A Kiwi film that was lucky to be completed at all has been heralded as one of the must-see films at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
Film website Indiewire.com has tipped Jake Mahaffy's two-and-a-half minute film A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry as one of the must-see shorts of the Utah-based festival which kicks off on Friday, New Zealand time.
A scene from A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry.
New Zealand-United Kingdom co-production Slow West, which stars Michael Fassbender, has been picked as one of the 15 films the site's most excited about.
"New Zealand-based American filmmaker Jake Mahaffy clearly had fun creating this two-and-a-half minute adventure story about a knight in shining armour," reviewer Kim Adelman wrote.
"It's a textbook example of how to do a concise short - and get laughs."
Mahaffy, who's a lecturer at Auckland University's media, film and television department, says the film almost didn't get finished.
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"I let the footage sit around, never thinking I'd be able to actually finish the film," he said.
But thanks to support from the New Zealand Film Commission and Peter Jackson's post-production unit Park Road, he was able to afford to get the visuals completed.
Three Kiwi productions or co-productions will premiere over the festival, including A.D. 1363, Slow West, and New Zealand-Canada co-production Turbo Kid.
A scene from Turbo Kid.
Z for Zachariah, which was filmed in New Zealand and People, Places, Things, which stars Jemaine Clement, will also be shown at the festival.
"The significance and achievement of selection to our filmmakers, and when using that term I mean all the cast and crew involved in the productions, cannot be underestimated," New Zealand Film Commission spokeswoman Jasmin McSweeney said.
She said A.D. 1363 was fun, universal, and deserving of the attention it was getting.
Sixty shorts and 127 feature films will be shown at this year's festival which runs until February 1.
- AAP