Wins for Wilderpeople
Box office hit scoops big awards.
Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople was the big winner at last night’s Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards. The film, an adaptation of Barry Crump’s novel Wild Pork and Watercress, made a clean sweep of all the biggies, including best film, director and screenplay. The film’s stars Julian Dennison, Sam Neill and Rima Te Wiata took home best actor, supporting actor and supporting actress respectively, and the movie’s spectacular wild boar helped it bring home the bacon that is best visual effects.
Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle nipped across town from the red carpet premiere of his new film T2: Trainspotting to present the award for best cinematography to the western starring Michael Fassbender, Slow West, which won four awards, affectionately known as Moas, including best score.
Other big winners were Miriama McDowell, who was named best actress for her work in The Great
Maiden’s Blush, which also won best self-funded film, and the provincial rugby doco The Ground We Won, which won best documentary.
Meanwhile in Newmarket the glitzy red carpeted, Britannia-themed T2: Trainspotting premiere was in full swing. The film, a two-decades-inthe-waiting sequel to the 1996 classic Trainspotting, opens in cinemas on Thursday. Despite dealing with heroin addiction, the original movie was a cinematic sensation, presenting a thrilling, vicarious and often riotous trip through Edinburgh’s grungy underbelly. T2 picks up the story 20 years later, reuniting the original cast, including Ewan McGregor, and offering an unexpectedly emotional and resonant experience.