NZ's Oscar contenders

Taika Waititi: Already an award-winner.

Hobbits, orcs and elves are so last year. This year our Oscar hopes are riding on some kids outside a Te Kaha pub and a big green ogre. Two Kiwis are in the running for Academy Awards - Wellington film-maker Taika Waititi (AKA Taika Cohen) in the short film (live action) category for Two Cars, One Night, and Kiwi director Andrew Adamson in the animated feature film category for Shrek 2. TimeOut had a look at what - and who - they're up against.

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Two Cars, One Night

Taika Waititi's engrossing 11-minute, black-and-white film tells of the friendship and romance that forms between two boys and a girl waiting for their parents in the carpark outside a pub. Already the film has won 10 international festival awards, including the short film award at the Berlin Film Festival. Not bad for a writer/director better known for his acting roles. Waititi (aka Cohen), starred in local productions including The Strip, Snakeskin and Scarfies and is half of comedy duo Humourbeasts with Flight of the Conchords' Jermaine Clement.

imdb.com user rating: 7.8

Everything In This Country Must

Based on Colum McCann's powerful novella, Irish director Gary McKendry's 20-minute film is about a young British soldier in Northern Ireland who is involved in an accident that kills a mother and her child. Later, the same soldier helps a farmer and his daughter save their drowning horse. New York-based McKendry, formerly a maker of commercials, wanted to make a film that dealt with the personal conflicts that arise from war.

(Not yet rated)

Little Terrorist

Indian Ashvin Kumar's 15-minute film about a young Pakistani boy who chases his cricket ball across the mine-strewn border into India, is based on a true story. The film has won three international festival awards and will become the first short film to get a commercial release in India. Kumar, the England-based son of fashion designer Rita Kumar has made one other short film and is working on his second feature film.

imdb.com rating: 6.8

7:35 In The Morning

Spanish Nacho Vigalondo's eight-minute, black-and-white musical shows a woman entering the cafe where she has breakfast every morning to find all the other diners are staring at their plates in silence. The film has won Vigalondo, also a composer, three international festival awards. imdb.com rating: 6.8

Wasp

English Andrea Arnold's 23-minute film is about a young mother of four whose chance meeting with an old flame offers her a temporary escape from her bleak life. Described by critics as "painfully real", the film has won seven international festival awards, including the top short film prizes at Sundance and Toronto. Arnold worked as a TV actor in Britain and has made one other short film.

imdb.com rating: 7.5

ANIMATED FEATURE

Shrek 2

The first in DreamWorks' storybook franchise about a reclusive but loveable ogre won Kiwi director Andrew Adamson an Oscar for Best Animated Feature but no one could have predicted the enormity of the sequel's success. The second film grossed US$436 million ($592 million) at the US box office to rank as the year's biggest commercial hit, and won five People's Choice Awards. Adamson, who worked in visual effects in the US for many years, recently returned to New Zealand to direct his first feature live action film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is also a mate of last year's multiple Oscar winner, Peter Jackson

imdb.com rating: 7.7

The Incredibles

American director Brad Bird, also nominated for original screenplay for The Incredibles, wrote this Pixar/Disney film about the world's superheroes who have been forced into retirement. The highly acclaimed film has taken US$259 million the box office ($351 million) and cleaned up at the cartoon industry's Annie Awards.

imdb.com rating: 8.2

Shark Tale

The least likely Oscar contender is the other DreamWorks animated feature tale of gangster sharks and a fish named Oscar who becomes a neighbourhood hero for supposedly offing one of the bad guys. Compared with last year's fishy Oscar-winner, Pixar/Disney's Finding Nemo, Shark Tale received lukewarm reviews and made just US$160 million ($217 million) at the box office.

imdb.com rating: 5.8