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/

The Adventures of Tintin has launched in Europe and there have been loads of reviews and articles in international media – The Daily Mail described it as “Spellbinding”. See the best bits at the Weta website and on Facebook.

The Art of The Adventures of Tintin book has also been released alongside the film. The book is signed by Weta Workshop lead conceptual designer on the movie, Chris Guise, and also comes with the exclusive Weta gift of Red Rackham’s Treasure Map.

Weta has announced that the World Premiere of An Unexpected Journey (The Hobbit Part 1) will have its world premiere in Wellington in late November next year!

For now you can get your own taste of Hobbiton with a Bag End Collector’s Edition from The Lord of the Rings – worth $US 250, visit wetanz.com to go in the draw.

Stephen Fry recently interviewed Peter Jackson about J.R.R. Tolkien and his use of language. Check out the Youtube clip here

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.

Inspired by the Nelson Trolley Derby and shot entirely in Nelson KIWI FLYER is a feel-good movie for the whole family.

Twelve year old Edward Hall stars as Ben who sets out to win the derby in memory of his father. Tandi Wright is his mother Karen, trying to keep that memory real, while fending off the advances of Ben’s teacher Mr Lumsden (Dai Henwood).

Jazz Crooner and Beaurepair’s front man Vince Martin heads the opposition, with Nelson talents Doug Colling and Myer Van Gosliga as his sons Shane and Shannon and Jane Winter of Soundstage, as wife Shirelle.“It’s hard to single out any one performer in the film – it’s been a terrific ensemble cast and the kids have been real pros,” says Simpson.  “Vince and Dai’s presence added so much humour that came across superbly on screen, while Tandi’s motherly instincts really shone.”

Following four weeks of shooting on location in Nelson, KIWI FLYER has wrapped, with many of the cast and crew making a sad departure.

“Filming in Nelson has been just fantastic,” says Christchurch-based director and co-writer Tony Simpson.  “The weather has been stunning – clear blue skies almost continuously and the people have been marvellous – so generous and supportive.”

“It couldn’t have been as successful without the help of so many local organisations and individuals,” agrees Producer Tim Sanders.  “From Nelson Intermediate, the Trolley Derby Club, the Hot Rod Club, Scouts and many others. ]]> http://newzealandfilmtv.co.nz/2011/09/kiwi-flyer-wraps-up-filming-in-nelson/feed/ 0 http://newzealandfilmtv.co.nz/2011/09/costa-boates-gets-standing-ovation-at-toronto-film-festival/ http://newzealandfilmtv.co.nz/2011/09/costa-boates-gets-standing-ovation-at-toronto-film-festival/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:26:46 +0000 admin2 http://newzealandfilmtv.co.nz/?p=1767 [ Read More ] ]]>

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.

Maori Television will be showcasing a range of New Zealand documentaries in the Pakipumeka Aotearoa series. The one-hour documentaries will air on Saturday nights at 8.30-9.30pm.

This week, Saturday 20 August, meet New Zealand’s own version of Erin Brockovich in The Green Chain. Whakatane man Joe Harawira fought the powers of industry and government and won.

The former sawmill worker believes his exposure to poison in the workplace led to him becoming seriously ill, so he fought to seek the truth behind the death and sickness that afflicted his community. The Green Chain tells his story.

On Saturday 27 August check out a new movement coming out of Hawke’s Bay that is encouraging Maori people to get fit and healthy in IronMaori: Movement of the People.

The first IronMaori half-ironman was born in December 2009 with 288 competitors after event founder Heather Skipworth, a health professional from Pakipaki – the rural predominantly Maori settlement south of Hastings – had an epiphany to do something to reverse the negative health statistics prevailing in the Maori community.

She viewed a half-ironman (2km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run) as a challenge that would force a significant lifestyle change that could be continued – “one that would lengthen the time to get to your grave”, she says.

Finally, one week out from Rugby World Cup 2011 kick off, we explore the history of New Zealand rugby culture and the world cup and its affect on our psyche in The Wait of the Nation on Saturday 3 September.

The Wait of the Nation tells the story of the All Black’s inaugural world cup triumph on home soil in 1987, where the Men In Black helped heal the wounds of the disastrous Springbok Tour of 1981 and reunite Kiwis behind their national game.

As the tournament returns to New Zealand this year, only one thing matters: winning that elusive World Cup. For this rugby-mad nation, it’s a question of national pride.

So sit back and relax whanau and look in with Maori Television for these essential Saturday night viewing of some great home-grown documentaries.

Journey into Darkness – The Strongman Tragedy, a documentary currently in production about  the Strongman Mine explosion that claimed the lives of 19 men, and the subsequent Commission of Inquiry.

The 90 minute telefeature is being produced for TV3 by Paula McTaggart from A Bigger Picture Ltd in association with Gaylene Preston Productions, with funding from the prestigious New Zealand On Air Platinum Fund.

Acclaimed filmmaker Gaylene Preston will direct the dramatic content of the feature-length programme, which will blend dramatisation with interviews filmed by McTaggart along with archive gathered over the past four years.

“I am humbled by the stories of lives completely thrown into chaos by that explosion in 1967,” says Preston.  “It is an honour to be involved in bringing the story of this terrible mine tragedy and inquiry to the screen.

Opened in 1939, the state owned Strongman Mine (11 kilometres north-east of Greymouth) was the pride and flagship of NZ’s coal industry and the largest underground coal mine in the country.  On 19 January, 1967, an explosion blew through the section of the mine known as Green’s No 2.

The telefeature is a labour of love for Runanga-born and raised Paula McTaggart, who comes from a long line of coal miners.  McTaggart has been developing the project since 2007, when a visit to her uncle, the late Ron Gibb, sparked her interest in this largely untold New Zealand tragedy.  Gibb was one of five men from Mines Rescue who received the British Empire Medal for their actions during the tragedy.

“The more he spoke, the more I felt that this was a critical piece of NZ history that had been largely overlooked outside of the West Coast”, McTaggart explains.

“My Uncle and I talked about the possibility of a documentary and he shared with me his knowledge of the tragedy along with the material to go forward.  Ron had a strong desire that the truth be told.”

McTaggart began filming interviews for the project in 2008.  TV3’s Head of Factual, Sue Woodfield, says the documentary’s gripping story of bravery and human resilience in the face of disaster will resonate with all New Zealanders.

“Although this project has been in development for several years, there’s a terrible sense of history repeating itself with the recent tragic events at Pike River, and the current Royal Commission.

“This is a very important film.”

McTaggart says the production team is interested in hearing from anyone who would like to be part of the documentary, at the email address enquries@biggerpicture.co.nz.

“It is important that those involved have the opportunity to contribute to the project,” she says.  “I hope that more people will come forward to tell their individual stories, or to share photos, film footage or other materials.”

Journey into Darkness – The Strongman Tragedy is being produced for TV3 with funding from New Zealand On Air’s Platinum fund which is reserved for high quality programs of historical and cultural importance with a significant relevance to New Zealand and New Zealanders.

The New Zealand Film Commission has released its Statement of Intent for 2011- 2013 outlining plans to continue its focus of getting New Zealand films made to be seen and by both local and international audiences.

The priorities for the near future will see the Commission adopt an integrated approach to meeting cultural requirements while helping build the film economy; find more innovative and cost effective ways of delivering within existing and declining funding; encourage private sector funding; and implement recommendations from the David Court and Sir Peter Jackson review of the Film Commission.

The Commission’s projected income for 2011/2012 is down almost 15% on the 2010/2011 year, and based on current projections there will be minimal reserves available to bolster funding by 2013/2014.  That could likely lead to a reduction in the number of feature films which the Commission can support and means the need for value for money is more important than ever.

Since its inception, the Film Commission has invested more than $200 million in 148 New Zealand made feature films and has fully funded almost 300 short films.

The Commission has an extensive support programme for film-makers covering everything from low budget short films, script and production development, and sales and marketing services for feature films of all budgets.  It also runs the Escalator scheme for first feature film-makers, while administering the Screen Production Investment Fund and Large Budget Screen Production Grant at the other end of the scale.  These initiatives allow the Commission to help film makers make their first film, support them for subsequent films and ensure those who are successful continue to make their films right here in New Zealand.

For more information the Statement of Intent can be read at www.nzfilm.co.nz