Congratulations to filmmaker and actress Aidee Walker who with her short film Friday Tiger won both the Jury Prize and the Audience Prize at the New Zealand International Film Festival. A story about a mother who creates a fantasy world for her 3 year-old daughter, the judges’ comments were that “the story moves crisply, the acting is beguiling, and the ending - a vote for courage and the power of the imagination - is a surprise and a delight.” Aidee was also part of the team Traces of Nut that produced the Grand Final winning film at the Rialto Channel 48 Hour Film Competition, The Sleeping Plot.
Here are my highlights for the week...
Congratulations to filmmaker and actress Aidee Walker who with her short film Friday Tiger won both the Jury Prize and the Audience Prize at the New Zealand International Film Festival. A story about a mother who creates a fantasy world for her 3 year-old daughter, the judges’ comments were that “the story moves crisply, the acting is beguiling, and the ending - a vote for courage and the power of the imagination - is a surprise and a delight.” Aidee was also part of the team Traces of Nut that produced the Grand Final winning film at the Rialto Channel 48 Hour Film Competition, The Sleeping Plot.
Here are my highlights for the week.
Starring: Yara Pilartz, Anne Consigny, Frédéric Pierrot
Directed by: Fabrice Gobert
Premiering: Every Wednesday evening at 8.30pm
A cool, stylish new French television series, Rebound takes the supernatural genre to a new level. A smash hit in France, it’s being described as a Gallic cross between Twin Peaks and Lost. Set in a small Alpine town near a large dam, director Fabrice Gobert’s visual style is atmospheric and surreal, and matched perfectly by an eerie soundtrack by Scottish band Mogwai. The series is focused around the mysterious tale of a group of school kids, killed in a bus crash years earlier, who return from the grave and rejoin their families as if nothing has happened. Understated, slick and creepy, only the French could make zombies look this good.
Starring: Martha Flaherty, Seán Crosson
Directed by: Mac Dara Ó'Curraidhín
Premiering: Thursday 15th August, 8.30pm
This is a must see for anyone interested in documentary filmmaking or the history of film. Robert Flaherty is the man credited as the ‘Father of the Modern Documentary’ and this portrait takes a look at his works, such as the classic Nanook of the North (1922), his relationships with colleagues and the film industry itself, and his widely known and controversial practice of staging scenes. This is a highly entertaining and enlightening documentary, and also a fascinating look at a filmmaker unafraid to challenge the status quo and whose influence on the genre lives on.
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins & Jude Law
Directed by: Fernando Meirelles
Premiering: Saturday 17th August, 8.30pm
From director Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) comes 360, a film about taking chances and dealing with the consequences. With an ensemble cast and series of stories linked ever so gently, Meirelles takes us around the world to Vienna, Paris, London, Rio, Phoenix and Denver. Sex is the common denominator as the flawed characters struggle to maintain their moral compass, and a fabulous cast brings the stories together led by Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster & Jude Law. It's not Meirelles or Morgan’s best work, but performance wise, it's definitely worth a look.