Kiwi short films head overseas

Cohen Holloway in Last Night.

Local film-makers are celebrating the selection of two Kiwi short films to screen at prestigious overseas festivals.

Last Night, directed by David Strong and filmed in Wellington, will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in the Short Film Corner category.

It follows a young New Zealand peacekeeper as he struggles to convince an Afghan warlord not to shell a village and massacre its people. The cast includes Cohen Holloway, Calvin Tuteao and John Landreth.

Strong's first short film, Pacific Dreams, won a best actress award for actress Dame Kate Harcourt.

A scene from Hangman.

Meanwhile, university students Sam Fitzgibbon and Andy McEwen are heading to New York after landing a spot in the New York International Film Festival to be held in early June.

Their short, Hangman, was one of 40 films chosen from more than 1000 worldwide entries for the narrative short film category, and the only New Zealand film to be picked for the awards.

Shot last year, Hangman tells the story of a young man attending his own funeral and the pair say the film's abstract portrayal of suicide was on purpose.

Fitzgibbon, the film's producer and lead, says its ambiguity was intentional and that they wanted the audience to think about its meaning.

They'll be leaving at the end of the month to attend the festival.

- TimeOut, with AUT journalism student Elaina Moulds