Kiwi director goes to Sundance again

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

OH BOY: Taika Waititi's latest feature film has been selected for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

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Taika Waititi's new film has earnt him further praise after its premiere at the prestigious international Sundance Film Festival.

The film, Boy, was shown at the festival in Utah yesterday, and among 14 films selected from 1022 submissions to Sundance's World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Waititi, whose first feature, Eagle Versus Shark, premiered at Sundance in 2005, wrote and directed Boy, which was shot in his childhood home town of Waihau Bay on the East Coast.

Film reviewer Eric Kohn wrote after the showing that the film "marks a step up in maturity" for the Kiwi director.

In a review for indiewire.com, Mr Kohn praised Waititi for his understanding and treatment of the film's young characters.

"The result is alternately zany, sentimental, and remarkably insightful about the quirks of a child's mind."

The film features James Rolleston as 11-year-old Boy, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu as younger brother Rocky and Waititi as their father, Alamein. Boy imagines his dad to be a war hero and close relative of Michael Jackson – despite him being in reality an inept criminal.

Waititi has travelled as a guest of the festival to Utah for the premiere, and said before leaving that he had a long connection with the festival.

"To take this sunny East Coast New Zealand film to play in the snowy mountains of Park City, Utah, is pretty awesome."

The film will be released in New Zealand early this year.

- © Fairfax NZ News