Film maker Florian Habicht gets up close and personal with the surf-casters on Ninety Mile Beach in his latest celebration of life in the Far North.  Land of the Long White Cloud premieres on Saturday July 25 at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland.

Film maker Florian Habicht gets up close and personal with the surf-casters on Ninety Mile Beach in his latest celebration of life in the Far North.  Land of the Long White Cloud premieres on Saturday July 25 at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland.

Habicht describes his latest expose of the recreational habits of Northlanders as a ‘sequel of sorts’ to his classic Kaikohe Demolition.

Claimed to be the largest surfcasting event in the world, the annual Ninety Mile Beach Red Snapper Classic attracts hundreds of anglers for five days every February to compete for prizes in excess of $250,000, with the biggest snapper taking out a serious $50,000.

Habicht joins them, camera in hand, full of questions about what they might be thinking as they engage in this elemental and apparently very relaxing pursuit. How will they spend the prize money? Do they believe in an afterlife?

Habicht relishes the individual flavour of every frank response. There are interludes of boisterous carousing, grueling scenes of snapper Passion, and long and lovely shots of the long and lovely beach. The amiable atmosphere of tolerance and unpretentious philosophising is so salty and true and rousing that you could bottle it, call it Kiwiade, and sell it by the crateload to homesick expatriates. — NZ International Film Festival Director Bill Gosden

Florian Habicht

Since graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts, Rubbings From a Live Man director and producer Florian Habicht has become an inventive underground filmmaker whose films have been embraced by the New Zealand mainstream. Florian's films combine an unique sense of humour and odd-ball narratives with seductive and lush imagery.

His digital no-budget feature Woodenhead, a surreal grimm musical fairytale, premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festivals and went on to screen in festivals around the world. He followed this with Kaikohe Demolition a documentary, which also enjoyed its premiere screenings at our Festivals.

While at the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam, Florian began developing his latest feature script Permissive Paradise, a project he continues to develop.  Land of the Long White Cloud is his most recent documentary.

Screenings

Florian will be attending both the Auckland and Wellington screenings of Land of the Long White Cloud.

Auckland World Premiere: Skycity Theatre
Saturday 25 July at 2.30 pm

Wellington: Paramount
Sunday 2 August at 1.45 pm
    
Book your tickets online through Ticketek or phone 0800 TICKETEK (0800 8425 3835).

Land of the Long White Cloud

Director: Florian Habicht
Year: 2009
Running time: 75 mins
New Zealand
Photography: Florian Habicht, Niamh Peren, Christopher Pryor
Editor: Peter O'Donoghue
Sound: Ray Beentjes
Music: Marc Chesterman
DigiBeta

With: Ossie Perrie, Shane Storey, Wiremu Henare, Heather Hales