Line up for Wednesday 1st April 2009
Out of a call for proposals we made a month ago, four filmmakers have been selected to screen selects from their ‘works in progress’. They will also have the opportunity to ask three questions to the audience after the screening, and get feedback on their films. Acclaimed filmmaker Leanne Pooley (Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, The Promise, Haunting Douglas) will be chairing the event, and each presentation will be limited to 15 minutes. The filmmakers range from emerging to established and their projects are just as diverse. Below is a brief overview of our line up:
Daytime Tiger Director Costa Botes
Documentary feature | Currently in production
Daytime Tiger - Film Still
What happens when a man discovers in late middle age that he is going mad? When MM developed a manic disorder, he took it as proof of his literary genius. Everyone else was horrified by the magnification of his already highly conceited and narcissistic tendencies. This is a study of a character who some thought was unbearable before he started going crazy. Now most people would find him impossible.
But somehow, his asian born wife – a tiny lady born under the Chinese astrological sign of the tiger – puts up with him, and strives to keep their home life as normal and routine as possible. He needs her to survive, and he knows it, yet paradoxically he continues to make her life hell. The balance is precarious.
Biography
Costa Botes has had a long and varied career in film and television. Since graduating from Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University in 1981, he has written and directed award winning dramas for film and television, made a feature film, and several documentaries.
His short drama, Stalin’s Sickle won the jury prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film festival in 1988. In 1995, Costa co-wrote, and co-directed Forgotten Silver with Peter Jackson, an exquisitely crafted mockumentary drama chronicling the exploits of a mythical early cinematic innovator. His work with Jackson continued while he was the official and sole documentarian for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which turned out to be a five year feat of endurance. Thousands of hours of footage were boiled down into three feature length documentaries, which are currently available on DVD. Notably, Costa handled much of the all-digital camera work himself, the result of which can be felt in the very personal and intimate style of the films.
Costa’s latest focus is to make interesting and artistic documentaries with the capacity to reach an international market. He is currently completing post-production on Lost In Wonderland about Rob Moodie, infamous for his kaftan wearing, and convoluted fights for justice; and another called Candyman, about the rise and fall of an American confectionary genius.
War with No Guns Director William Watson
Documentary feature | Currently in production
In the documentary War With No Guns narrator Lucy Lawless (“Xena: Warrior Princess”) asks a simple question; In an age of civil war and conflict how do we create lasting peace? To answer one of the world’s most burning questions we will journey to Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea and revisit New Zealand’s entry into the Pacific’s most brutal civil war. In an unprecedented example of peacekeeping, a multinational force, led by New Zealand, chose to leave their guns behind and instead bring guitars and hakas (New Zealand Maori war dance) as their weapons of choice. War With No Guns looks at the fascinating story of how a war was fought without guns, by an army who united the people to peace.
Biography
William’s directorial debut began over a decade ago when he directed and produced a live, 40-person fire dance show at the Wellington Festival in 1998. As his skills grew he progressed to a documentary series based on artists and their creative relationship with the environment. William completed journalism studies in Wellington, New Zealand. His written material struck a chord with New Zealanders, resulting in his former company New Zealand Publishing producing two best sellers during the time of his ownership. War With No Guns is William’s first feature film.
Las Fronteras Director Malcolm Clarke
Documentary feature | Currently in development
“For a long time I have had this sense, that we could easily spend a long time if not decades where we don’t get to move as much as we have”
– Pete Sherwood.
Twenty minutes drive from Blenheim, in the heart of the Wairau Valley lies a 16acre block of land called Las Fronteras. The land is home to Nancy and Pete Sherwood. They represent a small green standpoint against the mass development that is currently happening in the Valley.
Vintners have raped the landscape of its resources over the past few decades, using arsenic to treat the wooden polls that the vines grow on and each vine uses up to two litres of water per vine, per day. The valley is rapidly being taken over by more and more vineyards. There is no doubt that monoculture development such as this is detrimental to the microclimate and ecology.
Nancy and Pete live in an octagon. They are currently building a Dharma Shed, which will exist as a community space to gather, talk, read poetry, drink coffee and practice yoga. They are sustainable life stylists and value the importance of community. Nancy is a social worker and artist and Pete is a writer who has recently been treated for cancer.
Las Fronteras - Film Still
Malcolm Clarke
Biography
Malcolm Clarke has been working as a freelance film and television editor for the past 6 years on a wide range of different projects. He studied at Unitec and gained a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts with a major in Screen Arts/Editing. More recently he has been working with Kiwa Media at Eden Post Productions on projects such as Kaitiaki and Kete Aronui. Malcolm’s editing strength lies in the documentary or current affairs style format of television but he is extremely capable at editing most types of screen production. He edited series 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the award winning series Takataapui produced by Anne Spear and Jude Anaru for Maori Television. Malcolm has also worked with critically acclaimed New Zealand writer and film maker Peter Wells, Dance Choreographer Shona McCullagh, and documentary director and producer Kim Webby. Most of Malcolm’s work has been broadcast on the free to air channels in New Zealand, however several projects that he has edited have had festival release nationally and internationally, including Friendship is the Harbour of Joy, Ta Moko and Break. Recently Malcolm has been developing his directing skills on music video and documentary projects.
Sense of Sport Director Creda Wilson
Documentary half hour | Currently in post-production
Sense of Sport is a set of intimate character studies about legally blind New Zealanders involved in sport. Three main characters come from very different lives, which is also reflected in the differences in their chosen sports.
Aine, a 13-year old girl, has been totally blind since birth and has recently become involved in competitive swimming. Having never experienced life as a sighted person, she takes the obstacles of her blindness in her stride, and is constantly pushing herself towards higher goals.
Marilyn is an older retired woman, who lost her sight in her middle age and is now totally blind. She is keenly involved in both indoor and outdoor bowls, having competed in the 2002 Commonwealth games as a blind competitor. Marilyn has an upbeat approach to life as a blind person, but she has had to overcome many pains and struggles to get to this point.
Pai is 21, partially sighted, and represents New Zealand in goalball, a very physical fast-paced game designed for blind people. Having been isolated outside of Auckland from most of the blind community until very recently, Pai is still struggling to find his place between the worlds of the blind and the sighted.
This documentary explores what it is like to be blind and play sports in a sighted world, and shares in the characters’ joys and pains as they do so.
Biography
Creda Wilson has just completed her Master of Arts in Screen Production, specialising in Documentary. Sense of Sport is the second documentary Creda has produced, directed and edited, and continues her interest in stories that give an intimate look into the minds and daily lives of people who live in interesting circumstances. She is originally from Dunedin but moved up to Auckland to pursue film and television production. She hopes to establish a career in film or television documentary production and editing.
Creda Wilson
