5:00 pm - By Russell Baillie
While the focus on New Zealand at the Cannes Film Festival might be the hype for Peter Jackson's The Lord of The Rings trilogy and Christine Jeffs' entry in the Directors Fortnight with her modest coming-of-age drama 'Rain', a Kiwi film-maker figures in the big league of the giant movie event.
He's Andrew Adamson, director of the animated comedy 'Shrek' which was a surprise nomination for the Palme D'Or, the festival's biggest prize to be announced this weekend.
Previous New Zealand Palme D'Or nominees are Vincent Ward for 'Vigil' and Jane Campion for 'The Piano' which won the prize in 1993.
Having started his computer animation career in the mid 80s at Auckland companies The Mouse That Roared and Video Images Ltd where he helped design some of the early broadcast logos for TV3, Adamson left to work in the United States joining Pacific Data Images in 1991.
The company formed a co-production with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio in 1996 and Shrek is the second animated feature - after 1998's Antz - from the joint venture.
Adamson's credits include being visual effects supervisor on 'Batman Forever', 'Batman & Robin' and 'A Time To Kill' as well as many American television commercials.
Shrek is his debut feature as a director and he is co-credited with fellow animator Vicky Jenson.
The movie, an irreverent fairytale about the adventures of a flatulent cynical green ogre opens in American theatres this week. It's tipped as an early hit among the northern hemisphere's summer blockbuster season. It begins screening in New Zealand on June 28.
Shrek himself is voiced by Mike "Austin Powers" Myers, and other characters get their lines supplied by Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow.
It's the second American animated feature to be in the running for Cannes top prize since Peter Pan in 1953. But it is thought to be a rank outsider for the Palme D'Or, especially as Adamson finds himself up against past winners such as David Lynch, the Coen Brothers and Jean-Luc Godard.
Though Adamson may well have helped give the high-brow jury the best laugh they will get this year.
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