Pork Pie goes to Cannes
Kiwi movie Pork Pie is set to zoom its way into the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Tom Hern, producer of the remake of the 1981 Kiwi cult classic Goodbye Pork Pie, will travel to France this month for a showing at the world’s most famous film festival, which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary.
Pork Pie’s screening at Cannes will thrust the flick in front of international distributors who will play a major role in deciding the fate of the film in the global market.
“Cannes is kind of like the event of the year in terms of media connecting with financiers and distributors and sale agents,” Hern said. “So we all arrive in that town on the French Riviera and hustle our wares for a couple of weeks. I’ll be there with bells on.”
Previous New Zealand movies to have aired at Cannes include Rain, Utu, Crush, Ngati, The Navigator and Vigil. Several Kiwi short films have also screened, including Night Shift, Blue, Meathead and The Six Dollar Fifty Man.
The exposure set to be enjoyed by Pork Pie, which follows three random acquaintances as they journey the length of New Zealand in a stolen Mini Cooper, isn’t restricted to Cannes.
The movie has also earned an invite to a prominent American film festival this year — the details of which are still under wraps.
The film also opened the Gold Coast Film Festival in April and showed at an open-air cinema on Sydney Harbour.
Pork Pie has even had a small industry screening in Los Angeles. “We have got quite a bit of interest in the American market off the back of that screening,” said Hern.