Pub carpark romance latest Kiwi Oscar chance

Donny Ngamoki is quite possibly the proudest grandmother on the East Cape.

Next month when Hollywood delivers its verdict on the best films of the year, two of her grandsons will be gracing the big screen - albeit fleetingly - in Two Cars, One Night.

"I've seen it and it's good. But it's very short," she said. "The boys are very good. They're naturals."

Written and directed by Taika Waititi, it is the latest Kiwi film to be nominated for an Academy Award, in the Short Film Live Action category.

Shot outside the Te Kaha Hotel, 70km from Opotiki, it is tale of a young boy and girl who meet while waiting for their parents in their respective cars.

In a short space of time their relationship blossoms although their tender ages - 11 and 9 - make it more a cute'tween romance than a hormone-charged first love.

The idea for the film came from Waititi's childhood in Te Kaha but is not an expose of bad parenting.

On the New Zealand Film Commission website he explains he is not seeking to "vilify adults or make presumptions about rural life".

"I want to show how human contact creates something special in a not-so-special environment."

It stars three pupils from Te Kura Kaupapa Maaori o Maraenui, a school 20km from Te Kaha. Rangi Ngamoki plays Romeo and his real-life cousin, Ahi Ngamoki, plays his little brother, Ed. Their school friend, Huitini Waikato, is Polly.

Dave Gaskill, owner of the Te Kaha pub, hasn't yet had time to watch the 11-minute movie.

"I'd better have a look now."

But the reality, he says, is a little different.

"We have a family bar so the kids are allowed in with their parents."

Short odds

* Two Cars, One Night is only the third New Zealand film to be nominated in the Short Film section of the Oscars. The others were in 1986 (The Frog, The Dog and The Devil) and 1958 (Snows of Aorangi) and neither won.

* Taika Waititi is a Wellington-based film-maker, comedian, actor and illustrator. He is currently at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where his second short film, Tama Tu, is screening.