Escalator Gets Moving

PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL Friday 29th October 2010

Escalator Gets Moving

The four successful Escalator low budget feature film teams green lit for production will be announced next week via live stream from Wellington and Auckland. Each team will be offered production finance of up to NZ$250,000.

Launched earlier this year, Escalator invited filmmakers to form creative teams of two or more individuals and present three first stage applications to the NZFC for consideration. 251 teams responded with 753 feature film ideas. From this number, 12 teams were chosen to attend a three-day low budget boot camp in June, and then given three months to develop one of their ideas. The final applications for full production financing were considered by an industry panel, the membership of which will be announced on the night.

At 6pm on Monday, 1st November, NZFC CEO Graeme Mason will announce the green-lit films.

Simultaneous functions being hosted by the NZFC in both Wellington and Auckland will be connected by a live stream which can be viewed online at the Escalator 2010 Green light website www.escalator.net.nz.

The 10 final Escalator 2010 teams and their film ideas are:

Actress Wanted
Max Currie, Writer/Director; Carthew Neal, Producer
A struggling actress discovers her whole life is being secretly filmed in preparation for her murder.

Bloodlines
Poata Eruera, Writer; Brad Haami Co-Writer/Co-Producer; Regan Hall Director; Tui Ruwhiu, Co-Producer
Champion fighter Achilles Tiki collapses in the boxing ring, waking in an ancient tribal spirit world. Here he must fight against a deadly curse that has blighted his family for generations. If he fails, his son will be the next to die.

Existence
Juliet Bergh, Co-Writer/Director; Jessica Charlton, Co-Writer; Mhairead Connor, Co-Producer; Melissa Dodd, Co-Producer
Existence is a salvage punk Western set in a post-apocalyptic future. Trapped by her circumstances behind an enclosing fence, Freya dreams of escape and pursues a mysterious outsider who can free her. She destroys her world to discover that the reality of her existence was not what she imagined.

House Bound
Gerard Johnstone, Writer/Director; Luke Sharpe, Producer
When serial offender Kylie Baxter is placed on home detention, she is forced to come to terms with her dithering parents, her unsociable attitudes and a tormented soul that lives within the walls.

I Survived a Zombie Holocaust
Guy Pigden, Co-Writer/Director; Harvey Neville, Co-Writer; Zoe Hobson, Producer
Wesley, a young runner on a zombie film set, has the first day from hell when real zombies overrun the film set… Who are the real zombies and who are the extras? Decapitate with care!

Mistletoe
David Coyle, Writer/Director; Bonnie Slater, Producer
Six strangers, each grappling with a crisis of self, meet by chance on a quiet Christmas Eve and are forced to make the most important decision of their lives.

Pornography
Jonathan Brough, Writer/Director; David Brechin-Smith, Story; Karl Zohrab, Co-Producer; Donna Pearman, Co-Producer
Finding pornographic videos of his teenage daughter on the internet stretches military drone pilot Jeff’s tenuous bond with his family to breaking point.

The Void
Gary Davies, Writer/Director; Mike Hohaia, Co-Producer, Alex Clark, Co-Producer
When four friends on a late night road trip plunge off the edge of reality, their fall through infinite darkness threatens to destroy all hope of survival.

Timeslow
Sally Tran, Co-Writer/Director; Omar Crawford, Co-Writer; Owen Hughes, Producer
Henry is forced to re-evaluate his entire life when he discovers the secret to slowing down time and is propelled into a shifting world of intrigue and danger.

Wasted
Steve Barr, Writer; Steve Whelan-Turnbull, Director; Desray Armstrong, Producer
Outside, the horde of shuffling undead want to eat Pete’s brains. Inside, the shuffling old folk don’t like him much either…

For more information, please visit the Escalator 2010 Green light website www.escalator.net.nz

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