The Film Archive screens Kombi Nation
Listing details: Kombi Nation (2003) film screening
When: 7pm, Friday and Saturday, 26-27 April & 3-4 May
Where: The New Zealand Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington
Ticket price: $8 public / $6 concession
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kombi Nation
The Film Archive screens Kombi Nation, a humorous take on the great kiwi “O.E.” and surely the only film in history to start in Levin and end in Italy! Four
young New Zealanders set off on the trip of a lifetime. What could possibly go wrong?
Shot around Europe on Super 16 and digital video, by a small film making crew of five, Kombi Nation reflects the intrepidness of the kiwi O.E.
“Kombi Nation is an entertaining riff on that Kiwi rite of passage – the Big OE. The film opens on the tomboyish Sal, a Levin
22-year-old heading for London to join her uptight big sister Maggie and Maggie’s bimbo-ish mate Liz. It comes, to put
it mildly, as a surprise to Liz and Maggie that Sal has a film crew in tow, which plans to follow the pals on their
classic Kombi tour of Europe. The crew has paid for Sal’s flight, in return they want a slice of reality TV. The
dramatic and comic potential of this clever set-up is rich enough by Lahood ups the ante by introducing a snake in the
grass: Scott, who has money and is from Napier, charms his way into the touring party on the grounds that he knows
something about VW motors. He is both less and more than he seems. Cue mayhem.” - Peter Calder, Weekend Herald, 11 October 2003
“Sometimes relatively unknown films take you totally by surprise. Kombi Nation is one such film. I hadn't heard of this film before I selected it for review, but now I can tell you - this film from
New Zealand is a little gem. Writer and director Grant Lahood has created a highly entertaining film based on the
ambition of many young people to backpack their way through Europe, although this trip isn't quite the dream our
travellers had hoped for. [...] Grant actually shares the writing credit with his four principal actors. Although he
wrote the screenplay, considerable adlibbing was done by the actors, adding their contributions to the screenplay.” –
Steve Crawford, michaeldvd.com.au
Kombi Nation will screen at the Film Archive, Wellington. 7pm, Friday and Saturday, 26-27 April and 3-4 May.
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