Director: Armagan Ballantyne

Writer: Briar Grace-Smith

Producer: Fiona Copland

Cinematography: Bogumil Godfrejow

Digital work provided by WETA Digital

Year of Production: 2008

When a mysterious stranger arrives in their isolated coastal town, ten year old twins Kimi and Melody are forced apart. Kimi must find the strength to let go of what he loves the most. Set in the haunting, exotic landscapes of the Hokianga in the Far North of New Zealand, explores tragedy, despair and eventual hope by giving detailed exposure of the lives of the Kaneha family as they struggle with universal issues of human survival.

Cinematography is by Bogumil Godfrejow, from Poland, who was nominated for an Oscar (best short film, live action) in 2002 for Meska sprawa (A Man Thing).

Ballantyne comments, “For an overseas audience, The Strength of Water will be a window into another world. The film has the spirit and texture of a specific place yet the struggles the characters go through are universal. The writer, Briar Grace-Smith, has managed to construct a story with characters that are neither hopeless nor too earnest. You are left with a sense of empowerment and strength.”

Official selection at Cannes, Seattle, Rotterdam, Sydney and the Berlin International Film Festival

Asia Pacific Film Awards (2009), Finalist

Festival Internationale du Premier Film (2010), Annonay, France, Grand Prix

Cine Junior Paris Film Festival (2010), Grand Jury Prize

Director Armagan Ballantyne lives amongst the trees and near the ocean in New Zealand. She studied filmmaking at FAMU in Prague, and completed an MA in directing at AFTRS Film School in Sydney. Since graduating in 1998, her short films have screened and won awards at festivals around the world. In 2004 she attended the Binger Institute in Amsterdam, and in 2006 was selected for the directors’ lab at the Sundance Institute, with her feature film project The Strength of Water.