19 Jun 2009
WETA Workshop artist Ben Hawker is bringing his award winning feature film BLACKSPOT to Wellington’s Embassy Theatre on 15th July for a New Zealand premiere. An overwhelmingly positive reaction on the 2008 international independent film circuit saw the film secure two awards and a best feature nomination. This July, Wellingtonians will finally have a chance to see BLACKSPOT in the city it was conceived in.
BLACKSPOT received the Grand Prize in Editing at the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festivaland was awarded Best International Thriller Feature at the New York International Independent film and Video festival.
A psychological thriller set late at night on a stretch of rural road, BLACKSPOT tells the story of two companions on a journey through the desolate New Zealand landscape and the resulting introspective nightmares they must face.“It’s The Shining meets WolfCreek” says Director Ben Hawker. EMPIRE MAGAZINEs David Parkinson describedBLACKSPOTas“a decidedly creepy journey into the unknown that makes endless time and hostile space seem more terrifying than anything more tangible.”
In early 2005, leading Weta Workshop technician Ben Hawker and his brother Luke teamed up with producer Freya Blackwood to create their first feature film. With the help of their Weta Workshop colleagues and collective film industry friends and contacts, the brothers managed to write, shoot and co-produce the full-length feature on a shoestring budget. With postproduction assistance from Creative New Zealand’s Screen Innovation Production Fund and sponsorships from Wellington’s Park Road Post and Marmalade Audio, BLACKSPOT saw completion in November 2007.
“We’ve been blown away with all of the positive feedback we’ve been receiving internationally, let alone the prospect of winning awards” says co-producer Luke Hawker.
BLACKSPOT has screened at seven International festivals including the Rhode Island International Film Festival, the RAINDANCE Film Festival in London, the New York International Independent film and Video festival, and the RADAR Hamburg Film Festival where it was nominated for best feature.
“For a $50,000 eighty-minute film set nearly entirely at night, I feel we’ve made a respectable first-time feature,” said Ben. “Audiences will find BLACKSPOT to have some genuinely terrifying moments”.
WELLINGTON SCREENING – ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Wednesday 15th July, 6.30pm
Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Terrace
For more information visit www.blackspot.co.nzBLACKSPOT was supported by The Film Commission and Creative New Zealand by the Screen Innovation Production Fund.
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