Midnight Screenings 2014 / What We Do in the Shadows / New Zealand, USA 2014
Vampires didn’t die out with the last plague, but live among us to this day. Don’t believe us? Let yourself be convinced by a New Zealand documentary whose creators hung crosses around their necks and were given exclusive access to a household of three vampires who don’t have a problem with their age differences but they do mind the fact that one of them hasn’t washed the dishes in five years.
Shooting films can sometimes be a real adventure. For instance, if you decide to do a documentary about vampires, it’s a good idea to get them to promise not to suck your blood. And for good measure, keep a cross hanging around your neck. Viago, Deacon and Vladislav live quietly in an old house. Vegetating in the basement is Petyr, who has seen better days, to put it mildly. Some of them are pushing 400, but they have the morals and moodiness of teenagers. They are also bothered by the fact that nobody will invite them into nightclubs. But maybe their new friend Stu can help – a person they decide to leave human. Taking its cues from the history of vampire legends and driven by unlimited fantasy, the film humorously adapts the centuries-old rules of vampiric life to the present day and entertains with equal doses of sitcom humor and tongue-in-cheek cultural references. Drinking blood sometimes gets messy, but over the centuries it has lost none of its appeal.
86 min / Color, DCP
Director Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
/ Screenplay Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
/ Dir. of Photography Richard Bluck, DJ Stipsen
/ Music Plan 9
/ Editor Jonno Woodford-Robinson, Yana Gorskaya, Tom Eagles
/ Producer Chelsea Winstanley, Emanuel Michael, Taika Waititi
/ Production Shadow Pictures, Defender Films, Unison Films, Two Canoes
/ Cast Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
/ Contact Elle Driver
Taika Waititi (b. 1975) is a New Zealand comedian and director. He gained attention with his short film Two Cars, One Night (2005), which was nominated for an Oscar and later adapted into the feature-length Boy (2009) – New Zealand’s highest-earning film ever. In between, he shot the comedy Eagle vs Shark (2007). Jemaine Clement (b. 1974) is a New Zealand musician and actor best known as one half of the musical-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords (with Bret McKenzie). As an actor, he has appeared in several blockbusters (e.g. Men in Black 3, 2012) and has lent his voice to the animated films Despicable Me (2010) and Rio (2011). What We Do in the Shadows is the filmmakers’ first joint feature film, on which both worked as directors, screenwriters and actors. The film is based on a short film the two made in 2005.
Elle Driver
44, Rue Blanche, 750 09, Paris
France
Phone: +33 156 434 870
Fax: +33 145 614 608
E-mail: [email protected]
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