Kate Rodger reports live from the awards ceremony
Taika Waititi’s Boy has cleaned up at the inaugural Visa Entertainment Screen Awards and has been named the best New Zealand film of the year.
The film awards were voted on by New Zealand movie lovers and tonight were dished out at a star-studded ceremony, hosted by Reel Late with Kate and Film3’s Kate Rodger.
“Kiwi films are choice and to see a film like Boy kick some serious box office butt over mega million dollar blockbusters like Inception just proves it,” says Kate Rodger.
“The people of New Zealand have spoken at the box office and they have spoken again tonight with their votes”.
13-year-old James Rolleston, who plays Boy in Waititi’s film, won Best NZ Actor, despite tough competition from Sam Neill, Waititi and Martin Henderson. Rolleston also won Best Newcomer and Waititi won Best Director.
Rose McIver from The Lovely Bones won Best NZ Actress, fighting off strong bids from Keisha Castle-Hughes and Melanie Lynskey.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best NZ Film: Boy
Best NZ Actor: James Rolleston
Best NZ Actress: Rose McIver
Best NZ Director: Taika Waititi
Best NZ Export: Sam Neill
Best International Film: Avatar
Best NZ Big Screen Documentary: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls
Best NZ Short Film: The Six Dollar Fifty Man
Best Newcomer: James Rolleston
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