Gavin Hipkins' first short film, The Master, is included in the Homegrown: Flights of Fancy programme of the 2011 New Zealand International Film Festival. It screens at Auckland's Academy Cinema on Saturday 23 July and Thursday 28 July at 1.45pm.
This poetic experimental film negotiates the phenomenon of a Christ Trip and associated youthful quest for martyrdom by referencing a transcendental film style. Reflecting on the director's art school experiences, a student's delusional musings are improvised and adapted from Oscar Wilde's poem in prose of the same title from 1894.
Image: still from Gavin Hipkins' short film The Master
