With the Heart of a Hobbit

With the Heart of a Hobbit

Media Release – for immediate distribution

Sometimes the little guys win. While this message may be at the heart of The Hobbit, it’s the reality for a much smaller kiwi film that is taking on the world.

The Insatiable Moon, made for NZ$500,000 (the equivalent of The Hobbit’s much discussed coffee budget), has come from nowhere to be the only NZ film in Flicks Top Ten movies, and wow audiences at screenings in the UK.

After a London gala premiere this month, the film was described in reviews as “the next Brokeback Mountain… a remarkable movie from the other end of the world” and as a New Zealand film “which should become one of our cinematic treasures”. The film has picked up an elusive UK distribution deal, something that has eluded much better-resourced projects.

NZ producer Mike Riddell says that after 8 years of development, it’s exciting to see the story getting such recognition on the international stage. “And here in NZ it’s no different. Audiences love the film and keep returning to it.”

The Insatiable Moon has been described as low budget but high performance: the cast includes leads Rawiri Paratene, Sara Wiseman, Ian Mune and Greg Johnson. Paratene, who plays the role of the innocent savant Arthur, has noted a consistent comment from audiences. “In every screening I’ve attended in New Zealand, at least one audience member has approached me and said ‘This is better than Boy’”.

Paratene accompanied the director Rosemary Riddell and the producers to the UK screenings, and was thrilled with the audience reaction. “This is a great kiwi yarn which is delighting people and moving them in the same sort of way that Whale Rider did,” he says.

The film has been short-listed for Best Feature Film Script at the inaugural Scriptwriters Awards NZ in November.

Many reviewers have marvelled at the decision of the NZ Film Commission not to back the film, but producer Riddell says that the Commission has come to the party of late. “We see ourselves as a quintessentially kiwi film, made on a shoestring but punching above our weight, and the Commission has belatedly come to agree.”

As well as playing in NZ and the UK, Riddell reports that negotiations are proceeding with a potential US distributor. “We really are the little film that could,” he says.
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