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| News > Archive News | |
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| Toa Fraser’s No.2 in competition for Sundance Film Festival | |
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| Losalini Dulakiverata | |
| 4 January 2006 | |
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| NZ Film Commission Press Release 29th November 2005: ROBERT REDFORD’S FESTIVAL PICKS NEW ZEALAND’S No. 2 | |
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‘Capacity, movie stars’, and ‘sold out’ are the watchwords for Sundance, which is a mecca for the US independent film industry. Sundance was founded by Robert Redford in 1981, and selects films for their originality, creativity and diversity. The Festival has a history of ‘discoveries’ including Shine; The Blair Witch Project; The Motorcycle Diaries and Wolf Creek. The most recent New Zealand movie to be selected was Whale Rider in 2003 which won the Audience Prize. No. 2 is written and directed by award-winning New Zealand playwright, Toa Fraser. "From a backyard in Mt. Roskill to the Sundance Film Festival, it's crazy and very cool, a big honour. I'm very proud of the film and can't wait for audiences to get to see it" says Toa Fraser. |
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The starring role of Nanna Maria is played by Emmy Award-winner Ruby Dee. Ms Dee has appeared in many feature films including Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever and Do The Right Thing. No. 2, with casting by Diana Rowan (The Piano; Whale Rider), features a fine ensemble of both well established and emerging New Zealand actors including Taungaroa Emile and Mia Blake. Joining them is one of Scandinavia’s most successful young actresses, Tuva Novotny. Toa Fraser, Ruby Dee and Mia Blake will attend Sundance as guests of the Festival. They will be joined by producers Tim White, Philippa Campbell and Lydia Livingstone along with Kathleen Drumm of NZ Film, who is handling international sales of the movie. “Sundance is the premier film festival in America, the leading North American showcase for independent film and particularly famous for discovering talent” says NZ Film’s Kathleen Drumm. “Like all A Grade events, selection is an extremely competitive process and we’re thrilled that Toa’s film has been chosen. We anticipate serious international distributor interest as a result. Many of these distributors will be at Sundance which we expect to be a very busy market for us.” No. 2’s cinematographer is Leon Narbey (Whale Rider; Perfect Creature) and the film was edited by Chris Plummer (In My Father’s Den). No. 2 was produced by Tim White (Ned Kelly; Two Hands; Oscar & Lucinda), Lydia Livingstone and Philippa Campbell (Black Sheep; Rain) for Colonial Encounters & Southern Light Films. The film was financed by the New Zealand Film Commission, Working Title Films, Miramax Films, NZ On Air and TVNZ. The 2006 Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City, Utah from 19 - 29 January. There were over 3,000 submissions to the festival for its 2006 event. No. 2 will be released in New Zealand on 16 February 2006 by Buena Vista International. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT NZ PUBLICIST: Diana Goulding, Mediamix Ltd Tel: +64 9 480 4858; Cell: +64 21 33 11 03 info@mediamixltd.co.nz NZ DISTRIBUTOR: Bede Stevens, Buena Vista International Tel: +64 9 302 7566; bede.stevens@disney.com INTERNATIONAL SALES AGENT: Kathleen Drumm, NZ Film Tel: +64 4 382 7682 kathleen@nzfilm.co.nz INTERNATIONAL PUBLICISTS: Mark Pogachefsky & James Lewis MPRM MPogachefsky@MPRM.com Or refer to the Sundance Film Festival site: www.sundance.org for more details NO. 2 stars Ruby Dee, Tuva Novotny, Mia Blake, Taungaroa Emile, Tanea Heke, Xavier Horan, Nathaniel Lees, Miriama McDowell, Rene Naufahu, Antony Starr, Pio Terei |
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| Toa Fraser | |
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His first play, Bare, premiered in 1998 and achieved national and international success, winning Best New Play and Best New Playwright at the New Zealand Chapman Tripp Awards. It played to considerable acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1999. In that same year, Fraser followed up Bare with the solo show, No. 2, performed by Madeleine Sami. No.2 won a prestigious Festival First Award when it was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2000, and has since had rave reviews in Jamaica, Australia, the UK, and recently it was translated into Spanish for the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. In 1999, he won New Zealand's prestigous Sunday Star Times Bruce Mason Award. His work continues to be informed by his Fijian/British heritage, as demonstrated by his third play, Paradise, which premiered in Wellington, in April 2001. In September 2001, Toa was the recipient of the University of South Pacific's Writer in Residence programme. No.2 marks screenwriter Toa Fraser’s directorial debut. (Source:www.playmarket.org.nz) |
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