The short film Tinsel Over Twizel, directed by Pamela Guha, will be screened virtually at the 18th South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) in New York from 29 December 2021 to 2 January 2022.
The Kiwi short film has already been screened at two Indian festivals, including the Pune Short Film Festival and the Goa Short Film Festival. It was also screened at the ARPA International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California in late November.
How Kiwi production Tinsel Over Twizel is hoping to reignite the rom-com
Written and produced by Justin Eade, Tinsel Over Twizel stars Nivi Summer as Tanya, a Hindi film star who finds an unlikely co-star with a Kiwi horse wrangler, played by Nick Kemplen, on an independent film she's keen to star in.
Filmmaker Guha said she was elated that the short was finally making its way to audiences. She and Eade are hoping to expand the short film into a feature soon.
“Tinsel's journey started some three years ago, and if the pandemic hadn't hit, we were aiming to go on the floor by this year-end,” she told Cinestaan.com. “But think Justin's and my decision of making a short form of it have been fruitful. Selection to several festivals ensures that a rom-com like Tinsel Over Twizel is still a genre in demand, [and that] surely motivates us to get the feature made.”
The team is also hoping that Tinsel Over Twizel will have its New Zealand premiere at the Top of the South Film Festival, once the country’s COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed.
SAIFF will open with the Bengali period sports drama Golondaaj (2021) starring Dev Adhikari and close with PS Vinothraj's Koozhangal, which is representing India at the Oscars.