Daddy Daddy wins top prize

AWhanganui movie crew has won this year’s Taranaki City 48Hours film competition.

Led by director Freddie Müller, “Filmanui” beat around 30 other teams to take the title.

Müller said the whole thing was “a bit last minute”, with the group only being finalised on the morning of the event.

The idea to enter was raised at a Whanganui film-makers group the week before.

“Mike Weatherall, who is a local videographer, was the first person to put his hand up,” Müller said.

“I put out the call to Amdram to see if there were any actors around. They put a post out about it and one person responded.”

That person was Russell Penton, who became the star of the film Daddy Daddy.

The last crew member was Aaron Torkin, who came on board after his team in Marton pulled out.

Teams were given an individual genre to tackle.

Filmanui landed “Multiverse” and was also required to include either a bird’s eye or worm’s eye shot.

The film needed a whisper, a gatekeeper and a sign, with the last two “open to interpretation”, Müller said.

It had to be made between 7pm on August 12 and 7pm on August 14, with a minimum length of one minute and a maximum of five minutes.

After brainstorming for half an hour, Müller spent the next two writing a script.

Freddie Müller (left) and Russell Penton at the 48Hours awards ceremony. Photo / Supplied

“We met at Russell’s flat in downtown Whanganui the next morning and got straight into it,” Müller said.

“He has a cat and unfortunately a couple of us were allergic. The film was made to look like it was night time so we had to board up the windows and black everything out.

“Breathing was a bit of an issue. By the end of the day, it looked like people were going to keel over.”

Penton was “on fire” throughout filming, Müller said.

The project was a family affair, with Müller’s identical twin daughters making an appearance in the film and his wife organising props.

“The story is basically about what would happen if a protective father met another version of himself,” Muller said.

“People can probably guess that there is going to be some drama in that.”

Taranaki-based Mad Media covered the team’s entry fee.

“We were a very late entry and weren’t taking it too seriously, so we are very thankful to them for helping us out,” Müller said.

He wasn’t expecting much in the way of awards.

“I just thought we were going to enter and that would be it. I was under no illusions at all.

“Suddenly, we got a few nominations. I was like, ‘Well, I guess I should turn up at the event then’.”

The Filmanui crew took home the best director, best script, best use of genre and best film prizes at the awards ceremony in New Plymouth last week.

Müller said the Whanganui community had been “astonishing” throughout the whole process.

“People were just really keen to assist, from Amdram to our film-maker group.

“The idea to enter came from involving the community and local talent flexing our creative muscles.

“Here’s hoping we can attract more local talent and inspire more local teams to enter next year.”

Daddy Daddy is now in the running to be selected for the national final at Auckland’s Civic theatre in November.

There were seven other regional winners. By Mike Tweed