kiwi SHORTS ‘22
Celebrating and showcasing extraordinary talent from New Zealand filmmakers at home, in Berlin and abroad. See our full line-up of shorts below!
sunday 23.10.22 | 14:00
lifeswap:
making a funny party
by William connor and Steffen kreft
NZ | 2017 | 7 min | Comedy | Animation
Short Series Synopsis: Lifeswap is a series of short animations that illustrate the adventures and misadventures of Jörg, 27, from Germany and Duncan, 27, from New Zealand. Sensing the onslaught of their respective quarter-life crises, they have found each other’s profiles on the internet, spontaneously bought plane tickets and are now signed up to live each other’s lives for a while. We witness their delights, frustrations and misunderstandings as they discover the idiosyncrasies of life in the other’s culture through the lens of their own. Each episode features a Skype conversation featuring flashbacks to memorable moments since Jörg and Duncan last spoke.
If you’ve ever received a dirty look in a German restaurant after asking for tap-water, or wondered why the Kiwi dinner you were invited to never eventuated, episode 7 is for you. Duncan and Jörg once more reach out to each other across a cultural gap that they may never be able to close, but can at least learn to shrug at and smile about.
Co-directors of Lifeswap, William Connor and Steffen Kreft, have spent 15 years moving between New Zealand and Berlin, teaching, writing, drawing, and working together on puppetry and animation projects. They have collaborated with international clients including the Goethe-Institut, Arte, Education New Zealand, Greenpeace, the Australian High Commission and several New Zealand ministries. Steffen has a Masters in Design from Massey University and William has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters.
hand
by stephen Kang
NZ | 2021 | 15 min | Drama
They call her the Hand. She is the best at pickpocketing amongst the group. While everyone is trying to figure out her secret skill of stealing and disappearing, she plots to run away with her lover for good. The group begins to crumble. The Hand, wedged between the dissolving group and her lover, must make a choice.
Born in South Korea, director Stephen Kang grew up in New Zealand, and represented New Zealand at the Berlinale Talent Campus. Most recently he finished shooting a New Zealand Film Commission funded short film, Breathe. His short film Blue - the tale of a fallen TV mascot - won the Grand Prix at 2011 Cannes Critics’ Week, while his micro budget feature Desert debuted at 2010 Busan International Film Festival, to be later released in local cinemas.
disrupt
by Jennifer ward-lealand
NZ | 2021 | 14 min | Drama
When a burglary goes wrong, a meth addict must choose between his whanau and his next fix.
Director Jennifer Te Atamira Ward-Lealand is a renowned New Zealand theatre and film actor, director, teacher, and intimacy coordinator. Spanning a career of 40 years, she has appeared in over 120 theatre performances: Greek, Shakespeare, drama and comedy, devised and musical theatre. Her screen credits include the 1993 movie Desperate Remedies, as well as appearances in The Footstep Man, the soap Shortland Street and Australian comedy series Full Frontal.
lifeswap: she’ll be right
by William connor and Steffen kreft
NZ | 2017 | 7 min | Comedy | Animation
On his way back from Germany, Jörg pays Duncan’s Aussie Aunty Cheryl a flying visit and Duncan teaches him that, though the term “New Zealand” is often understood around the world to be a synonym for “Australia”, “there are some key personality differences you need to be aware of, Jörg”.“She’ll be Right” takes us on a giddying day trip to the South Seas where reverse jandal strap sunburn and “stingers” are balanced nicely by a deep-seated national hunch that everything will be okay.
Co-directors of Lifeswap, William Connor and Steffen Kreft, have spent 15 years moving between New Zealand and Berlin, teaching, writing, drawing, and working together on puppetry and animation projects. They have collaborated with international clients including the Goethe-Institut, Arte, Education New Zealand, Greenpeace, the Australian High Commission and several New Zealand ministries. Steffen has a Masters in Design from Massey University and William has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters.
walk a mile
by judith Cowley
NZ | 2019 | 16 min | Drama
Old Russ doesn’t want to care about anyone, especially that noisy family next door. But when tragedy strikes his neighbours he changes his mind.
Director Judith Cowley is a writer and director. She was raised in a New Zealand family where stories were an important part of the everyday and were used to explain, exaggerate, teach, fill-in-the-gaps and entertain.
Walk a Mile was screened at NZIFF and Show Me Shorts International Film Festivals in 2019, as well as in many overseas festivals across Asia, Australia, USA, Europe and Britain, where it won various awards. Judith is also a playwright. Her play, In the Pound was produced and chosen as a finalist in the Short and Sweet Play competition in Auckland.
thE push
by kyan krumdieck
NZ | 2021 | 15 min | Thriller
While tramping with Dan in the remote NZ Southern Alps, Tash thinks she sees someone being pushed off a cliff. When they rush to help the fallen person, they find no sign of a body. They continue to a hut for the night. A Man is already there. Tash is convinced they are sharing the hut with a murderer, as Dan’s doubts about her fester. The scabs are ripped off the couple’s fundamental problems, revealing how inaction and disbelief can make you complicit in something terrible.
Director Kyan Krumdieck is a Christchurch NZ-raised Queer filmmaker living in Wellington. Growing up in the South Island, he spent many night making awkward small talk with strangers in tramping huts. Ever since he’s wanted to tell a story like The Push. His previous short Repugnant earned him the 2018 SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year Award. In 2020 he made his first series Sextortion for TVNZ, starring The Push writer Thomas Sainsbury.
lifeswap: germlish
by William connor and Steffen kreft
NZ | 2017 | 7 min | Comedy | Animation
In episode 11, a comedy of errors ending in an unintended declaration of love for Professor Tracy’s elderly mother leads Jörg to discover that many of the English terms he’s been using are actually imposters, fake English words “invented by Germans for other unsuspecting Germans”. Once again, Duncan comes to the rescue and lifts the lid on the three most dangerous examples of “Germlish”.
Co-directors of Lifeswap, William Connor and Steffen Kreft, have spent 15 years moving between New Zealand and Berlin, teaching, writing, drawing, and working together on puppetry and animation projects. They have collaborated with international clients including the Goethe-Institut, Arte, Education New Zealand, Greenpeace, the Australian High Commission and several New Zealand ministries. Steffen has a Masters in Design from Massey University and William has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters.