Hawke’s Bay short film OPIA wins editing award at International Film Festival

The Hawke's Bay produced short film OPIA is hitting festival screens worldwide.

A short film crewed, cast and produced entirely by Hawke’s Bay-based screen professionals is making waves overseas after a big win in South Korea.

OPIA, directed by local Cosmo Calman, won the Best Editing award at the Busan New Wave International Short Film Festival.

The film explores a cat-and-mouse relationship between two graffiti artists who foster a connection through their artistic expression.

It was shot over three days in August 2023 in locations across Hastings and Napier.

Local artists Glen Colechin and Rachael Stone and Art Department director James Cleary created special artwork for the film.

Calman said he was “ecstatic” that his film has already seen success on the overseas festival circuit.

“To be acknowledged for countless hours, discussions and layers and layers of post-production is really exciting,” he said.

“Being able to film a universal story with 100 per cent locally based cast and crew was also pretty special for this piece.”

The global success hasn’t stopped in South Korea. The film has also recently been selected for the Geelong Independent Film Festival in Australia.

A private screening for friends and family was held in March.

Calman worked closely with Dream Big producer Daniel Betty, who said the overall response had been “really humbling”.

“We could not have achieved the result we have without the support and commitment of the full team”.

Director/writer Cosmo Calman (left), lead actress Maia Bassett and in the background, Yvonne Lorkin, Daniel Betty and Gilly Lawrence. All Hawke's Bay people wanting to make OPIA a reality. Photo / Warren Buckland

The film has been entered into 39 festivals.

The producers are appealing to film fans to donate what they can via the link on dreambig.net.nz, to help them achieve their goal of entering it into 60 festivals.