Bright Future: VPRO Tiger Awards Competition
WORLD PREMIERE
New Zealand/Germany, 2009 colour, 35mm, 1:2.35, 86 min, English Pro: Fiona Copland, Karl
Baumgartner, Raimond Goebel Pro Comp: Filmwork Ltd.,
The Strength of Water
Pandora Film Produktion GmbH Sc: Briar Grace-Smith Cam: Bogumil Godfrejow Ed: Elizabeth Kling Ad: Rick Kofoed Sound: Dave Whitehead Mu: Peter Golub, Warren Maxwell With: Nancy Brunning, Melanie Mayall-Nahi, Hato Paparoa, Isaac Barber, Mick Innes, Pare Paseka Print: Pandora Film
Produktion GmbH Sales: NZ-Film
Armagan Ballantyne
The northern coast of New Zealand in the Hokianga region forms the backdrop for a story set in a small Maori community. The film maker chose to work with people from the community instead of professional actors. Thanks to this, but also to the harsh location, the film looks very authentic. The little boy Kimi Kaneha is suffering greatly after the death of his twin sister. He doesn’t really accept her death. For instance, he eats for two and hence becomes very fat, all in order to keep her spirit with him. He almost always drags a chicken round with him, one of the thousands from the family farm, as a kind of furry toy. He isn’t taken very seriously, but does seem to have more insight than everyone thinks. His strange way of coming to terms with his sister’s death might just work. The film focuses on Kimi, yet he still remains an outsider. In the end it is more about the lives of the adults around him. They are forced to lead a harsh and frugal life and don’t spare each other. Just as you have road movies, this is a film that stays in one place. In the same windy place with the same unusual people. The very committed film maker does not have a Maori background, but co-writer Briar Grace-Smith does (he is of Ngapuhi origin). Together they developed the story during a Sundance workshop and also at the Amsterdam Binger Filmlab. (GjZ)
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM
01 TigerAWARDS V12.indd 33
New Zealander Armagan BALLANTYNE (1972) studied film making at FAMU in Prague and received her Masters in Directing at AFTRS in Sydney, Australia. Her short films have screened at various festivals around the world, including Venice, New York, Telluride and London. The Strength of Water is her début feature. Films: Little Echo Lost (1999, short), Stories on Human Rights (segment Lily and Ra, 2008), The Strength of Water (2009)
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