NZ short film wins at Sundance

New Zealand short film The Six Dollar Fifty Man has won the Jury Prize for International Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

During the awards ceremony Wellingtonians Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland thanked their supporters in New Zealand, including the cast and crew who volunteered their time.

“We are fortunate enough in New Zealand to have a crew that pretty much walk off Peter Jackson’s sets and then jump on ours and work for two or three weeks for a day rate. That’s the kiwi kind of attitude, and we’re proud of that,” said Sutherland.

Watch the short film awards ceremony online (fast forward to 48min-51min to see Albiston and Sutherland's winning speech).

Written and directed by Albiston and Sutherland and produced by Wendy Cuthbert, The Six Dollar Fifty Man tells the story of a gutsy eight-year-old boy who retreats into a make believe world to deal with playground bullying.

The Six Dollar Fifty Man has gone from strength to strength after having its world premiere and gaining ‘Special Distinction’ at Cannes last year. Last week, it won the ‘Cooper Award’ for ‘Best Short Film’ Australasia’s only Academy-qualifying film festival, Flickerfest.

The 15 minute short won a slate of awards at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards, which included: Best Short Film, Best Performance in a Short Film and Best Screenplay for a Short Film. It also won the ‘Black Pearl Award 09’ for ‘Best Narrative Short’ at the Middle East International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates and Best Short Fiction Film in the official competition of Expresion En Corto International Film Festival in Mexico.

The 26th Sundance Film Festival is held in and around Park City in Utah each January. This year the festival's short film program comprised 70 short films from US and international filmmakers selected from a record 6092 submissions. 

The next stop after Sundance for The Six Dollar Fifty Man is the short film festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France, next week. It will then be screening in the Generation Kplus competition of the 60th Berlinale Internationale Film Festival from 11- 21 February 2010.