Documentary Edge Homepage
Documentary Edge Festival
Documentary Edge Industry
Documentary Edge Campus
DOCU72
The Documentary NZ Trust
Press Release: 25 Feb 2009 Documentary festival rolls out red carpet for winners
The truthseekers of cinema held their own version of the Oscars tonight, as the DOCNZ 2009 Film Festival hosted their annual awards night. Held at Auckland’s Hopetoun Alpha, more than 250 guests including politicians, media and members of the broadcasting industry were present at the 8pm ceremony that saw Broadcasting Minister Dr. Jonathan Coleman give the keynote address.
The big winner of the night was New Zealand director Stuart Page, who picked up the prize for Best New Zealand Feature to go along with the Staples Rodway Best Emerging New Zealand Filmmaker award for his documentary Shustak. The film is exploration of the legacy of enigmatic radical Lawrence Shustak, a popculture philosopher who left New York in the 1970s and later set up the photography department at the University of Canterbury. Page is probably bestknown for directing the infamous 1987 AFFCO music video for the Skeptics.
The Kirsty MacDonald-directed Assume Nothing was singled out for special mention in the New Zealand Competition - Feature category.
Winner for the New Zealand Competition – Short section was the Susan Potter directed film An Ordinary Person, which is a critical examination of the “homosexual panic” legal defense that saw the killer of Auckland man David McNee escape a murder conviction.
The Screenrights Best Educational Documentary was won by Monique Oomen’s The Last Western Heretic, a look at the life and trials of prominent Wellington theologian Llyod Geering.
In the International Competition – Feature section the Steve James and Peter Gilbert directed death penalty film At the Death House Door picked up the supreme award. Directors Leon Gellera and Marcus Vetter’s IsraeliPalestinian organtransplant story The Heart of Jenin earned a special mention in the same category. Directors Juan Diego Spoerer and Hakan Engstrom won the International Competition – Short section for Don Roberto’s Shadow.
In the technical categories:
- Heddy Honigmann was awarded the prize for Best Director for her film El Olvido (Oblivion).
- Francis Verster won the title of Best Editor for Sea Point Days.
- John Collins and Ian Kerr won Best Cinematographer for their work on The Wild Horse. Redemption.
The 2009 DOCNZ Festival takes place in Auckland (February 26 - March 8), Wellington (March 12 - 22) and Christchurch/Dunedin (March 26 - April 5).