Archived News 2010
New Zealand Director en route to Hollywood
2nd November 2010
The Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand (SDGNZ) has invited New Zealand director Jason Stutter to bring his feature film Predicament to Hollywood for a ‘Director’s Finder’ screening. This is a partnership between SDGNZ and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) through their joint membership in IAESDO - the International Association of English Speaking Directors Organisations.
‘Director’s Finder’ screening series was established in 1998 by the DGA’s Independent Directors Committee. The purpose of the series is to spotlight undistributed independent feature films and their directors. Since its inception the series has screened over 125 films and more than half of those screened have been picked up for North American distribution.
Predicament is adapted by director Jason Stutter from the novel of the same name by New Zealand author Ronald Hugh Morrieson and is his third feature film. Jason’s previous film, Diagnosis: Death, was picked up for international sales prior to completion, with its first sales going to the US and UK at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
"Having Predicament supported for this opportunity is unbelievably exciting. The reason I started making films was because I grew up loving movies and many of them from Hollywood, so having my film screen at the DGA feels pretty amazing," says Jason.
Predicament is a crime comedy in which Cedric, a naïve teenager, conspires with two misfits, Mervyn and ‘Spook’, to photograph and blackmail wealthy adulterous couples. When they con the wrong man – it turns to murder! Tortured by lust, roped into blackmail and possibly an accessory to murder, Cedric is in a predicament.
The film stars Emmy Award nominee, Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) masterfully playing the role of ‘Spook’; newcomer Hayden Frost, in the lead role of Cedric Williamson; Heath Franklin, popular in Australia for his comedy character ‘Chopper’ in The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, Rose McIver, fresh from Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, is Maybelle Zimmerman; and renowned musician Tim Finn stars as Martin Williamson.
The screening will take place on the 5 November 2010 in the prestigious DGA Theater on Sunset Boulevard. It will be followed by a Q&A session with Jason and Hollywood based New Zealand director Roger Donaldson (The Bank Job, The Recruit).
A reception will follow with iconic New Zealand vodka brand 42BELOW creating a special Predicament themed cocktail.
The trailer for Predicament can be viewed here: www.predicamentthemovie.com
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