 |
This crowd-pleaser for the entire family enchanted audiences at the 2001 Mill
Valley Film Festival, and it finally receives its US theatrical premiere. Filmed
entirely in New Zealand, and set in 1953, shortly after the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth, it centers on Elizabeth (Sally Andrews),
a 13-year-old New Zealand girl who idolizes the new monarch. Learning
of the queen’s impending visit to New Zealand, young Lizzie writes letter
after letter, begging that she visit her quaint, quirky west coast hamlet of
Middleton. Amazingly, the plucky girl’s efforts pay off. Striking
up a friendship with Hira Mata (Vicky Haughton), an old Maori
woman with a longstanding resentment of the country’s colonial past, Lizzie
is faced with a difficult choice when it turns out Hira’s house, shunned
by the town’s snobs, is directly in the path of the queen’s parade
route. With loving evocation of period and place, this charming story
depicts loyalty crossing racial barriers. With: Alison Routledge,
Liddy Holloway, Craig Elliott, Anna Sheridan. Music: William Ross. Camera:
Stephen M. Katz. Executive Producers: Susan Lyon Hailey, Lisa B.
Gordon, James D. Brubaker. Producer: Walter Coblenz. Writer/Director:
Mark J. Gordon. (Rated PG) 100 min.
“Written and directed by Mark Gordon, a 43-year-old Mountain View
native who had never before stepped foot in Kiwi country, the independent film
came up against plenty of obstacles to summersault through.” - Read
the full interview with Mark Gordon from the SF
Chronicle here.
“Her Majesty is that rare PG-rated production financed outside the
studio system by private investors, some of them parents and grandparents.”
- Read the full story from the San
Jose Mercury News here
“'Sixteen years from script to screen' says executive producer Lisa
Gordon about Her Majesty, which won a scriptwriting award at Sundance in 1989."
- Read the full story from the SJ
Metro here
|
|
