The Six Dollar Fifty Man Selected

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, 8th December 2009

The Six Dollar Fifty Man Selected For Top U.S. Festival

Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland’s New Zealand short film THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN has been chosen to screen in competition at the acclaimed 26th Sundance Film Festival, held in and around Park City in Utah each January. This year the Festival's Short Film Program comprises 70 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,092 submissions.

The Six Dollar Fifty Man has gone from strength to strength after having its world premiere and later gaining ‘Special Distinction’ at Festival de Cannes in France earlier this year. More recently, it won the ‘Black Pearl Award 09’ for ‘Best Narrative Short’ at the Middle East International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates. It won a slate of awards at this year’s Qantas Film and Television Awards, which included: Best Short Film, Best Performance in a Short Film and Best Screenplay for a Short Film.

Written and directed by Wellingtonians Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland and produced by Wendy Cuthbert, The Six Dollar Fifty Man tells the story of a gutsy 8-year-old boy who retreats into a make believe world to deal with playground bullying.

Co-writer/director Louis Sutherland says the film’s success so far is because of its distinct New Zealand flavour, but also the universal story, “Essentially everyone at some stage of their life has felt isolated, bullied or picked on. Having this common ground allows the audience to truly connect with the main character and his journey”.

Co-writer/director Mark Albiston says being selected for Sundance is a “really exciting opportunity to team up with a Festival that looks after its writers and directors, hopefully we can create a life-long partnership. Not only is it a window to a huge market- the U.S., but it’s also Oscar-accredited”.

Sundance Film Festival Programmer Kim Yutani says, “This year's short films show extraordinary creativity and originality. Year after year, it’s a privilege to showcase incredibly high-quality filmmaking, courageous storytelling, and some of the most exciting new voices in independent film".

The Sundance Film Festival's shorts program has long been established as a discovery for directors, including: Taika Waititi, Christine Jeffs, Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Alexander Payne, Jason Reitman.

The film was made with finance from the Short Film Fund of the NZ Film Commission and executive produced by Shuchi Kothari and Sarina Pearson of Nomadz Unlimited.

Another New Zealand short film, VOSTOK STATION has also been selected for Sundance in the ‘New Frontier’ section. The eight minute film is set in the arctic wilderness and follows the sole survivor of a cataclysmic disaster experiencing a bewildering moment of fleeting beauty. It is written and directed by Dylan Pharazyn and produced by Richard Collins. It was funded by the Screen Innovation Production Fund, a partnership between NZ Film Commission and Creative NZ, and post-produced by the NZ Film Commission.

The 26th Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21st to January 31st, 2010, for more information see http://festival.sundance.org/2009
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