NZ director gets Hollywood invite

<i>Predicament</i> will be shown in Hollywood at Director Finders meeting. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand director Jason Stutter has been invited to show his feature film Predicament in Hollywood for a Director Finders screening.

The Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand issued the invitation as part of a partnership between SDGNZ and the Directors Guild of America.

Directors Finders 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 100-plus films and more than half of those screened have been picked up for North American distribution.

"It is the goal of the DGA through this series to offer both additional and expanded professional recognition and commercial contacts to New Zealand directors," said Kathy Garmezy, assistant executive director for government and international affairs, for the DGA.

SDGNZ is working closely with the New Zealand Film Commission, which is supporting the initiative.

"The idea behind the screening is to assist the director to secure North American distribution and to showcase New Zealand directors," said SDGNZ president Peter Bell.

Predicament, based on the novel by Taranaki writer Ronald Hugh Morrieson who died in 1972, is writer/director Stutter's third feature film.

"Having the DGA and SDGNZ support Predicament for this opportunity is unbelievably exciting," he said.

"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."

The screening will take place on November 5 in the DGA Theatre on Sunset Boulevard.

-NZPA