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N E W S.....
November
2008-
Rubbings From a Live Man shows nationwide at the Rialto
Cinemas and the Paramount Theatre in Wellington in November.
Auckland - November 6th
Christchurch and Dunedin - November 13th
For session times and pre booking visit: www.rialto.co.nz
Paramount
Theatre in Wellington - November 6th
For session times and pre booking visit: www.paramount.co.nz
www.rubbingsfromaliveman.com
26
June 2008-
Florian Habicht receives the Harriet Friedlander
Residency!
The
Harriet Friedlander Scholarship Trust, with support from
the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, launched a prestigious
New York residency at Starkwhite Gallery in Auckland last
night (26 June). The Arts Foundation offers its congratulations
to highly-acclaimed New Zealand underground filmmaker Florian
Habicht who is the inaugural recipient of the bi-annual
Harriet Friedlander Residency.
The residency is valued at $80,000, making it one of the
most generous international residencies available to New
Zealand artists. Established by dedicated supporter of the
arts, the late Harriet Friedlander, the Harriet Friedlander
Scholarship Trust will provide all finance for the residence.
Jason Friedlander, son of the late Mrs Friedlander, said
his mother’s love for the arts, New York and its arts
scene was life-long. “Her vision was to allow an artist
to immerse him or herself in the vibrant culture of New
York without any expectations or responsibilities on the
recipient. The residency will expose New Zealand artists
to a different environment and assist in the artist’s
development and provide new opportunities.”
Florian’s digital feature Woodenhead, a surreal musical
fairytale, became a cult hit in New Zealand and screened
at a range of leading international film festivals. He has
directed a number of films including Liebesträume 2000,
Woodenhead 2003 and Kaikohe Demolition 2004. He has also
developed a feature script Permissive Paradise at the Binger
Filmlab in Amsterdam and recently completed the feature
Rubbings from a Live Man, a documentary performed by and
based on the life of Warwick Broadhead. The documentary
will premiere in the New Zealand International Film Festivals
on Sunday, 20 July at 3.45pm Skycity Theatre, Auckland,
followed by a screening on Monday 21 July at 4.350pm, Skycity
Theatre. The documentary will also screen in Wellington
on Saturday 2 Auckland, 7pm at the Paramount Theatre. http://www.nzff.telecom.co.nz
Florian said on hearing the news; “When I was told,
I was just returning from a test screening of an all-consuming
three-year project. While waiting for a flight at Auckland
International Airport, I speculated on the fact that I had
no plans for the future. I watched a plane take off and
dreamed about journeying overseas to reflect and develop
ideas. The offer of the residency came at a perfect time.”
The Arts Foundation has agreed to select recipients and
manage the residency into the future. The length of the
residency will be agreed with each recipient. Arts Foundation
chair Ros Burdon said it was a privilege to help the Friedlander
family realise Mrs Friedlander’s dream. “The
residency is invaluable for New Zealand artists to aspire
to. We encourage Florian to take full advantage of the opportunities
that will be presented to him.” Ros said Florian was
a “resourceful, independent and original filmmaker
who had experienced success at a young age and whose potential
was tremendous”.
The Harriet Friedlander Residency is the Arts Foundation’s
second partnership programme, following the establishment
of the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award in 2007. Recipients
of programmes produced in partnership with third parties
are welcomed into the Foundation’s family of celebrated
artists. The Foundation can provide administration services,
selection of recipients and management of endowments in
partnership with third parties. In all cases, projects can
be perpetuated beyond the lifetimes of the founders. http://www.artsfoundation.org.nz/
04.January 2008 Happy 2008 everyone!
NEW FLORIAN HABICHT DOCUMENTARY WRAPS SHOOT
Florian Habicht’s (‘Kaikohe Demolition’,
‘Woodenhead’) new feature documentary ‘Rubbings
From a Live Man’ has completed shooting.
A striking, intimate portrait of performing artist and director
Warwick Broadhead (well known for his one man shows ‘The
Hunting of the Snark’ and ‘The Selfish Giant’
which he has toured extensively throughout New Zealand as
well as overseas), Habicht and long time collaborator Director
of Photography Christopher Pryor began shooting in September
2007.
“I met Warwick by chance seven years ago when I sold
him a video camera. Since then we have become friends, and
I cast him as Hugo, the eccentric dump boss, in ‘Woodenhead’.
The thing that I, and others who know him, love about spending
time with Warwick is that it’s always full of surprises,
and that he makes you feel really alive. This great feeling,
combined with the incredible facts of his life are what
initially drew me to making a film based on his story.”
Habicht connects strongly with the fact that his subject
has lived and worked outside the mainstream for forty years.
“I moved to New Zealand as a young boy from Berlin
– looking really different from all the local kids
and knowing very little English…I became accepted
though making art. I really remember that! Warwick has also
struggled as an outsider wanting to be true to himself.
I like the idea that I have made a documentary on a mainly
Maori community in Kaikohe, and now a story about an older
gay artist. Being an outsider can be tough, but it gives
you a different, and sometimes very clear, perspective on
the world.”
Producer Philippa Campbell (‘Rain’, ‘No.2’,
‘Black Sheep’) is delighted that the film has
secured financing from the New Zealand Film Commission and
will be distributed locally by Arkles Entertainment. It’s
her first foray into feature documentary making.
“Florian has already proved himself to be one of the
most daring and original emerging feature filmmakers in
New Zealand. I was immediately drawn to the fact that this
is a very strongly felt story, and I love the relationship
between the real and the imagined that has emerged in the
film. There’s a great integrity to the collaboration
between Florian and Warwick and it’s guaranteed to
take audiences on a pretty wild ride. For me too, being
involved in such a handmade filmmaking process has been
very stimulating.”
“Rubbings From a Live Man” will be completed
mid 2008. International sales are being handled by Kathleen
Drumm from NZ Film.
Contact:
Kathleen Drumm: kathleen@nzfilm.co.nz
19 December 2007
Photograph: Warwick Broadhead in “Rubbings From a
Live Man”.
Photographer: Frank Habicht
12.May
2007
Kaikohe Demolition has just screened in Singapore, as
part of the New Zealand Film Festival, organized by New
Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
Kaikohe Demolition screened in Iraq last year, to all the
New Zealand Army Peace Keepers. Uncle Bimm's Niece was present!
Florian just visited Uncle in Kaikohe, and his recovery
from his stroke is remarkable. John and Ben entered the
Easter Demo Derby, but didn't take away any money!
Check out the May North and South magazine for story's on
artists Eve Armstrong, Barnaby Weir and Florian Habicht.
FRANK HABICHT - The Sixties: High Tide and Green Grass
Photographic exhibition at Auckland's Gow Langsford Gallery!
Preview: 29 May, 5-7pm. Exhibtion: 30 May - 30 June
2007
The era of the 1960’s is synonymous with dramatic
political and social revolution and change. This decade
saw the conservatism and restrictions of the preceding post
war 1950’s give way to a more radical libertine generation
committed to fostering utopian ideals of free love, world
peace and harmony. Fashion defined the freedom of the era
in the designs of Mary Quant, with the invention of the
bikini, with the rise of the hemline in the miniskirt and
the reign of the supermodel in Twiggy. It was the decade
that saw the Beatles and the Rolling Stones invade America,
the peak of the civil rights movement, the assassination
of John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcom X. Widespread
protests against the Vietnam War erupted while the end of
the decade gave rise to hope as the world witnessed for
the first time, a man walking on the moon. This fertile
environment encompassed Europe in the 1960’s - an
era that was captured through the lens of Frank Habicht.
Born in Hamburg in 1938, Habicht began his career as a photographer
in 1960 attending the Hamburg School of Photography, from
which he graduated in 1962. He quickly became established
as a freelance photographer and writer in Europe submitting
works to be published in magazines including Camera Magazine,
Spigelreflex Praxis, Twen, Jasmin, Esquire, Hoer Zu, Die
Welt, Sunday Times (UK) and The Guardian. Habicht
also gained employment working as a stills photographer
for film directors, Bryan Forbes, Roman Polanski and Jules
Dassin (1965-68), as in-house photographer for the Playboy
Club in London (1970) and as a freelance photographer for
Top of the Pops (1969). These encounters certainly provided
Habicht direct access to international pop idols and film
stars who became subjects of his most celebrated photographs
and included Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, actor/director
duo Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, actors Vanessa Redgrave,
Marty Feldman and Christopher Lee, director Roman Polanski
and photographer Lord Lichfield.
Habicht’s images capture the uninhibited spirit of
the times offering a glimpse into the heady period that
still manages to arrest the imagination some forty years
later. His book "Young London, Permissive Paradise",
a social document on London's youth, was published in the
late sixties. Another photographic book, "In the Sixties"
(Tandem Press & Axis Publishing London 1997), juxtaposed
those who achieved international fame with the unnamed,
not recorded in history books. Frank says his main concern
in photography is the process of communication to attempt
to keep a situation alive by fusing observer and observed.
In 1981 Frank left a successful international career to
reside in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, drawn to this
unique country for its beauty and tranquillity. He now spends
much of his time devoted to creating images that celebrate
the landscape and community in and around the Bay of Islands
where he lives. His two books, Bay of Islands Where the
Sunday Grass is Greener an acclaimed satirical pictorial
on New Zealand’s Bay of Islands with Kiki and Helme
Heine and his recent Bay of Islands A Paradise Found with
Bob Molloy (Totara Press, Paihia 1995) capture the fun and
friendship to be found in this stunning part of New Zealand.
In October 2004 Frank exhibited his 'Karma Sixties' collection
at the Colette Gallery in Paris. In July 2007 Random House
publishes Frank & son Florian Habicht’s photographic
book 'I DO" - classic New Zealand weddings. Florian
Habicht’s new film project 'Permissive Paradise' is
inspired by Frank’s experiences as a photographer
in London during the sixties. It is anticipated that Frank’s
fascinating images will certainly captivate the wider public
both young and old alike. Though they depict the recent
past, the images are timeless and contemporary, retaining
their relevance either for those generations who experienced
the sixties firsthand or for those who are a product of
them.
http://www.gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz/exhibitions/upcomingexhibitions.asp
Happy
New Year...
24.04.06
Woodenhead New York theatrical release at the Quad Cinemas
from
2 June to 15 June 2006.
34 West 13th Street New York, NY 10011 (212) 255-8800 -
www.quadcinema.com
26.1.2006
Kaikohe Demolition will screen on SBS Television Australia
7.30pm on Friday 3 February 2006.
26.1.2006
Woodenhead will screen in the 13th Titanic
Budapest Film Festival, Hungary. March 30. - April 09.
2006.
26.1.2006
Kaikohe Demolition will screen in the Ministry for Culture
organised New Zealand Film Festival to be presented in Tokyo
in May. The event is part of a cultural diplomacy programme
supported by the New Zealand Government.
3.12.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition will have a free screening at Schokoladen Mitte
Berlin - at 20:30 this Sunday. Ackerstr. 169, Mitte; Tel.
282 65 27; U-Bhf. Rosenthaler Platz; Bus 340 www.schokoladen-mitte.de
27.10.2005
Cinema
Dos Povos Festival in Brazil screens Kaikohe Demolition.
26.10.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition will have a special NZ television screening on
TV2 at 10:30pm (Wednesday 26 October.)
15.10.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition has only just been added to the Internet Movie
Database. So there are very few votes... To vote for the
film CLICK
HERE. Registering only takes a minute. Cheers!
15.10.2005
Auckland's
Academy Cinema will host an entertaining and innovative
one-night-only short Film Exhibition, Elam Past and Present.
Don't miss this opportunity to experience a rare insight
into what Elam moving image students have to offer! Twelve
selected short films and moving image works from students
at the Elam School of Fine Arts will showcase alongside
short works by successful graduates, Florian Habicht and
Briar March. The films, most of which will be screened for
the first time, span an exciting variety of genres including
animation, comedy, drama, experimental and documentary.
Florian's
short film INBETWEEN MOMENTS will sceen. (1995-15mins)
Odball story of a lonely man, waitress and a piece of cake.
To
find out more, visit www.elampastandpresent.com.
Date: Monday 17 October 2005 Time: 6pm
Venue: Academy Cinema (u nder the Auckland Public Library,
44-48 Lorne Street, Auckland)
Phone the Academy: (09) 373 2761
15.10.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition premieres in Berlin at the Z-Bar Cinema in
Mitte.
Die
neuseelaendische Kleinstadt Kaikohe wurde 1991 beruehmt
als Kinder den Santa Claus auf der Weihnachtsparade attackierten.
Habichts Dokumentarfilm konzentriert sich auf etwas Positiveres,
das 'Kaikohe Demolition Derby': ein nicht ungefþhrlicher
Rennsport der Maoris in Schrottautos (Demolition Cars).
'Habicht reflektiert einfuehlsam die Seele und Kultur der
Maoris und versteht mit Charme und NatŸrlichkeit ein unverfþlschtes
Portrait dieser Kleinstadt im Norden Neuseelands zu vermitteln.
Florian Habicht, geboren in Berlin, lebt seit 20 jahren
in Neuseeland. 'Kaikohe Demolition' gewann den Preis des
'Best Digital Feature' bei den New Zealand Screen Awards.
20:00
& 21:00 Cinema info www.z-bar.de
2.9.2005
Woodenhead
screens in Calgary Film Festival USA.
Woodenhead screens at the Waiheke
Community Cinema 9.30pm on September 2 .
Directions:
Catch the Waiheke ferry leaving from Auckland & then
jump on the bus from the ferry to the top of the hill where
the Artworks complex is - the Cinema is in the Artworks
complex, next to Indian restaurant Ajadz.
The 8.45 ferry will just make it by 9.30pm.
There is a return ferry at 12.30am
Phone 372 4240.
27.7.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition wins Best Digital Feature at the New Zealand
Screen Awards 2005. Thanks to the people of Kaikohe &
film stars Ben Haretuku, Uncle Bimm, John & Carmen Zielinski,
and to all their families.
20.7.2005
Killer
Ray, Ray Edmondson, 77, leaves earth and goes to heaven
where he'll perform in the City of Angels. We love you Ray,
have fun, stay in the sun.
Killer
Ray tribute page coming soon!
13.7.2005
Kaikohe Demolition DVD now available in rental stores. The
DVD includes a very classic commentary by the demo men,
bonus derbies, making of featurette, Florian Habicht interview,
Auckland and Kaikohe world premiere screenings and a music
video!!!
2.6.2005
LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD!
A
new experimental documentary by Florian Habicht, Land of
the Long White Cloud, will present a view of New Zealand
nothing like your typical tourist documentary or coffee-table
book. One of 15 projects offered grants in the latest round
of the Screen Innovation Production Fund, the film promises
to be a witty, idiosyncratic look at life in this country.
Habicht,
currently in Amsterdam taking part in a script development
programme at the prestigious Maurits Binger Film Institute
and fresh from attending the Cannes Film Festival, will
be extending his personal brand of filmmaking - a mix of
documentary, fantasy and dark humour - to capture the "true
essence of New Zealand."
The
Auckland filmmaker will be employing the same team that
made his offbeat independent hits Kaikohe Demolition and
Woodenhead, which were both made with support from the Screen
Innovation Production Fund.
" What we achieved with Kaikohe Demolition is what
I want to do with the whole of Aotearoa in this new film,"
he said. "I'm stoked to be supported by the Screen
Innovation Production Fund again. It means we get to make
Land of the Long White Cloud with total freedom to experiment."
The
Screen Innovation Production Fund, a partnership between
Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Film Commission,
supports the moving-image arts by funding innovative and
often low-budget productions. In this funding round, the
Fund received 90 applications requesting more than $1.5
million. Of these, 15 projects were offered funding totalling
$274,141.
Land
of t the Long White Cloud will be shot while the script
for Permissve Paradise is being further developed (with
the New Zealand Film Commission and Maurits Binger Film
Institute.)
(Creative
New Zealand Press Release.)
10.5.2005
MAGICAL WOODENHEAD SELLS FOR U.S. THEATRICAL RELEASE
Florian
Habicht's mythical, magical New Zealand feature WOODENHEAD
has sold to Olive Films for distribution in North America.
The deal was negotiated by Olive Film's Farhad Arshad with
Kathleen Drumm of NZ Film.
"We
are excited to distribute this extraordinary work of art
in North America" said Farhad Arshad. "Years from
now, we are confident artists and film lovers will look
at WOODENHEAD and Florian Habicht as the genius that gave
birth to a whole new genre in filmmaking. We can only compare
it to the works of David Lynch and Hal Hartley."
Director
Florian Habicht comments, "It's fantastic for WOODENHEAD
to be picked up by Olive Films, a company that sees films
as artistic expression. To be included with directors like
Federico Fellini, Guy Madden and the Quay Brothers is thrilling.
WOODENHEAD was made by an audacious team, and can only be
distributed by an audacious company!"
The North American distribution of WOODENHEAD coincides
with Mirama's US release of Terry GilliamÕs much anticipated
THE BROTHERS GRIMM. WOODENHEAD was financed by the Screen
Innovation Fund, a partnership between Creative New Zealand
and the New Zealand Film Commission. World sales are handled
by New Zealand Film.
2.5.2005
WOODENHEAD screens at the Film Archive Mediaplex
Wellington, cnr Taranaki & Ghuznee Streets.
Thursday 19 May at 7pm, Friday 20 May at 7pm & Saturday
21 May at 7pm.
22.4.2005
Kaikohe
Demolition will screen in the SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL FILM
FESTIVAL in June 2005, and SANFRANCISCO DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL
May 2005! The DVD edition has now been completed and will
be released in New Zealand by Magna Pacific and Germany
by Kinoline Distribution. (Both in June 2005.) Florian is
still in Amsterdam developing his new script PERMISSIVE
PARADISE, loosly based on his Father Frank Habicht's experiences
as a photographer in London during the sixties, and Florian's
own private sixties!
20.4.2005
Helena
Brook's short film 'Nothing Special' has been selected for
the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL official competition. The film
was art directed by Woodenhead's (art director / lead actress)
Teresa Peters! + Costumes by Woodenhead's costume designer
and performer Georgie Hill!
14.4.2005
Kaikohe Demolition will be the 'Highlight' of the HOKIANGA
FILM FESTIVAL!
28.2.2005
After
13 weeks, the KAIKOHE DEMOLITION season at Auckland's academy
cinema has come to an end. Next month new seasons will begin
in Hamilton, Te Puke, Nelson, Dunedin, Taupo and Rotorua.
More cinemas to be confirmed. Kaikohe will also screen in
the Hokianga and Wairoa film festivals, and special screenings
in Whangarei on April 22.
30.1.2005
Thanks
everyone who attened the outdoor screening of KAIKOHE DEMOLITION
in Paihia. Over 400 people and no rain!
1.1.2005
New Zealand Herald TIME OUT SECTION includes KAIKOHE DEMOLITION
in its top5 documentary list for 2004! Together with Capturing
the Friedmans, To Be and To Have, Spellbound, and Touching
the Void.
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