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Short Film Spotlight: TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT

  • December 1, 2009 9:48 am

For this edition of the Short Film Spotlight , I’m presenting this cautiously charming short by New Zealand born filmmaker Taika Waititi. Here’s the synopsis: While waiting for their parents, two boys and a girl meet in the parking lot of a rural pub. What at first seems to be a relationship based on rivalry soon develops into a close friendship as we learn that love can be found in the most unlikely of places. YouTube Preview Image TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT was nominated in 2005 for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Waititi is well known in New Zealand, working in sketch comedy with the likes of comedian Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords (Waititi has written and directed for this cult comedy show). Waititi’s first feature, Eagle vs. Shark, which I like to call Napoleon Dynamite’s geekier Maori cousin, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is available on DVD (Netflix it!).  Read more...

Game, Set, Chant: Wardancing With The Stars

  • November 3, 2009 5:41 am

Consider the sport of rugby — imagine football but, sans padding and helmet — a game I discovered, fell in love with and played throughout college and well into my young professional life before various joints started to take longer to heal.  It’s been described as a barbarian’s sport played by gentlemen, owing to its origins as a violent game contested primarily by the establishment. As if the sport itself was not brutal enough,

Witness the Haka.

YouTube Preview Image

More specifically, the Haka Timatanga, performed solely by the NZ Maori, an all-star team comprised of professional ruggers, all ethnically Maori. And now, the Ka Mate Haka of the NZ All Blacks, the national team.  Read more...