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So, what are you hoping to see this month? Whether you’re seeking a 420-friendly road movie, body horror with a fairy tale twist, based-on-a-true-story exorcisms, or romantic comedies with green cards and gay couples, there’s bound to be a Don’t-Miss Indie in this April edition… two of which will be featured in Film Independent Presents screenings on April 2 and 15 – will we see you there?

Secret Mall Apartment

When You Can Watch: April 2 (Film Independent Presents)

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Theater, Theaters (limited)

Director: Jeremy Workman

Cast: Michael Townsend, Colin Bliss, Adriana Valdez-Young

Why We’re Excited: “Let’s all live at the mall” is the tagline of this documentary about eight artists who did just that – for four years. As Providence, Rhode Island’s historic mill district was getting a facelift in the early 2000s, art spaces were getting ousted in favor of shopping centers and power plants.

In some ways, “Secret Mall Apartment” does what it says on the tin. The documentary charts the adventures of an artist collective in Rhode Island that found a hidden space inside the bowels of the Providence Place Mall in 2003. There, the collective created a domestic hideaway in defiance of the consumer mecca that the mall represented, documented the project, and used the space undetected for years.

Director Jeremy Workman and editor Paul Murphy knew there was more nuance to the story than a clandestine performance piece, though. They didn’t want the documentary to feel like a conventional, fill-in-the-blank news item. So they didn’t work in a conventional way, either.

Workman, based in New York, and Murphy, hailing from Australia, divided up the material and worked siloed on specific sequences and with specific types of footage — Murphy with the astonishing Dv shot on an Optio stills camera from the...

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired the domestic rights to Love Birds, a new romantic comedy directed by Paul Murphy and written by Nick Ward. The film, which was produced by Alan Harris and Matthew Metcalf for the General Film Company in New Zealand, is slated for a domestic digital release on June 19th, 2012.

Love Birds, starring Rhys Darby (.Flight of the Concords.) and Sally Hawkins (.Happy Go-Lucky,. .Jane Eyre.), is a delightful romantic comedy featuring the music of Queen, about a recently single man who finds an injured duck and reluctantly decides to nurse it back to health. This propels him on a new journey of self-discovery that leads him into the arms of a veterinarian who, as a single mother, shows him a new way to look at life.

The deal to acquire domestic rights from Icon International was negotiated by Fdm.s CEO Susan Jackson. .We are...

According to Second Hand Wedding director Paul Murphy, his 2008 hit New Zealand comedy – released in Australia last week by Potential Films – is yet to make a profit.

“Due to great DVD and airline sales we have managed to climb from 30 percent (cinema income) to around 60 percent recoupment, which has been distributed proportionately to investors – including deferred payments to cast and crew. As successful as the film is considered, it has still failed to make a profit as yet,” Murphy told Encore.

Murphy said that due to the way the income is distributed, Garage Sale Productions only receives approximately 15 percent of the box office intake.

“The film made around Nz$1.9m, so approximately $280,000 came back to the filmmakers. It was shot on a production budget of around $200,000 and received a post grant of $700,000 from the New Zealand Film Commission for a total budget of around $900,000,” he explained.

About his experience working...

Thanks to Potential Films we have passes for the New Zealand hit Second Hand Wedding, directed by Paul Murphy.

Jill and Brian Rose are happily married and looking forward to their daughter, primary school teacher Cheryl, following in their footsteps when long-time boyfriend, mechanic Stew, proposes. Clouds gather, however, when it becomes clear that Cheryl has issues with her mother’s voracious bargain hunting, which she fears will ruin her wedding. Covering up the truth has consequences for everyone involved. Will Cheryl be able to get out of the hole she’s dug for herself?

Second Hand Wedding was a massive hit in New Zealand in 2008.

The Australian release is scheduled for July 29.

To win, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, have you ever bought anything second hand?...

Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) will return to New Zealand (”Take Your Mum”) for the romantic comedy Love Birds. According to Deadline, Darby will play a man who nurses a bird back to health as a way to deal with his recent break-up. He then meets a kooky vet played by Golden Globe-winner Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky). New Zealand (”Why not?”) director Paul Murphy will re-unite with his Second Hand Wedding screenwriter Nick Ward for the project.

I’m a big fan of Darby’s and I’m surprised he hasn’t broken out bigger post-Conchords. While I don’t know how much a film from New Zealand (”It’s not going anywhere”) will appeal to stateside audiences, I’ll definitely be checking it out since he was fantastic not only on Flight of the Conchords but also in Yes Man.

Murray… Present! Flight Of The Conchords scene stealer Murray Hewitt – better known as actor Rhys Darby – has been forging a career for himself with small roles in big films such as Yes Man. But he’s headed back to New Zealand for a leading man part in romantic comedy Love Birds.Paul Murphy is directing the tale of a lonely man who cares for a wild bird back to health, using the time spent caring for the creature to get over being dumped by his last girlfriend.But, as the title might suggest, his time with the feathered friend leads him to meet a lady, in the shape of Happy Go Lucky’s Sally Hawkins, playing a kooky vet.Writer Nick Ward, who worked with Murphy on Dean Spanley, has written the script, which, while it sounds a little bit like a cookie-cutter rom-com, is lifted by the idea of two solid performers working together.

With Flight Of The Conchords quickly becoming one of the more popular television shows, Rhys Darby has slowly been gathering a rather full plate of projects in front of him.

Along with films like Yes Man and Pirate Radio, the actor has a lead in the upcoming romantic comedy, Coming And Going. And now Deadline is reporting that the actor will be joining Sally Hawkins (Happy-go-lucky) in the upcoming film, Love Birds, which is currently shooting in New Zealand, and is directed by Paul Murphy. Love Birds follows a vet who helps a man care for his injured bird.

Read more on Rhys Darby joining Sally Hawkins in Love Birds…...

Actor/comedian Rhys Darby ("Flight of the Conchords") and award-winning British actress Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky") have teamed for the bitter-sweet New Zealand romantic comedy "Love Birds" for Icon Entertainment International.

Darby plays an ordinary guy whose long-term girlfriend has just left him. When a shelduck (a native large goose-like duck) crash lands into his life, he's forced to nurse it back to health and sees the errors of his own approach to life. Hawkins plays a sassy animal specialist with whom he forms a romantic bond.

Bryan Brown, Emily Barclay, Craig Hall and Dave Fane also star. Paul Murphy directs from a script by Nick Ward who previously worked together on the highly successful "Second Hand Wedding". Matthew Metcalfe and Alan Harris ("Dean Spanley") will produce.

Filming kicked off in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday and will run through until mid-May. Icon will release the film in the UK, Australia...