A film with Dunedin connections is in the running for a swag of Aotearoa Film and Television Awards.
The Insatiable Moon has been nominated for six awards, including best screenplay for a feature film (Mike Riddell), best original music (Neville Copland), best lead actor (Rawiri Paratene), best lead actress (Sara Wiseman), best supporting actor (Greg Johnson) and best supporting actress (Teresa Woodham).
Mr Riddell, who was nominated for best screenplay for a feature film, based the film on his 1997 novel, The Insatiable Moon, which was based on his experiences working with people who had been abandoned by mental health institutions and had ended up living on the streets in Auckland.
Mr Riddell completed a PhD in religious studies at the University of Otago, before becoming a minister, community worker and social activist in Auckland in the early 1980s.
He also co-ordinated the inaugural Dunedin 48-hour Film Festival and established Screen Dunedin, an initiative to stimulate and develop the film industry in Dunedin.
His wife, District Court judge and former Dunedin lawyer Rosemary Riddell, directed the film, which was shot in Ponsonby at the end of 2009.
Neville Copland, a Dunedin composer and 2007 University of Otago Mozart Fellow, was nominated for best original music in a feature film.
The 2011 Afta Awards will be held at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland on November 10.
