Tiki Taane doco to feature on screen at festival
Well-known New Zealand artist and producer Tiki Taane’s documentary, Tiki Taane in Session with CSO (Christchurch Symphony Orchestra), will feature at the Misty Flicks Film Festival in Te Awamutu next month as a special screening.
The Misty Flicks Film Festival showcases films with a connection to the Waikato and Central North Island.
Often local films have great success internationally, but we don’t make the connection that the films have come from our own region.
Pāpāmoa-based Taane’s awardwinning concert documentary was filmed in May 2021 in front of a soldout audience at the recently restored Christchurch Town Hall.
Taane collaborated with the 50-piece Christchurch Symphony Orchestra to reimagine 13 compositions from his back catalogue, including his breakthrough 2008 hit Always on My Mind.
“It’s a concert that I recorded and filmed with a 50-piece orchestra that you just don’t get to see very often,” Taane says.
“It’s done in a way that it’s superengaging, and you’ll walk away feeling like you’ve been at the concert. Plus, there’s behind-the-scenes footage too.”
After the world premiere in August, the Kiwi muso is excited for his work to be showcased at the Regent Theatre Te Awamutu during the Misty Flicks Film Festival.
“I’m super-stoked because my bones are from this area. I’m Ngāti
Maniapoto; my dad’s side [are] from Waitomo area. When I found out about this festival, I was like, ‘I’ve got to send my film in’. To have it screened here in this incredible 91-year-old Regent Theatre is just such a vibe,” he says.
“To have my film screened in general is exciting because it was such a labour of love to make it. Then to actually have it screened in cinemas and be part of this Misty Flicks Film Festival is super-cool.”
There will be three screenings (November 24, 25 and 26) of Tiki Taane in Session with CSO, both followed by a Q&A session with the artist on November 24 and 25.
Taane says it’s his first music documentary film where it’s 100 per cent him — he’s the musician, director, producer, sound editor and “financial dude”.
In the past, he has created music for the likes of documentaries SIX60: Till the Lights Go Out and When a City Falls, Gerard Smyth’s feature-length piece on the Christchurch earthquakes.
“I’ve got some more film work coming my way which I’m super stoked about. This is an area that I’ve always wanted to push into and now that I’ve been around ‘for a minute’, I feel like this is a nice natural progression to start getting into making music for film and being part of that format,” Taane says.
“Cinema has always had its ups and downs. It’s really tough at the moment because of online streaming, and everything is on YouTube, Netflix, Neon. But you still can’t get that vibe and that feeling of being in a cinema — big screen, sound system, sitting in the dark, watching something for the first time. You just can’t beat that.
Taane encourages the community to support the filmmakers and the Misty Flicks Film Festival as it’s “something that’s really unique to this area”.
“Obviously, I want you to come to my film, but also go see all the other ones too and support this art form, industry and the people behind it. That’s what it’s about, getting people in here to experience something new, something exciting — to be moved by cinema, to be moved by stories, to be moved by the people who make these films, who put a lot of energy, time and effort into creating something like this,” he says.
“All it takes is for you to jump online, grab a ticket, get your butts down here and enjoy something really cool. Shout-out to Misty Flicks Film Festival for inviting me, and I’m really looking forward to being part of the festival and hanging out in Te Awamutu for three days.”