A scene from the film Blind Mice. Photo / Supplied
This year's New Zealand International Film Festival has announced the six finalists in its its local best short film competition, with many of the nominated directors including some well-known acting names.
Canadian-Kiwi director Alison Maclean - whose credits include everything from her 1992 New Zealand feature, Crush, to episodes of
Sex and the City and The Tudors - selected the six finalists, with festival programmers Bill Gosden and Michael McDonnell having viewed 91 entries to prepare a shortlist of 12.
Among the film-makers up for the $5000 Madman Entertainment Jury Prize and the $3000 Friends of the Civic Award are actor-writer Oscar Kightley, and actors-turned directors Chelsie Preston-Crayford (Home by Christmas, The Cult, Underbelly) and Aidee Walker (Outrageous Fortune, How to Meet Girls from a Distance).
Here's how the six finalists line up, with comments from Maclean:
1: Tom's Dairy
Director: Oscar Kightley
A poignant and humorous short film about a young boy growing up in West Auckland in 1981.
