Burstyn's new film set for NZ international festival

Thomas and Sumner Burstyn. Photo / File

Acclaimed former Hawke's Bay residents Thomas and Sumner Burstyn's newest documentary is set to hit New Zealand shores in July.

The pair behind Oscar short-listed film, set in Hawke's Bay, This Way of Life, have been successful at getting their new film Some Kind of Love screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Some Kind of Love focuses on Thomas' eccentric step-aunt, 77-year-old artist, Yolanda Sonnabend, who lives surrounded by 50 years' worth of art and books.

Yolanda's brother, Joseph, a pioneering Aids researcher, can't stand to be in the same room as his dementia-suffering sister despite returning to care for her.

Burstyn himself arrives to bring this to the screen having the uncomfortable role of the filmmaker, being quite literally, a 'Peeping Tom'.

As secrets are exposed that help explain their relationship, Burstyn reflects on the nature of his own 12-year estrangement from his older brother.

The film is the third feature collaboration between the husband and wife pair.

Sumner Burstyn says the film is number two in their quartet of films looking at the four types of loves defined by the ancient Greeks.

"This Way of Life was about family love or Storge. Some Kind of Love is about unconditional love or Agape. Our next film will be about romantic love or Eros."

-See the trailer to the documentary here: https://vimeo.com/114721065