Scott Kara: Night passes by in a dream

Just as my attention was well-and-truly waning at the 2006 Screen Awards ceremony last week, an unassuming chap walked on stage to accept his award. Stephen Kang won best digital feature film for {Dream} Preserved. I hadn't taken much notice of the previews of the three finalists. All I remember of his piece was the image of a guy sitting in a fridge. But it was Kang's acceptance speech that was the hit.

"You haven't seen my film ... because it hasn't been shown anywhere," he smiled. Stepping away from the podium slightly he continued, "You'll see it sometime though. Thank you."

And off he walked to rapturous applause. Short, cheeky, and humble, not to mention a refreshing contrast to the steady flow of back slapping and bog-standard thank yous during the rest of the night.

The Air New Zealand-sponsored awards were long - Kang's award was about the 41st of 47 to be presented. By the way, if you want to see {Dream} Preserved, you can't yet, but check out www.dreampreserved.com for the trailer.

The number of awards meant the evening's running joke was a no-brainer for host Oliver Driver. "We're up to number six, only 41 to go," he quipped early in the night. Great.

But really, the ceremony was like being on a long-haul flight - you couldn't get out of your seat without causing a small commotion, the air was thick with hot air, and the in-flight entertainment ran out.

The show started well with an Idol-type spoof to find the host for the night. Driver won, but he was always going to.

However the one thing it needed (apart from a goodie bag underneath each seat with a bottle of bubbly and water) was a musical interlude or two. You know, like the musical items at a school prizegiving or a big-budget blow-out like Kelly Clarkson's shower performance at the MTV music awards. And if only we could have pushed a buzzer and got a nice cold beer, or a chilled chard' or two.

Come on Air NZ, splash out for goodie bags at least.

The night got a wee bit controversial when Rene Naufahu (who won best supporting actor for No.2) asked why The Market, a drama set in South Auckland that he co-wrote and directed, didn't get a second season.

Maybe Rene forgot that Romeo and Juliet, the story The Market was based on, didn't get a second series either.

But seriously, he should have also asked why it was on in a 10.30pm time slot. Good show, silly scheduling TVNZ.

And there was also some fighting talk from Barbara Darragh, the winner of best costume design for River Queen, the Vincent Ward movie that had its fair share of troubles during production.

She wasn't there to accept her award but said in a statement: "Thank you to the team brave enough to see it through despite negative press ... River Queen was a positive journey."

The winners didn't go entirely as predicted. The "arm-wrestle" between Sione's Wedding and The World's Fastest Indian was more like a one-horse race, with the latter taking the honours. The lads from Sione's can feel hard done by. If there was a people's choice award they would have surely won. It is sad that one of our best movies in years didn't win a sausage.

Right. Now for something entirely different. There's a cultural phenomenon called "The Goat" popular in metal and rock'n'roll circles. I throw this salute a lot - probably too much. But hey, if there's one way to show your appreciation for a song, that's it.

In case you're not familiar with The Goat - also commonly referred to as "throwing the goat" or simply "the horns" - then it can be done by stretching the index and little fingers out, while holding the middle fingers down with your thumb, then thrusting your arm in the air like you just don't care.

The reason I bring up The Goat is I fear it's being used inappropriately. I went to the Black Seeds the other week and there were Goats being thrown at the St James. Goats at a reggae gig? Talk about going weak at the knees.

Yes, I know reggae is revolutionary and many of its elements are rock'n'roll based, but get your own salute. The Goat is metal and rock. And the Black Seeds don't need more horns.