A New Zealand filmmaker has won the grand prize for the best short film at the Cannes Critics' week, a competition that is part of the famous Cannes Film Festival in France.
Daniel Borgman, who is originally from Dunedin but now lives in Paris, won the prize on Friday morning for his film Berick, which he shot in Kazakhstan.
Mr Borgman says it is a 16-minute fictional tale, couched in reality, about loneliness and being outside a community.
He says the film follows a man called Berick, who is a victim of radiation poisoning from nuclear testing but remains upbeat and happy.
Mr Borgman says he is working on a feature film to be made in New Zealand with funding from Denmark and the New Zealand Film Commission.