NZ shines at Cannes Film Festival
20 May 2009
New Zealand has had more short films chosen for Cannes than any other country in the world, apart from France where the world famous film festival is currently in session.
Cannes Director of Film, Christian Jeune lavished praise on the New Zealand film industry announcing that two more NZ short films, The Six Dollar Fifty Man and Lars and Peter had been selected in competition at the 62nd Festival De Cannes.
The New Zealand movies join seven other international short films selected for the Cannes competition programme, and further highlight New Zealand’s presence at the 2009 event.
New Zealander Jane Campion is causing a stir with her latest movie, Bright Star which is up for the coveted Palme d’Or award, and Kiwi comedy stars Flight of the Conchords are in the limelight again after their horror spoof movie was snapped up by an American distributor.
Flight of the Conchords
New Zealanders Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie and Rhys Darby apparently filmed their horror spoof movie Diagnosis Death in Wellington - New Zealand's capital city - last year but kept it secret.
Staring fellow Kiwi comedian and writer Raybon Kan, and Jessica Grace Smith and Suze Tye, Diagnosis Death follows people who go into an experimental facility for radical cancer treatment and begin seeing ghosts.
The movie has not only been bought by American distributor Lightning Media but the rights have also been sold for distribution in Britain.
Bright Star
When the Cannes film festival winds up on 24 May, all eyes will be on New Zealander Jane Campion to see if she can repeat her 1993 success and again take out the coveted Palme d’Or award for best picture.
Campion won the top award in 1993 for The Piano, and 16 years later remains the only female director to ever have won the Palme d’Or.
Her new movie Bright Star is up against 20 films in the main competition including Quentin Tarantino’s World War 2 drama Inglourious Basterds starring Brad Pitt.
Bright Star is based on the doomed love affair between 19th century poet John Keats and his neighbour Fanny Brawne. Campion sold the American rights for her new feature during Cannes Week.
British media say the buzz around Campion’s new film suggests she could be about to repeat the success of The Piano.
Clarion call
Speaking at Cannes, Campion gave a clarion call to other women to "put on their coats of armour" and become film directors.
She called the studio structure "an old-boy system", adding: "It is difficult for them to be able to trust women. We know the game."
Campion noted that her native New Zealand was the first country where women got the vote.
"That emancipated and egalitarian soul is what is, or at least used to be, at the heart of New Zealand culture and that makes a difference," she said.
NZ short films
Daniel Borgman, the New Zealand writer and director of Lars and Peter selected for Cannes, said the movie was a New Zealand - Denmark co-production which tells the tale of a naïve boy who accidentally witnesses his widowed father in a desperate act.
The film was produced by Katja Adomeit and made with finance from the NZ Film Commission (NZFC), Creative NZ and the Danish Film Institute.
For New Zealanders Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, who wrote and directed The Six Dollar Fifty Man, this is their second Cannes selection.
Their short film Run competed at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The Six Dollar Fifty Man tells the story of Andy, a gutsy eight-year-old boy who retreats into a make-believe world to deal with playground bullying.
The film was made with finance from the NZ Film Commission, produced by Wendy Cuthbert and executive produced by Shuchi Kothari and Sarina Pearson of Nomadz Unlimited.
More information:
NZ director: Jane Campion
These topics may also be of interest to you
|
