Director: Taika Waitit

Producer: Ainsley Gardiner, Catherine Fitzgerald

Running Time: 11 minutes

Year of Production: 2004

Screened on original 35mm film print

A tale of first love.

While waiting for their parents, two boys and a girl meet in the carpark of a rural pub. What at first seems to be a relationship based on rivalry soon develops into a close friendship. We learn that love can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Waititi notes, “there are a few moments in childhood that have a lasting impact. Not because they change the course of your life, or because they arrive with any great fanfare, in fact quite the opposite. Those are moments where an unexpected joy is found in the everyday, a moment of beauty in the ordinary. By nature, when faced with grim circumstances, we tend to look for the light, the warmth, the beauty in life. It is this mood, this feeling, I wanted to capture in the film.”

Academy Award Nomination (2005), Best Short Film

Berlin Film Festival (2005), Best Short Film - Panorama Section

Seattle Film Festival (2004), Best Short Film

American Film Institute (2004) AFI Grand Jury Prize

Taika is of Te-Whanau-a-Apanui descent and hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast. He has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing. Two Cars, One Night was Taika’s first professional filmmaking effort.