Florian Habicht is a New Zealand

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Biography

Habicht was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany, and moved with his family to the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for ...

, New Zealand, when he was eight. He went to high school in Kerikeri before attending the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the University of Auckland Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. It offered the first Bachelor of ...

. There he began to make films using his classmates as actors and collaborators. The first of these to gain recognition was Liebestraume (2000), about eccentric musician Killer Ray. In 2003, Habicht made the digital feature '' Woodenhead'', a surreal musical fairytale for which the entire soundtrack was recorded first and then the visuals were shot to match (and not match.) ''Woodenhead'' was nominated in the Best Digital Feature section of the

New Zealand Film and TV Awards New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awa ...

and the film screened at a range of international festivals as well as being distributed in the US by Olive Films.Sourced with permission from biography on NZ On Screen
/ref> His next film '' Kaikohe Demolition'' (2004) was a portrayal of

Kaikohe Kaikohe is the seat of the Far North District of New Zealand, situated on State Highway 12 about from Auckland, and about from Whangārei. It is the largest inland town and highest community above sea level in the Northland Region. With a pop ...

's demolition derby, the film won Best Digital Feature at the New Zealand Screen Awards. In 2003, Habicht attended the Binger Institute Filmlab in

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to develop his feature script ''Permissive Paradise''. In 2008, he completed '' Rubbings from a Live Man'', a documentary performed by its subject, theatre practitioner and artist Warwick Broadhead. The film was produced by

Philippa Campbell Philippa Campbell is a New Zealand film and television producer and the Literary Manager at the Auckland Theatre Company. Theatre Philippa Campbell began her career in the theatre as an actor and director in the 1980s. In 1981, she was involved i ...

(

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, Rain) In 2009 Habicht was the recipient of the inaugural Harriet Friedlander New York Artist Residency. During his stay in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

he filmed and performed in ''Love Story'', which premiered at the opening night of the

New Zealand International Film Festival The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) () is a film festival held annually across New Zealand. The festival is operated by the New Zealand Film Festival Trust. It programmes international and New Zealand films. History The festiva ...

in 2011. ''Love Story'' won Best Film, Best Director and Best editor at the New Zealand Film Awards that year. The film toured international festivals and in 2012 won the Audience Choice Award at the Pluk de Nacht Outdoor Film Festival in Amsterdam.

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

saw ''Love Story'' at the London International Film Festival and his British Pop group

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

have since collaborated with Habicht and British producer Alex Boden (Cloud Atlas) on a feature documentary about Pulp and their home town Sheffield. The film was released in 2014. Habicht's father was the 1960s photographer Frank Habicht (9 December 1938 – 8 October 2024), whose work, produced mostly in London and Berlin, has recently regained critical and popular interest.

References

Filmography (director)

*''Liebestraume - The Absurd Dreams of Killer Ray'' (2000) *'' Woodenhead'' (2003) *''Kaikohe Demolition'' (2004) *''Rubbings from a Live Man'' (2008) *''Land of the Long White Cloud'' (2009) *''

Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

'' (2011) *'' Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets'' (2014) *''Spookers'' (2017) *''James & Isey (2021)''

External links

Britpop band Pulp documentary/concert film

Florian Habicht Official website

NZ On Screen profile

Full length programme to view - Documentary Kaikohe Demolition

Florian Habicht Arts Foundation of New Zealand page

Love Story Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habicht, Florian Elam Art School alumni Living people New Zealand film directors German emigrants to New Zealand Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Berlin