th – 20th February 2011. For more information about the Berlin International Film Festival please follow this link

Once again Lee Tamahori has made a Sundance worthy independent film. Lee Tamahori has shot two independent films in his nearly two-decade career as a director, and both have taken him to Sundance: He made his first trip in 1995 with his feature directorial debut, “Once Were Warriors,” a violent tale of domestic abuse in a Maori family in his native New Zealand.

Since then, he’s directed mainstream fare such as “Die Another Day,” “Along Came a Spider” and “The Edge.” This year, Tamahori was back at Sundance with “The Devil’s Double,” which tells the story of the body double of Uday Hussein — the brutal son of Saddam Hussein. The film is based on the life of Latif Yahia; English actor Dominic Cooper (“Mamma Mia!”) plays both the disgusted Yahia and the nefarious Uday.

Do you have any fond memories of your first trip to the festival?

Tamahori: The funniest moment I remember is I had no idea (what was going on) because it was my first film festival ever. I was sitting there not knowing what was going on and kind of getting carried away, and I thought, “I need a drink, I need to get out of this.” I went to this bar and I was the only person in this bar at Sundance because everybody else was on the streets and hustling and everything else. Then a guy comes into the bar and sits right next me and says the same thing, “Quick, I need a drink.” I look at this guy and I go, “You’re Tim Roth, aren’t you?” He goes, “Yeah,” and I go, “Hi, I’m pleased to meet you.” So I meet Tim Roth because both of us were both exhausted by the process and badly in need of a drink and we were the only two in the bar and struck up a conversation. It was very funny at the time.

Let’s talk about Dominic Cooper’s performance in this film.

Tamahori: It’s a breakout performance if I do say myself. From the beginning I always said this film stands or falls on the credibility of the actor that plays both these parts. The whole story is irrelevant if this guy does not have both the talent to pull it off with the two characters, or make the audience believe that we are watching two different characters rather than one actor playing two roles. There have been versions of this before, but not a lot.

How were you and Cooper able to make it work?

Tamahori: We went into the business of creating two different characters, which meant slight adaptations to the screenplay and everything. One is basically psychotic and has an Oedipal complex and is a rapist, killer, murderer and thug, but there is something weirdly attractive about him like Tony Montana. He is a charismatic villain. I stripped (the Yahia) character back to what is essentially a character from an American Western and stripped his morality down to an absolutely clean slate of pure moral principles: (He’s) an upright guy, he’s going to go into the family business with his father because that’s what he’s supposed to do. He has a strong moral code; he will not do things that go against his moral center.

Luckily, once we figured these characters out, and Dominic knew what he was doing with both of him, he was able to switch in and out of them quite remarkably. We didn’t know if we could psychologically put that pressure on him on a daily basis. He loved it. Being a young technical actor and being very good instinctive actor with good dramatic training behind him, he was able to pull off some marvelous stuff.

What was it like getting back in the indie saddle after so many years of doing big studio films?

Tamahori: In doing this movie I wanted to remind myself that I hadn’t lost the ability to jump back into independent film and (that I hadn’t) become a dull studio hack of some sort. You got to remind yourself, can I still do it? It’s up to others to judge, but it was interesting getting into the editing room. We had some problems and I’d say I know what to do here. It all came from doing American studio films.

Did this experience with The Devil’s Double wet your appetite for another indie feature?

Tamahori: I’m going to make another feature in New Zealand very much along the lines of my first.

Kia ora to TangataWhenua.com for this interview

Kingdom Come Set

After repeated stalls in funding, and major financial problems the set built in 2008 for Kingdom Come was abandoned by film makers and returned back to New Zealand Defence force.

The abandoned Wellington set for the stalled biblical film Kingdom Come has been dismantled and removed by the Defence Force at a cost to taxpayers of $70,000.

The $180 million film about the life of Jesus was due to be shot in early 2009 before financial problems put an end to it.

The set, which was built in 2008 on Wellington’s Miramar Peninsula, was rotting and covered in graffiti by the time it was pulled down, the Dominion Post reported.

Lawyer for South Vineyard production company Stephen Brown said they had handed the site back to the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), which was removing the spray-painted polystyrene structures from the site.

However, he said the company was continuing to get the appropriate funding in place to get things up and moving again.

“The company has deliberately decided to abandon that set. It was much too lavish for what was required and we can do the same thing on an indoor set,” Mr Brown said.

NZDF director of housing and property Peter Bollmann said removal work started just before Christmas, at an estimated cost of $70,000.

Kingdom Come Set

“Nobody agreed to contribute to the cost but it became a bit of a health and safety issue… it was a very large, light-weight structure which we thought had to come down.”

Some of the money may be recouped from those involved with the production, he said.

The NZDF is planning to sell land on Miramar Peninsula.

Kingdom Come owed about $40,000 in unpaid rent, Mr Bollmann said.

The collapse of the film cost creditors $5.8m.

For the full story please follow this link