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DATSUN
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by Mark Albiston

​15min | New Zealand | 2021

A fourteen-year-old boy, whose Mum plans on selling his deceased Dad’s Datsun, decides to take his best friend and little brother on one last joyride.

Year of production 2021
Length 15min
Country New Zealand
Shooting Format 24FPS ALEXA
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Dialogue English
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Director Mark Albiston
Producers Sharlene George, Gal Greenspan, Andrew Mauger
Production Sweetshop & Green
Writer Mark Albiston, J. Patrick McElroy
Cinematographer Marty Williams
Editor Luke Haigh, Mark Albiston
Sound Design  Nick Buckton
Production Design Joseph Leary
 
Music Arli Liberman
Cast Mickey Reddish, Billy R. McCarthy, Tate Harrow, Ashley Harnett, Marion Prebble, Eryn Wilson
​Sales Premium Films

Festival selections
New Zealand International Film Festival 2021 - World Premiere, Audience Award
Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival 2022 Germany - International Premiere
SXSW - South by Southwest Film Festival 2022, USA
Mo&Friese Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg 2022, Germany

​Website
Mark Albiston
Sweetshop & Green

Director's Statement
This film will be a rollicking ride full of near misses, elation, bravery, fear, devastation and empowerment.

I identify with this film because I have teenage boys who are going through the same rite of passage - I can see them hitting the same speed bumps and kinks in the road that I faced not that long ago…ok maybe a wee while ago. 
In their world they are trail blazers as we once were, parents don’t understand and are not as important as your closest friends.

My 13 year old son Oli told me in the car last year, that this year everything was going to change, he’s seen his brother Jude go through his first year of college get mixed up in a world that he nearly didn’t come out of, drugs alcohol and kids, some with a death wish all leading each other to the edge…

When I watch my own kids go through the teenage gauntlet, I remember my own time of change…I think films like this ring true to many of us - that is why this film is a universal story and one that will resonate with a broad audience.

​This film is about young teenagers 13/14- year olds trying to find their way in the world on the cusp of becoming adults, but they are still very much kids.
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Every day I spend with my kids reminds me of moments that I had at the same age - its brought it all back. This film explores the pressures of becoming a man and meeting expectations. We chose to explore the idea in a house where his father disappears from the young teens life.
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