T H I S W A Y O F L I F Ewww.thiswayoflifemovie.com

WINNERJURY PRIZEBERLIN FILM FESTIVAL2010

IDA Docuweeks 2010

Raindance 2010

IDA DocuWeeks TM 2010 (USA)

Berlin Int. Film Festival 2010 (Germany) - Jury Prize (Generation Category)

Anuu-ru aboro Festival 2010 (New Caledonia) - Young Audience Prize

Qantas Film and TV Awards 2010 (New Zealand) - Best Director & Best Film (Documentary)

Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2010 (New Zealand) - Best Aotearoa Documentary

ViewFinders Int. Film Festival 2010 (USA) - Opening Gala film

FIFO 2011 (French Polynesia)

Princeton Environmental Film Festival 2011 (USA)

Plus Camerimage 2010 (Poland)

Heartland Film Festival 2010 (USA)

Raindance Film Festival 2010 (UK)

Children’s Jerusalem Film Festival 2010 (Israel)

CineMagic Film Festival 2010 (Ireland)

Hotdocs 2010 (Canada)

Seattle Film Festival 2010 (USA)

London International Film Festival 2010 (UK)

New Zealand Int. Film Festival 2009 (New Zealand)

Vancouver Int. Film Festival 2009 (Canada)

Palm Springs Int. Film Festival 2009 (USA)

A W A R D S One Step Closer to the Oscars -This Way of Life is shortlisted among 15 documentaries for Academy Awards 2011.

O F F I C I A L S E L E C T I O N

«Hotly tipped for an Oscar nomination»Raindance Film Festival

« Resonant and stunningly shot » John Hopewell, Variety Magazine

«A collision of realities -- earthly nature vs. human nature -- lies at the very big heart of «This Way of Life,» catapulting this Kiwi-made story of a Maori family beyond mere portraiture and into a realm of metaphysics, melancholia and cosmic doubt: At the ends of the Earth, in a virtual Eden, is it possible for a family to live without petty grudges, anger, violence and authoritarian rule?»John Anderson, Variety Magazine

« Will stun you with its subtlety, honesty and heart »Darren Bevan, TVNZ

« Quietly profond, deeply poetic » Sunday Star Times

«This Way of Life was terrific. You’ll laugh, cry, think. Don’t miss it!» Mark Cubey, Radio NZ

Q U O T E S

Director and cinematographer Tom Burstyn CSC, FRSA is a multi-award winning, Emmy nominated filmmaker with 30 plus years experience as

a cinematographer. Tom trained at the National Film Board of Canada as a documentary maker, before enjoying great success in the feature film

industry.

Tom directed the multi-award winning documentaries One Man, One Cow, One Planet and This Way of Life. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of

Arts and has dual New Zealand / Canadian citizenship.

He is co-director of Cloud South Films.

Producer, researcher and writer Barbara Sumner Burstyn is a Qantas Award winning columnist and now award winning documentary producer

for One Man, One Cow, One Planet & This Way of Life. She is widely published in New Zealand.

Barbara is co-director of Cloud South Films.

Cushla Dillon – Film Editor

Joel Haines – Music Composer

Catherine van der Donckt - Sound Design and Mix

T E A M

Made by IDA Editorial Staff for DocuWeeks TM

IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?

Tom Burstyn: It began in my idealistic youth, making documentaries at the National Film Board of Canada. I was the seduced away by the bright

lights of feature films and cinematography. For me, finally returning to documentary in my 50s is a return to my true self.

IDA: What inspired you to make This Way of Life?

TB: The image of Peter, our hero, riding his magnificent horse along the side of the road. Just the image of this lone man. We needed to know

more, and as we engineered a meeting and came to know Peter and his wife Colleen and their family, we found a remarkable story of resilience and

courage unfold. We knew it was a story that would resonate with an audience seeking meaning in their lives.

IDA: What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?

TB: Number one was my fear of horses and riding. But I followed Peter into the mountains on horseback, into a world so alien. I knew at every step

that if something happened to Peter, I would be useless. I could not hail a cab, the cell phone was a hundred miles out of range; I was in his hands.

In post-production the challenge was to create a coherent story from 80 hours shot over four years. We were also challenged on a personal level--

to examine how we live our lives and the choices we have made. For me the most startling thing is how chosen Peter and Colleen’s life is. They are

creators of their world, and while some may look on and see poverty, we learned to see the richness they embrace.

I N T E R V I E W W I T H T H E D I R E C T O R T H O M A S B U R S T Y N

IDA: How did your vision for the film change over the course of the pre-production, production and post-production processes?

TB: This is an excellent question. Because we self-funded the film, we were free to move with the changes the family experienced in their lives. We

could take our time and allow the film to develop its own shape and story. We began with the idea of making a film about breaking in a horse and

ended with a tale of resilience and naturalness. None of it was planned; it was an organic process. In post, we spent many hours with our editor, Cus-

hla Dillion, a woman who can tease out the nuances of a story with such skill and heart. The film changed shape a number of times as we searched

for the threads that would connect the heart-lines, rather than the purely rational.

IDA: As you’ve screened This Way of Life--whether on the festival circuit, or in screening rooms, or in living rooms--how have audiences

reacted to the film? What has been most surprising or unexpected about their reactions?

TB: For a film that is so location specific--the isolated mountains of New Zealand--we have been so surprised by the similarity of responses across

many cultures and demographics. At the Berlin Film Festival we had a standing ovation--1000 people all standing and clapping. At the tiny Aotearoa

Maori Film Festival, we had the same reaction; there could not have been two more different audiences. Our very active Facebook page has thou-

sands of comments, and they are almost all around the heart of the film: What it is to be a family.

IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?

TB: We place respect for subject at the center of our work, so films like Scared Sacred and the documentaries of Tony Gatlif that hover between

vérité and drama.

This Way of Life – feature documentary, Cloud South Films, 2005-2009

Yolanda’s Last Portrait – feature documentary, Cloud South Films, in post-production

If Water Were God – feature documentary (in production), Cloud South Films, Healing Water Institute

One Man, One Cow, One Planet – 1 hr television documentary 2007

How to Save the World – feature documentary. Cloud South Films 2006

Profiles in Rock – 13 part 1⁄2 hr documentary series, 1981

Flash William – 1⁄2 hr documentary, National Film Board of Canada, 1976

If Brains Were Dynamite You Wouldn’t Have Enough to Blow Your Nose - 1⁄2 hr doc, 1975

Le Patriote – 1⁄2 hr documentary, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 1975

Full cinematography resume available on request

T H O M A S B U R S T Y NF I L M O G R A P H Y

D I S T R I B U T I O N ZED42 rue Eugène Carrière75018 ParisFrance Céline Payot+33 (0)1 53 09 98 76cpayot@zed.fr

P R O D U CT I O N

Cloud South Films Ltd.89 Clarence Street,PonsonbyAuckland 10100+64 21 02508007sumnerburstyn@gmail.comtburstyn@gmail.com

W E B S I T E S

http://cloudsouth.co.nz/http://thiswayoflifemovie.com/http://www.facebook.com/thiswayoflifemovie

http://www.ZED.FR/

C O N T A C T S