Kiwi film One Thousand Ropes to premiere at Berlin Film Festival

One year after Tickled and Wilderpeople stormed the Sundance Film Festival, another Kiwi film is preparing for a huge festival debut.

One Thousand Ropes, a new film from director Tusi Tamasese, is set to premiere at the prestigious Panorama section of Berlin Film Festival.

It will be just the third local movie to have the honour. The last New Zealand flick to make it there was No. 2 in 2006.

"It is a great honour to be selected in Panorama Special for the world premiere of our film, and thrilling to be returning to Berlin," Tamasese said in a statement.

His last movie, The Orator, screened at the festival in 2013.

Starring Frankie Adams and Uelese Petaia, One Thousand Ropes follows a father reconnecting with his estranged daughter, struggling to balance his desire to form a relationship with his want to get revenge against the man who beat her.

"Just leave her be. She's scared of me, but she keeps me company," Petaia's character, Maea, says.

The trailer teases a dark and personal drama, with intense dialogue and dream sequences.
It is a bilingual movie, with both English and Samoan dialogue.

The Berlin Film Festival starts on February 9 in Berlin. One Thousand Ropes will air in the Panorama section alongside Sundance hits Berlin Syndrome and Call Me by Your Name.

The final Wolverine movie, Logan, will open the festival.

One Thousand Ropes is released in New Zealand on March 23.