MIC Toi Rerehiko presents the best new NZ short films selected by a panel of industry experts. It’s a bumper year with two of these six, The Six Dollar Fifty Man and Lars and Peter, also selected for competition at Cannes.
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Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Homegrown: Works on Film
MIC Toi Rerehiko presents the 2009 programme of the best new NZ short films in Homegrown, now in its 13th year. The 2009 selection of the cream of local 35mm short film includes six films funded by the New Zealand Film Commission. Two of them, The Six Dollar Fifty Man and Lars and Peter, have been selected for competition at Cannes. This programme will make you laugh and cry, but most importantly it will make you think. Our thanks go to this year’s Homegrown selectors – Anna Cahill (Screen Directors Guild of NZ), Steven Gannaway (NZ Writers Guild), Anne O’Brien (Women in Film and Television) and Deborah Lawler-Dormer at MIC. Paul Rose co-ordinated this year’s programme.
Poppy 2009
James Cunningham has written, directed and animated three award-winning theatrical shorts. An Elam graduate, he is Head of 3D at Digital Post and was a Technical Director on The Lord of the Rings.
Poppy is based on a true story. Two Kiwi soldiers rescue a crying baby from the arms of her dead mother behind German lines in France during WWI. What will be their fate? A very moving film, with fabulous Weta Digital effects.
Undergrowth 2008
Grant Major was nominated for four Academy Awards and four BAFTA Awards for his work as a production designer on The Lords of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. He won an Academy Award for his work on The Return of the King.
In Undergrowth an agoraphobic man wakes to discover the world is literally ‘creeping’ in. He must break free and undertake a journey through the past. What is real and what is imaginary?
Careful with That Powertool 2009
Jason Stutter started his career in film as an editor. He has directed many short films and directed the feature film Tongan Ninja.
Power tools and children do NOT mix. Don't try this at home!!
Mokopuna 2009
Ainsley Gardiner has produced short and feature films, television series, commercials and three children. Mokopuna is her first foray into dramatic writing and directing.
After meeting a young Maori boy at school, Mary, a middle-class part-Maori, questions her own cultural identity. Is she ready to embrace her Maori roots?
Lars and Peter 2009
Daniel Borgman hails from Dunedin. He has a degree in film and media studies from Otago University and is an experienced digital effects and grading artist. Lars and Peter, shot in Denmark, is Daniel's second short film.
Lars is 9, naive and innocent. He lives with his father, Peter, and older brother, Lasse. Their mother has gone. On the night before his birthday Peter gets drunk and Lars witnesses his indiscretions with the woman next door.
The Six Dollar Fifty Man 2009
The Six Dollar Fifty Man is Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland’s third short film collaboration and the first they have officially co-directed.
Run, their earlier short film, was awarded an Honourable Mention at Festival de Cannes Shorts Competition 2007 and a Golden Horseman Award at the Filmfest Dresden International Short Film Festival 2008.
Set in the 70s, The Six Dollar Fifty Man follows the exploits of 8-year old Andy – a dreamer with ‘superhuman’ powers. When confronted with schoolyard bullying Andy must get real to protect himself and his only friend, Mary.