Director: Mark Albiston & Louis Sutherland

Producer: Wendy Cuthbert

Running Time: 15 minutes

Year of Production: 2009

Screened on original 35mm film print

Set in 1970s New Zealand, The Six Dollar Fifty Man follows Andy, a gutsy 8 year-old boy who is forced to break out of his make-believe superhero world to deal with playground bullies.

Director Mark Albiston says the inspiration for the film came from “my oldest son Jude (5) who believes he is invincible. On any given day you’ll find him climbing up something ridiculously high or leaping off the garage roof. He freaks me out but he reminded me of my warped sense of reality that I had at the same age.”

62nd Festival De Cannes, France (2009), Special Distinction

Sundance Film Festival (2010), Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking

New York Children’s International Film Festival (2010), Special Jury Award

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, 2010), Los Angeles, Best Short Film

The Six Dollar Fifty Man is the third short film that Mark & Louis have collaborated on and the first that they have officially co-directed. It continues a body of work built on tales exploring the depths of the human spirit. Run, their earlier short film was awarded an Honourable Mention at Festival de Cannes Shorts Competition 2007. Mark and Louis grew up together in a small west coast village called Raumati Beach. There they both began working together for a cable TV network that began its early trials in their home town. Louis then went to Drama school and Mark started his own production company Sticky Pictures after working in the television industry in the UK.

The two have now worked together in the industry for over 15 years creating a strong language through their many shared experiences, breathing an authenticity into their films.