SUMMER ARRIVES AT CURIOUS

Curious Film in Sydney has signed one of New Zealand’s most hotly anticipated young directors, Summer Agnew.

Aged28, Summer has been highly awarded for his talents as a documentary andlong-format director, despite only graduating from the Elam School ofFine Art five years ago.

“More and more agencies are looking fordirectors who can apply their long-format experience in a commercialcontext. Summer is not only a prodigious director and scriptwriter, heis experimental and extremely bright – he understands where things aremoving,” says Peter Grasse, of Curious Film in Sydney.

In 2007,Summer snared one of the industry’s most prestigious accolades bywinning the Screen Production & Development Association (SPADA) NewFilmmaker of the Year Award.

His documentary, Minginui – co-directedby fellow Elam graduate Adam Luxton – has screened at film festivalsglobally and was hailed by critics as triggering a new era in NewZealand filmmaking: “A deathly barrage of audio and visual decay … It’sa partial, if not gradual step forward towards a more progressive, lessconservative national cinema,” wrote film and arts journal Lumiere.

Minginuioffers a glimpse into New Zealand’s remote Te Urewera rainforest, wherethe closure of a local forestry sparked a deterioration in local livingstandards. The documentary reveals New Zealand’s landscape in a farmore unforgiving light than cinema audiences typically see.

Morerecently, Summer’s short film Patu Ihu screened at Homegrown 08 at theNew Zealand International Film Festival. Featuring a core cast ofchildren, the film has been described as “a touching exploration ofmemory and the lifelong influences that a particular event can haveupon us” (Lumiere).

With a background in fine arts, Summer’slong-format work is atmospheric and imaginative, honest anduncomfortable; while his commercial work reveals his innateunderstanding of the flaws and quirks that make us human.

Witha name like ‘Summer Agnew’, it’s perhaps not surprising that Summer(pictured) grew up on a commune in Auckland’s stunning Waitakereranges. He concedes that these unconventional beginnings may havecontributed to a lateral approach to his work: “Where I grew up peoplewere always telling stories, and I learnt there are always differentways they can be told,” says Summer, whose portfolio of workdemonstrates a breadth of creative abilities.

He co-founded musicvideo production company The Pyramid Scheme in 2003 and has directedvideo clips for New Zealand bands including Dimmer, The Checks and SolaRosa.

Summer won a Qantas New Zealand Television Award in 2006 forthe TVNZ series Lets get Inventin and in 2008 developed and co-directedthe arts documentary series New Artland for the digital network TVNZ6.Summer has just finished directing a 40-minute documentary for KapitiFine Foods and Colenso BBDO.

View Summer’s showreel  and for more information, contact Peter Grasse at Curious Film Sydney: peterg@curiousfilm.com or visit www.curiousfilm.com