BOY

The year is 1984 and Michael Jackson's recently released "Thriller" album changes every kid's life - including Boy's, who lives with his brother Rocky and his cousins at his aunt's house in a small village on New Zealand's East coast. Boy's mother has died, while his father Alamein is serving a prison sentence. Obsessed with the king of pop, Boy dreams up all sorts of idealized scenarios in his attempt to comprehend adults' less-than-perfect world. When Alamein finally returns home, Boy is keen to develop the relationship he never had with him, but will gradually have to resign himself to the fact that his father is not the hero he thought, but a failed small-time crook. Talented New Zealand director Taika Waititi, whom Festival fans might remember from the heart warming "Eagle Vs Shark", returns with yet another feelgood movie, as spontaneous and true as kids' imagination.