nz film festival 1996

1996 was the inaugural year for the Short Film Programmes for the New Zealand Film Festival. Our aim was to put together national and international programmes of high quality short films which spanned the many genres of short filmmaking.

MIC Programme 1
(approx 62 mins)

Permanent Wave
New Zealand 1995
Dir: Jonathon Brough
Scr: Fiona Bartlett
10 min. Drama.
The trouble with Mother England is that there are so many Kiwis there you sometimes feel you’ve never left home.

Ore
New Zealand 1996
Dir: Chris Graves.
6 mins. Dance
Douglas Wright and Chris Graves collaborate once again in another perfect balance of film and dance, from the larger work Buried Venus.1996 was the inaugural year for the Short Film Programmes for the New Zealand Film Festival. Our aim was to put together national and international programmes of high quality short films which spanned the many genres of short filmmaking.

MIC Programme 1
(approx 62 mins)

Margaret Star: A Fall From Grace
Australia 1996
Dir/Scr: Annabelle Murphy
7 mins. B&W. Drama
Margaret Star breaks up with her lover and decides to become a wrestler. In this funny, violent and moving “action” movie Margaret seeks out a world where a punch in the face hurts less than an aching heart.
Ore
New Zealand 1996
Dir: Chris Graves.
6 mins. Dance
Douglas Wright and Chris Graves collaborate once again in another perfect balance of film and dance, from the larger work Buried Venus.

Flicker (Unsteady Motion)
USA 1995
Dir/Scr: Paula M Froehle
16mm. 7 mins. Experimental
The story of an ageing man and his recurring dream/ memory of a woman and the issues of history, identity, memory and loss. A journey into the interior of recollection and remembrance.

Redback
Australia 1995
Dir/Scr: Robert Stephenson
8 min. Animation.
In the future will spiders and insects get their revenge? In this very funny tale, for one man the future becomes extremely and uncomfortably close.

The Fridge
Scotland 1995
Dir: Peter Mullen
16mm. 20mins. Drama.
A young boy is trapped in a discarded fridge. Compassion and bitterness are locked in a battle to determine his fate as two homeless people try desperately to free him.

Swinger
Australia 1995
Dir/Scr: Gregor Jordan
3.25mins. Drama
Some people believe in syncronicity. Others believe in fate. But many think that their entire lives are nothing more than incredibly bad timing.

Annabelle Murphy, the director of Margaret Star: A Fall From Grace held a one-day workshop on writing and directing called Death By Style. The workshop investigated the need to ensure that the content of the film was not overcome by or sacrificed for style. Annabelle’s visit was made possible by the kind assistance of the Australia New Zealand Foundation.

MIC Programme 2
(approx 83 mins)

He Shoots He Scores
Ireland 1995
Dir/Scr: John Moore
16mm. 11 min. B&W. Drama.
Two boys with a football at a dysfunctional bus stop have an encounter which leads to the discovery of a greater universe.

Whistle She Rolls
New Zealand 1995
Dir: Armagan Ballantyne
16mm. 13 min. Drama.
Meeting his or her parents is never easy. You wonder, “Are they normally like this, or are they just trying to make an effort?”

The Wasp
Germany 1995
Dir/Scr: Simona and Petra Geist.
2.5min. Drama.
Two deaf men discover a dual purpose for sign language as they battle a very persistant wasp.

Voice Mail
USA 1995
Dir/Scr: Andrew Bloom
16mm. 12 min. Drama.
For many the mail-order commercials prove Pavlov’s theory perfectly. Except the bell has now become an 0800 number. One man’s attempt to buy a chess set has considerable consequences.

O Tamaiti
New Zealand 1996
Dir/scr: Sima Urale.
14min. B&W. Drama.
In a large, close family the children do their best to help. But soon they must face the harsh reality of loss in this tragic and powerful work.

Arrowhead
Canada 1993
Dir: Peter Lynch
16mm. 30min. Drama.
A comic study of a resident - part vandal, part hack archaeologist - who takes a TV crew into a disintegrating high-rise complex to the site where he found a mastadon skeleton twenty years earlier.

MIC Programme 3
(approx. 88 mins)

The Creation
Germany 1994
Dir/Scr: Thomas Meyer-Hermann.
7 mins. B&W. Animation.
A very funny look at the creation shows that nothing is ever simple. The world is a joyous place until man comes along. The dinosaurs have the answer and harmony is once again restored.

No Night
Australia 1996
Dir/Scr: Bruno de Villenoisy
12 min. Drama.
When everything seems to be over, Jerry begins the most fantastic, miraculous journey of his life …

Double Happy
New Zealand 1996
Dir: Daniel Mace
16mm. 7 mins. Drama.
Watching his neighbours enjoying their fireworks on Guy Fawkes’ night, Sam thinks about his absent father. The next day he and his friend Leon make an unexpected discovery.

Come With Me To the Sacred Mountain
Norway/Sweden 1995
Dir/Scr: Mona J Hoel
8 mins. B&W. Drama
A personal commentary on the ruthless Christianisation of the Sami, the indigenous people of Lapland, and the theft of their cultural heritage and language.

No Way To Forget
Australia 1996
Dir/Scr: Richard Frankland
16mm. 12 min. Drama.

Shane Francis is employed to investigate Aboriginal deaths in custody. The job becomes much more as he also becomes a counsellor to the victims’ families and is haunted by their spirits.

Small Fictions
Australia 1996
Dir/Scr: Jenni Robertson
13 min. Drama.
Stella photographs eight naked Australian men.They tell fragments of stories, revealing details of their lives and emotions within the privileged confines of the artist’s studio.

The Killers
USA 1995
Scr/Dir: Tanya Hamilton
22 min. Drama.
Beibel is a lonely twelve-year-old in Jamaica. Her grandfather is dying and her mother left for America months ago. She believes carrying out an old wives’ tale will be the solution to her problems.

MIC Programme 4
(approx 63 mins)

Yankale
Germany 1995
Dir/Scr: Gil Alkabetz
9 min. Animation.
The world has become a drab and far too uniform place for Jacob L. One day he rebels in a small but significant way.

Bagel and Lox
USA 1995
Dir/Scr: Jeffrey Janger
16mm. 15 min. Drama
Herbie and Cara are never quite sure what they’re fighting about, but they fight anyway. Cara gave up on Herbie a long time ago, but on this particular day Herbie thinks he has an experience that could change their lives.

Supercollider: Infection
New Zealand 1996
Dir: Paul Swadel
1.5 min Experimental
Data virulence … without restraint!

Siren
New Zealand 1996
Dir/Scr: Charles Bracewell
16mm. 7 min. Drama
A World War I soldier flees from the battlefield. As he takes refuge he remembers and is haunted by his recently lost love.

The Existentialist Cowboy’s Last Stand
Australia 1995
Dir: Adam Blaiklock
16mm. 4 min. Drama.
What would happen if a philosophy student presented his thesis as a Sergio Leone spaghetti western? It will probably never happen, but this is certainly close.

Audacious
Australia 1995
Dir/Scr: Samantha Lang
26 mins. Drama.
A young woman, bored with her husband’s bedroom behaviour, embarks on a daring journey to a new form of sexual satisfaction.

Staff
Director: Deborah Lawler-Dormer
Assistant Director: Michael Brook
Selection Panel: Liz Stevens, Simon Raby, Deborah Lawler-Dormer, Michael Brook Sponsorship: Charles Bracewell
Volunteers: Kate Todd, Sarina Pearson, Louise Curham, Charles MacGuiness, Andrew Wood

Sponsored and Supported by:
New Zealand Film Commission
Creative New Zealand
Max TV
95bFM
Australia New Zealand Foundation