Film-maker back from US premiere of ‘powerful’ film
Invercargill filmmaker James Crisp is back from New York after his 15-minute short film was selected to play in the Rochester Film Festival.
The Good Neighbour, shot in Australia in 2011, was also selected for the Blue Mountain Film Festival and the Byron Bay Film Festival last year.
This was the first time Crisp travelled overseas to present the film, which was based on the Nia Glassie abuse case in 2007.
The Rochester Film Festival is the longest-running short-film festival in the world and is held at the Dryden Theatre building, in Rochester, New York, annually.
The Good Neighbour played on Saturday night, and was the main showing for the weekend.
‘‘It was quite interesting to see the reactions,’’ Crisp said. ‘‘There was a lot of gasping; a bit of shock. Hearing 600 people gasp at the same time was interesting.’’
Crisp was told afterwards that
Neighbour. his film on abuse and the consequence of not reporting it was ‘‘powerful’’.
‘‘It is reassuring that what I wanted to achieve worked out. The whole point of the film was to make people think.’’
Crisp was the only New Zealand filmmaker to have a short selected for the festival.
He said he would consider showing the film in Southland if there was enough interest.