At the end of the month we learned that we had been selected for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in Gisbourne early June.  Along with another film from the Godzone Pictures stable – Hugh & Heke, it will be screening on Matariki/Queens Birthday weekend at the Nuhaka Marae near the Mahia Peninsula.  We have never been there before so will head down to represent.  Looking forward to getting to that part of the country again as it’s been quite a while.

Exciting news for Russian Snark at the Maverick Movie Awards in the USA. Stephen was nominated for Best Actor, and Elena was up against Joan Rivers as Best Supporting Actress!

The Maverick is an interesting stop on the film festival circuit, celebrating great storytelling, filmmaking craft, and cinematic style and championing all movie genres and filmmaking forms from screwball comedies to experimental video art. The stated goal is to help talented moviemakers achieve the recognition they deserve by awarding movies with unique style, exceptional craft, and the power to communicate. We’re proud to represent NZ film at these awards and find ourselves in such great company.

You can find out more about the Maverick Movie Awards here and view the list of 2010 feature film nominees.

October 2010 – In a flurry after the film awards in September we learned that we had been officially selected for the Mumbai Film Festival in India.  The Mumbai Film Festival’s jury was led by fellow New Zealander and filmmaking legend Jane Campion (Angel at my Table, The Piano), so it was doubly exciting to be the only NZ film to represent at the festival. What a great opportunity to get in front of a crowd of film officianados! Our friend Claude Dasan (ex Wellington Panavision NZ, & Rubber Monkey) was working in Mumbai and came along to the screening to represent & sent us the catalogue  which was very cool!  We think the poster by Indian Artist Chintan Upadhyay is very cool. 

We were so excited to be at the Carmel Art & Film Festival – attended by Banksy and hosts of others.

http://bit.ly/sQ0NE7

We were naturally thrilled to be in official selection for the NZ International Film Festival in Wellington, where we had our official NZ premiere. Stephen Sinclair and I and one of our Russian actors Garry Volk were present for a rocking screening.  The audience stayed on for the Q & A session and was really interested in the ideas behind the film.

The Festival had a huge audience – over 500 at the opening night, and a wonderful party at Squid Row afterwards, sponsored by Russian Standard Vodka and Skazka, the local Russian supermarket. Lots of gaiety and Russian fans attended and we had a wonderful night. Garry Volk one of our Russian actors who played the part of Nikolai came over from Australia for the night and graced us with his ever-elegant presence.

Unfortunately both the leads were working (mostly a good thing!). Stephen Papps was performing in Wellington and Elena was in Romeo and Juliette so similarly neither could not make the premiere. It was great that we had Garry to represent!