Director: Florian Habicht
Written by: Florian Habicht, Peter O’Donoghue and the people of NYC
Director of Photography: Maria Ines Manchego
Year of Production: 2011
A romantic fantasy about love, cake and New York City.
A filmmaker from New Zealand meets a beautiful Russian woman on the subway to Coney Island. He falls in love with her and convinces her to make a film of their ensuing affair. Made in the style of a pick a path book, the filmmaker turns to the people on the street for help. The couple's love story becomes dictated by the often outrageous ideas of New York's real life personalities - their candid and colorful advice dictating whether a man possessed can ultimately find true love.
Love Story is a genuine embrace of New York and New Yorkers and the blurred line between documentary and fiction. ‘Habicht’s simple formula articulates the painful truth, that all love stories are part documentary and part fiction.’ – Thomas Coughlan, Salient Magazine
Habicht says of Love Story, “In most documentaries you research and then interview people. This was the opposite; it was all about pushing record and meeting people. I love people. I love talking to strangers. We are all connected. Problems begin in the world when we forget that I think. The way in which we shot Love Story has not been done before to the best of my knowledge…it also has the fantasy and constructed world that I love, and the two feed off each other.”
Winner of Best Film, Best Director and Best Editor at the NZ Film & TV Awards 2011
London International Film Festival 2012
Actor / Director / Producer / Co-Writer Florian Habicht was born in Berlin in 1975 to German/Austrian parents, and immigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1982. Florian studied film making at the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland New Zealand and at the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam. He is responsible for some of this decade's most original New Zealand films. His iconic documentary, Kaikohe Demolition, was released theatrically throughout New Zealand and won best digital feature at the New Zealand Screen Awards. It is studied in Universities and Schools throughout New Zealand.