Florian Habicht To Take His New York Love Story To Hollywood

Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand (SDGNZ) is pleased to announce that director Florian Habicht and his film Love Story is the recipient of the 2011 DGA/SDGNZ Director’s Finder Series Screening.

The Director’s Finder screening is a partnership between SDGNZ and the Directors Guild of America (DGA). The purpose of the program is to spotlight undistributed independent feature films from New Zealand and their directors. This marks the third of these joint DGA/SDGNZ screenings.

Love Story premiered as the opening night film at the New Zealand International Film Festival in July 2011 and is still screening theatrically throughout the country. The film blurs the lines between fact and fiction, and embraces New York City through the eyes of filmmaker Florian Habicht who both directs and stars in the film.

"In Love Story the ideas are born off the street . . . it has the real and constructed worlds that I both love, and the two feed off each other. It is the most personal film I’ve made," says Florian.

Love Story follows Florian’s love affair with a mystery Russian woman (Masha Yakovenko). He first sights her the on subway heading towards Coney Island, carrying only a slice of cake - perfectly balanced on the plate. What happens next in this unconventional love story is literally left to the real-life denizens of New York.

The screening will take place on the 4 November 2011 in the prestigious DGA Theater on Sunset Boulevard. It will be followed by a Q&A session with director Florian Habicht.

The trailer for Love Story can be viewed here: http://www.picturesforanna.com/

LOVE STORY PRESS QUOTES

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a film go down so well with an audience.”
- Editor, Flicks.co.nz

“It had the audience in stiches and gasping with amazement. Any New Zealander who can make a film in New York that channels both The Conchords and Taika Waititi and still manage to occur as something entirely original has to be counted as a treasure.”
- Peter Calder, NZ Herald.co.nz

About SDGNZ
The Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand (SDGNZ) represents New Zealand directors and editors. The Guild creates a forum where creative’s can define, defend and further their professional industry. The SDGNZ is dedicated to the artistic excellence, employment opportunities and economic wellbeing of its members.
www.sdgnz.co.nz

About the DGA
The Directors Guild of America was founded in 1936 to protect the economic and creative rights of directors. Over the years its membership has expanded to include the directorial team - Unit Production Managers, Assistant Directors, Associate Directors, Stage Managers, and Production Associates. Today, the DGA represents 14,500 members who live and work all over the world and in all genres of entertainment.
www.dga.org

SDGNZ gratefully acknowledges the support from:
New Zealand Film Commission, Film New Zealand, New Zealand Consulate Los Angeles, Seresin Estate and Heritage Hotels

ENDS

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