Kiwi's home-town 'BOY' chosen for Sundance
03 Dec 2009
New Zealand actor and film-maker Taika Waititi’s latest feature film, BOY, has been chosen for competition at the Sundance Film Festival - regarded as the premier US showcase for American and international independent film.
The movie, shot in Waititi’s childhood home town of Waihau Bay - in the remote East Coast region of the North Island - is a comedy-drama, coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic and Michael Jackson.
BOY was one of 14 films selected from 1,022 worldwide submissions for Sundance’s ‘World Cinema Dramatic’ category.
Waititi at Sundance
Taika Waititi - sometimes credited as Taika Cohen - is no stranger to Sundance.
His Oscar-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night (2004) and debut feature film Eagle vs Shark (2005) both premiered to acclaim at Sundance Film Festivals.
Waititi says it is very special to him to have BOY selected for the festival.
"I have a long connection with the Sundance Institute and Festival and to take this sunny East Coast New Zealand film to play in the snowy mountains of Park City, Utah is pretty awesome," Waititi said.
BOY
Written and directed by Waititi, BOY is set in the 1980’s. It began life under the working title The Volcano.
The movie explores some of the characters and ideas introduced in Two Cars, One Night and produces two new Kiwi stars - James Rolleston (11) from Opotiki, and Te Aho Eketone-Whitu (8) from the small town of Minginui, near Rotorua.
The two boys play brothers Boy and Rocky, who are trying to find their potential whilst living in the shadow of their larger-than-life father Alamein, played by Waititi.
Waititi said it had been a special experience shooting BOY, taking his story home and making it with friends and whanau (family).
"The kids were great in their auditions, but their performances on set were groundbreaking. Nothing went wrong; the universe conspired to make this the most stress-free shoot since River Queen," he said.
Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi is a New Zealand Māori of Te-Whānau-ā-Apanui descent.
He grew up in Wellington, where he attended Victoria University as an arts student.
Waititi started out as an actor, earning a New Zealand Film Awards' 'Best Actor' nomination for his role as Alex in Scarfies (1999), and appearing in television series The Strip (2002), before turning to writing and directing.
He has also won acclaim for his painting, photography, design and stand-up comedy.
In 1999, he won the 'Billy T Comedy Award' as one half of a New Zealand comedy duo called the 'Humourbeasts'. The other half was Jemaine Clement, of Flight of the Conchords fame.
Waititi's award-winning streak as a film-maker began with the release of his second short Two Cars, One Night. A sweet, understated love story set in the car park outside a pub, the movie became a hit on the international film festival circuit. It won eight awards, including ‘Best Short Film’ at the Berlin, Seattle, Oberhausen, Hamburg and AFI festivals.
In 2005, Two Cars, One Night was nominated for ‘Best Live Action Short’ at the Academy Awards. During the ceremony, when his nomination was announced, Waititi gained instant notoriety by feigning sleep.
Waititi cemented his success with the short film Tama Tū (2005), telling the story of a troop of soldiers from the Māori Battalion during WWII. The film picked up festival prizes at Stockholm, Sundance, Indianapolis and Berlin.
Eagle vs Shark
In 2007, Waititi released his first feature Eagle vs Shark. The film shed the Māori-influenced humour of his early work in favour of deadpan geek chic.
Eagle vs Shark is an offbeat comedy about two lonely misfits and their bumbling attempts to find love. The script was work-shopped at the prestigious Sundance Institute Directors Lab.
The movie went on to win ‘Best Screenplay’ at the US Comedy Arts Festival, ‘Best Feature’ at the Newport International Film Festival, and was nominated for the ‘Grand Jury Prize’ at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
On the eve of the film's debut screening at the Sundance Film Festival, Variety magazine named Taika Waititi as one of 10 directors "to watch".
In 2006, Waititi was made a NZ Arts Foundation 'New Generation' Laureate. Since then, he has directed two episodes of Emmy-nominated HBO show Flight of the Conchords, and television commercials in the United States and United Kingdom.
More information:
Spotlight on New Zealand film industry
Eastland region
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