No. 2 goes to No. 1 at Sundance

Writer-director Toa Fraser. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The New Zealand film No. 2 has won a major award at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

After playing to more than 1000 people at four sell-out showings during the festival, the film took the audience award in the world-cinema dramatic competition.

Writer-director Toa Fraser said yesterday the win was "fantastic".

"Being one of 16 films from around the world selected to compete was an achievement in itself, but being voted top by the people who came to see the movie was a thrill."

Back in Auckland yesterday, Fraser spoke of feeling a "definite vibe" that people wanted to see a New Zealand movie - after Whale Rider's popularity at the same festival in 2003, where it picked up a similar audience award.

No. 2 is an adaptation of Fraser's internationally successful one-person play about an elderly Fijian matriarch who demands that her grandchildren throw her a party at which she will name her successor.

"We did a question-and-answer session after the screening and at least people stayed in their seats to listen to us talk about how we made the movie," said Fraser, a New Zealand-Fijian.

Helping him to charm the audience was young actress Mia Blake and the film's star, veteran African-American actress Ruby Dee, who is revered by Americans.

The first public screening of No. 2 in New Zealand will be at the open-air cinema at Auckland's Viaduct Basin next Saturday, with Fraser and family in attendance.

The film goes on general release from February 16.

Fraser was modest about the chances of further award success for No. 2 in the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, one of Europe's most significant festivals.

At the festival, NZ Film will announce the first official sale of No. 2 to a European distribution territory.

"Plenty of more territories are going to be interested now after Sundance," said Fraser.