Aussies to enjoy Kiwi short films on Waitangi Day

Australians to enjoy Kiwi short films on Waitangi Day

Thanks to the Show Me Shorts Film Festival and Federation Square’s ‘Lunch Time Shorts’, Australians living in Melbourne will get the opportunity to see seven fabulous Kiwi short films on Waitangi Day this year.

The event is free to the public, projected on a large outdoor screen at 1pm and 5pm every day from the 2nd to the 15th of February. The films were selected from the 2007 festival line-up by the Federation Square team, and will play in three half-hour programs, with two or three films in each.

Melbournians and Kiwi ex-pats alike are encouraged to bring a picnic and come along to celebrate Waitangi Day and enjoy this collection of short films.

Show Me Shorts Festival Director Gina Dellabarca is delighted with this development, which she attributes to the contacts established by Melbourne based team member Kate Nicholson. “This initiative gives us the opportunity to reciprocate, bringing Kiwi short films across the Tasman to Australians just as we bring Australian short films to New Zealanders every year.”

The seven films selected include the 2007 winner of the Show Me Shorts Best Film award, ‘A Very Nice Honeymoon’ by Jeff and Phill Simmonds. Dellabarca says, “The films selected have a strong historical leaning, examining colonial and WWII landscapes, plus the family ties that bind us together. These are themes we think Australians will relate strongly to.”

Entries for the 2008 Show Me Shorts Film Festival open on Friday the 1st of February. More information can be found at www.showmeshorts.co.nz.

PROGRAM ONE:

The King Boys
15min, Drama
Filmmaker: Christopher Clark
NZ, 2006
A boy wrestles to resurrect his family's buried dream.

Danny Boy
14min 15sec, Drama
Filmmaker: James Ratahi
NZ, 2006
A boy's emotionally devoid relationship with his Koro reaches the ultimate test when Danny loses his only confidant - Harry the pig.

PROGRAM TWO:

A Very Nice Honeymoon
10min, Animation
Filmmakers: Jeff & Phill Simmonds
NZ, 2006
A true story about the filmmakers' great grandparents Mariano & Elizabeth Vella who were on the steamer SS Wairarapa when it was wrecked on the coast of Great Barrier Island in NZ in 1893.

Shadow over the Sun
8min 14sec, Drama
Filmmaker: Rachel Douglas
NZ, 2006
A new mother in colonial NZ is visited by a tui in her garden, with the bird comes fear and hope for a new life.

Hawaikii
11min, Drama
Filmmaker: Mike Jonathan
NZ, 2006
A father and daughter take their first steps into a foreign world.

PROGRAM THREE:

Dead Letters
13min 20sec, Drama
Filmmaker: Paolo Rotondo
NZ, 2006
In WWII Wellington an unlikely romance sparks amidst the stacks of air graph letters destined for 'our boys' abroad.

Rose
9min, Drama
Filmmaker: Jo Hiles
NZ, 2005
What if you sold roses to lovers on the worst day in the world to be lonely and single?

Please see http://www.fedsquare.com/index.cfm?pageID=284 for details on screening.

www.fedsquare.com

Dates: February 2 – 15, 2008
Time: 1pm and 5pm,
Duration: 30mins
Location: Big Screen and Atrium Screen, Federation Square – corner Swanston and Flinders Streets, Melbourne
FREE EVENT

ENDS

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