The world's film review bible, Variety, has given self-funded Hawke's Bay-made documentary This Way of Life a rave review, helping it in its bid to qualify for Academy Award consideration.
Variety reviewer John Anderson describes This Way of Life as "A collision of realities - earthly nature vs human nature" with
a "very big heart catapulting this Kiwi-made story of a Maori family beyond mere portraiture and into a realm of metaphysics, melancholia and cosmic doubt".
The film is screening in New York and Los Angeles as part of the International Documentary Association's DocuWeeks showcase, which helps to qualify new feature documentaries for Academy Award consideration.
Shot over four years against the isolated Ruahine Mountains and beautiful Waimarama Beach in Hawke's Bay, This Way of Life follows Peter and Colleen Karena as they raise their six children off the land.
Speaking from Vancouver, producer Sumner Burstyn said the run for an Oscar nomination was audacious.
"Being selected for the DocuWeeks Oscar qualifying run has been a big bonus with full houses in Los Angeles and New York over the last week."
This Way of Life, which was made for less than US$100,000 ($136,000), with no crew apart from the film-makers, Tom and Sumner Burstyn, won a Jury award at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and recently completed a 16-week screening run at selected cinemas around New Zealand.
