Taika Waititi‘s connection with the Sundance Film Festival has been a longstanding one. His constantly evolving funny bone swagger (aided and abetted alongside muse Jemaine Clement) is a key reason why this important has been a constant presence in Park City. Waititi has participated in the Institute’s many labs and in terms of film has supplied the fest with shorts Two Cars, One Night (2004) and Tama Tu (2005), and features Eagle vs. Shark (2007), Boy (2010) and What We Do in the Shadows (2014). Before his big move to studio features (Thor: Ragnarok is lined up next) the kiwi finally broke bread on the book adaption of a project that was first announced back in 2009. Starring Sam Neill , Julian Dennison, Stan Walker and Rhys Darby, filming took place this summer on Hunt for the Wilderpeople and depending on the budget size could have already have their tents packed or have a longer ways to go in post.
- 11/24/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
We've been raving about hilariously brilliant New Zealand director Taika Waititi since his first feature Eagle Vs. Shark, his wonderful shorts Two Cars One Night and Tama Tu, and his directing role in HBO's Flight of the Conchords. Now, more than two years after we swooned for the film at Sundance 2010, Waititi's semi-autobiographical and fully-heartwarming comedy Boy is finally getting an American release Today!. Here's my blurb: Boy is the coming-of-age story of a young Maori boy named Boy who dreams about his father coming home and taking him away to life filled with father-son excitement. When his pops does show up (played wonderfully by Waititi), he proves to be even more of a little kid than boy. Like Eagle Vs. Shark, Taika...
- 3/2/2012
- Screen Anarchy
As business begun at the Festival de Cannes wraps up, Miramax Films has acquired North American rights to the comedy Eagle vs. Shark, the debut feature from New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi. Palm Pictures has acquired North American rights to Ten Canoes, an Australian feature directed by Rolf de Heer and co-directed by Peter Djigirr. Waititi's short film Two Cars, One Night was nominated for an Oscar as best live-action short in 2005, and his second short Tamu tu received the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival that same year. His first feature Eagle, a comic account of two misfits searching for acceptance, was developed at the Directors and Screenwriters Lab at the Sundance Institute. Currently in postproduction after shooting in and around Wellington, N.Z., it stars New Zealanders Loren Horsley and Jemaine Clement. Horsley developed the character while collaborating with Waititi on the script. Ainsley Gardiner and Cliff Curtis of Whenua Films are producers.
SYDNEY -- Elham Hossinzadeh's Silent Companion took the top prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival's 44th International Short Film Competition, the festival said. Hossinzadeh won AUS$7,000 ($5,600) for his film about a man who journeys to Iran through the swamps of Iraq to bring a gown to his bride. The competition, one of the most prestigious in the Asia-Pacific region, attracted a record number of more than 1,000 entries this year from throughout the world. The prize of AUS$5,000 ($3,850) for best Australian short film went to Victorian College of the Arts graduate Justin Kurzel for Blue Tongue, which recently screened at the Festival de Cannes in Critics Fortnight. Eron Sheean was awarded the same amount and named best emerging Australian filmmaker for Fish. The best fiction short-film prize of AUS$3,000 ($2,300) was awarded to Tama Tu, directed by New Zealand writer-director Taika Waititi. The filmmaker's Two Cars, One Night opened the festival in 2004 and went on to earn Waititi an Academy Award nomination earlier this year. MIFF wrapped Sunday.
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