7. Online Sampler

Choose what you want, how you want it, in our bumper On Demand selection.
We are chuffed to bring an amazingly diverse selection of twelve films to blow your socks off and make you question your place in this world.

Curate your own mini NZ film night! Tour the cinematic world with a different stop each day! Or blow your mind with a short-film bingeathon! Colonial gold-rush, extreme ironing, rebellious Iranians, political activists, teddy bears in a support group all jam-packed with famous faces. Dive in, you won’t be disappointed!

Total length: 163 minutes
Rating: TBC

Access these films at:

Roy

Drama, 16 mins, United Kingdom

Dir/Writ: Ross White, Tom Berkeley
Prod: Bryony Pulizzi

Reclusive widower Roy (David Bradley) passes the days by cold calling strangers from the phone book, looking for brief moments of companionship. But when he accidentally calls adult hotline worker Cara, an unlikely friendship is born.

Woman in Blue

World Premiere

Thriller, 13 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Writ: Jack O’Donnell
Writ/Prod: Ashleigh Flynn

Awhi (Tanea Heke), an ex-policewoman, relives memories from her past while in a dementia ward. A visit from Owen (Temuera Morrison) provides a moment of relief.

The Mushroom Hunters

Animation, 6 mins, United Kingdom

Dir: Caroline Rudge
Writ: Neil Gaiman
Prod: Amanda Palmer, Alexandra Casswell Becker

Neil Gaiman’s Award winning poem The Mushroom Hunters, narrated by Amanda Palmer, invites us to re-examine how we think of the origin and nature of science, and the role it has played in our development as a species.

The Mad Austrian

Documentary, 9 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Writ: Finley Jones
Dir/Prod: Hamish Johns
Writ/Prod: Anton Piters

The story of 66-year-old extreme ironer Heinz Wieser, a man who lets nothing get in the way of being a bit silly.

Bear With Me

World Premiere

Drama, 12 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Writ: Nick McLean
Prod: Scott Flyger
Special message from the filmmaker(s)

A support group of toys come together and talk about their traumatic experiences with
children. The group’s core belief is challenged by new member, Stitch, who comes
from a home with problems of its own.

Solar Eclipse

Drama, 14 mins, France/Iran

Dir/Writ: Alireza Ghasemi, Raha Amirfazli
Prod: White Star, Furyo film, The 6th Side

Saaghi and her two friends have come to the largest park in Teheran to take pictures of the one-in-a-century total eclipse later in the afternoon. Mischievous and rebellious, they steal a camera stand, lie to their parents and discuss boys and an upcoming party. As the sun disappears, Saaghi sees something that should have stayed hidden.

Sabotage

World Premiere

Thriller, 20 mins, Switzerland

Dir/Writ: Julian M. Grünthal
Prod: This Lüscher, Simone Haeberling
Special message from the filmmaker(s)

A security guard is seriously injured in a failed sabotage action by a political activist group. When it turns out that the guard has identified two members, the group is faced with the choice of either accepting the guard’s death or turning themselves in.

Blue Bird

World Premiere

Drama, 20 mins, Japan

Dir/Writ: SABU
Prod: EXILE HIRO

Brothers Kenji and Jun are always together. Jun suddenly collapses with a serious condition. Unable to accept Jun’s fate, Kenji liberates his brother from the hospital.

Blood and Gold

World Premiere

Western, 14 mins, NZ

Dir: Yamin Tun
Writ: Jodie Hillock
Prod: Morgan Leigh Stewart

New Zealand, 1861. Man’s hunt for gold is feverish. Through the snow-capped mountains a woman flees on horseback. When she encounters a horrific scene, she makes a decision which will alter the course of two lives…

Neon Meets Argon

Drama, 15 mins, Ireland

Dir/Writ: James Doherty
Prod: Nicky Gogan

A neon sign-maker has his solitude interrupted by an energetic young intruder. Can these men forge a kinship amidst the flickering of neon lights?

Sinine (Blue)

Drama, 15 mins, Estonia

Dir: Tõnis Pill
Writ: Laura Raud
Prod: Evelin Penttilä, Johanna Maria Paulson
Special message from the filmmaker(s)

When two strangers’ paths cross after a car accident, the woman demands that the man take her from the scene. As he tries to find a solution to the predicament, fragments from the woman’s past start painting a tragic picture.