Mon 15 Sep 2008
It is not only little old Timezoneone that has a New Zealand/Chicago connection.
Recently Vincent Ward’s new feature Rain Of The Children was selected for the Chicago Film Festival.
It is not the first time that Ward has won in Chicago. In 1980 he won a Silver Hugo at Chicago for his documentary In Spring One Plants Alone. Rain of the Children uncovers the story of an elderly Maori woman who was the subject of Ward’s In Spring One Plants Alone, which he made when he was 21. It showed the life of 80-year-old Puhi who lived in remote bush country looking after her 40-year-old son Niki. Ward lived with Puhi for 18 months but never unravelled the mystery of her life. In the new film, we learn her extraordinary story.
Ward is one of New Zealand’s best known directors and has won international acclaim with a reputation for making films with a unique, deeply human vision. Since his debut feature Vigil (1984), he has directed several well known films – The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) and Map of the Human Heart, What Dreams May Come (1993), starring Robin Williams, as well as writing the story for Alien 3.
Kim
