Director Jonathan King’s new film Realiti, featuring Graham McTavish among the cast, will have its world premiere in Wellington on July 31st, with further screenings there and in Auckland in early August. Written by Chad Taylor, the film was made whilst McTavish was also busy with pickups for a certain trilogy; the director says:
“The Hobbit’s Graham McTavish plays a featured (non prosthetic – or kilt!) role in the film, and he’s really great in it: a different tone to his fantasy-related work, but a part that really suits his authority and charisma. Graham worked on the film at the same time as he was shooting The Hobbit here and it was a thrill for us how much attention he gave to our small film at the same time as he was involved in such a big one! I think it will be great for fans to see Graham in a different kind of role.”
Described as ‘an arthouse science fiction film’, Realiti’s official press release tells us:
‘REALITi was always going to be different in tone from other contemporary sci fi pictures. We wanted to make a science fiction film using the style and language of European “new wave” movies. It’s a love letter to filmmakers like Chris Marker and Jean-Luc Godard, but at the same time a very New Zealand movie. We wanted to depict the modern urban landscape of New Zealand: the cities and suburbs, the corporate interests, and the fears we import from overseas.
REALITi foregoes Hollywood style special effects; instead it’s heavily influenced by the grammar and narrative boldness of the new wave cinema of the 1960s. The film looks back to look forward to a very near future. It’s modern as in modernist, with landmark New Zealand buildings like the CIT Building in Heretaunga, the Avalon tower in Lower Hutt and the acclaimed ‘Sutch House’ designed by Ernest Plishke as key locations. The technology is a close cousin to what we all use now, but we aren’t going to bore an audience with close ups of how any of it works, any more than we would explain a light switch. This was the smallest budget film [director Jonathan King has] made … but also the most fun. It was made by a small group of people, over several months, all working hard for a common goal.”
The film stars, alongside McTavish, Nathan Meister, Michelle Langstone, Aroha White and Nathaniel Lees. The plot can be (very briefly!) summarized thus:
“Vic Long is a media executive with a young family and a bright future. But when a petty crime throws a strange light on the world he has made, he begins to question the very facts of his existence.”
If you’re in New Zealand, you can see the film at the New Zealand International Film Festival – check out the details here for Auckland screenings and here for screenings in Wellington. You can read more about Realiti at the official website, here. The team behind the movie hope to have more film festival screenings around the world, with international distribution after that, and availability on Video on Demand internationally before too long – we’ll let you know when we hear more!