The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

Last updated

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls
Directed by Leanne Pooley
Produced byArani Cuthbert
Starring The Topp Twins
Cinematography Leon Narbey
Wayne Vinten
Edited byTim Woodhouse
Music byThe Topp Twins
Production
company
Diva Productions
Release date
2009
Running time
84 minutes
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a New Zealand documentary film, directed by Leanne Pooley and released in 2009. [1] The film profiles The Topp Twins, a lesbian comedy music duo from New Zealand. [1]

Contents

One of the most successful documentary films at the New Zealand box office, the film made over $1 million in its first four weeks of release. To date, it has made almost $2 million in box office sales. [2] The film was produced by Arani Cuthbert. The cinematographer was Leon Narbey. [3]

The film was also screened internationally. [4]

Awards

The film was nominated for three awards at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards, for Best Feature Film – budget under $1 million, Best Original Music in a Feature Film and Best Sound Design in a Feature Film. It won the awards for Best Feature Film and Best Original Music.

At the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, it won the People's Choice Award for Documentaries. [5]

The film was a nominee for Outstanding Documentary at the 21st GLAAD Media Awards. [6]

Related Research Articles

Cinema of New Zealand Overview of the cinema of New Zealand

New Zealand cinema can refer to films made by New Zealand-based production companies in New Zealand. However, it may also refer to films made about New Zealand by filmmakers from other countries. Due to the comparatively small size of its film industry, New Zealand produces many films that are co-financed by overseas companies.

Geoff Murphy New Zealand filmmaker

Geoffrey Peter Murphy was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His second feature Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) was the first New Zealand film to win major commercial success on its own soil. Murphy directed several Hollywood features during the 1990s, before returning to New Zealand as second-unit director on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Murphy was also at different times a scriptwriter, special effects technician, schoolteacher and trumpet player. He was married to Merata Mita, also a film director, actor, writer.

Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield & London, UK.

James Napier Robertson

James William Napier Robertson is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film I'm Not Harry Jenson, and 2014 film The Dark Horse, for which he won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards, and which was declared by New Zealand critics "One of the greatest New Zealand films ever made".

Topp Twins New Zealand folk singers, comedians, and activists (born 1958)

The Topp Twins are the folk singing and activist sister comedy duo of New Zealand entertainers Jools and Lynda Topp. They are known for their country music influenced style, live shows and television performances. They often perform as characters, the most notable being the roles Ken & Ken, and Camp Mother & Camp Leader.

Toa Fraser is a New Zealand born playwright and film director, of Fijian heritage. His first feature film, No. 2, starring Ruby Dee won the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His second, Dean Spanley, starring Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Peter O'Toole, premiered in September 2008. His third film Giselle was selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. His fourth, The Dead Lands, a Maori action-adventure film, was released in 2014.

Anthony McCarten New Zealand writer

Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing the biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and The Two Popes (2019). He received Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes.

Leanne Pooley New Zealand-Canadian filmmaker

Leanne Pooley ONZM is a Canadian filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. Pooley was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980s and began working in the New Zealand television and film industry before moving to England where she worked for many of the world's top broadcasters. She returned to New Zealand in 1997 and started the production company Spacific Films. Her career spans more than 25 years and she has won numerous international awards. Leanne Pooley was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate in 2011 and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's Honours List 2017. She is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sima Urale is a New Zealand filmmaker who has won national and international awards. Her films explore social and political issues and have been screened worldwide. She is one of the few Polynesian film directors in the world with more than 15 years in the industry. Her accolades include the Silver Lion for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival for O Tamaiti (1996).

Rhian Sheehan is a New Zealand composer and producer born in Nelson and now based in Wellington. He is known for his fusing of orchestral chamber music and piano, with ambient electronic and post-rock cinematic atmospheres. He has also written music for film, television, video games, exhibitions, advertisements, roller coaster rides, and planetarium dome shows.

Justin Pemberton is a documentary filmmaker based in New Zealand.

The 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards was the first presentation for the Sorta Unofficial NZ Film Awards, a New Zealand film industry award.

The 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards were held on Saturday 5 September at the Civic Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. The craft awards were presented in a separate awards lunch at the Civic Theatre Friday 4 September. Highlights from the main awards evening were broadcast on TV3.

Leon Narbey New Zealand cinematographer

Leon Gordon Alexander Narbey is a New Zealand cinematographer.

<i>Whitney</i> (2018 film) 2018 film

Whitney is a 2018 documentary film about the American singer and actress Whitney Houston. The film was directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn and Lisa Erspamer. Whitney was screened out of competition at the world premiere as part of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2018 with a cinema release on 6 July 2018. The film was also released on home media where it debuted at number one on the UK Official Music Video Chart. The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences and grossed $4.7 million worldwide at the box office. In December 2018, Whitney was nominated at the 61st Grammy Awards for Best Music Film.

Ruawaro is a rural community in the Waikato District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, situated south of Lake Whangape and west of Huntly.

Jools Topp Member of the Topp Twins in New Zealand (born 1958)

Dame Julie Bethridge Topp, known as Jools Topp, is one half of the Topp Twins, a music comedy duo from New Zealand; the other member is her twin sister Lynda Topp. Jools Topp has been singing and entertaining with her sister for decades, touring live music and comedy performances as well as performing in TV and film. The sisters were both appointed Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Lynda Topp Member of the Topp Twins in New Zealand (born 1958)

Dame Lynda Bethridge Topp, is one half of the Topp Twins, a music comedy duo of New Zealand, the other member being her twin sister Jools Topp. Lynda Topp has been singing and entertaining with her sister for decades, touring live music and comedy performances as well as TV and film. Both sisters were appointed Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Tearepa Kahi, also known as Te Arepa Kahi, is a New Zealand film director and former actor of Ngāti Paoa and Waikato Tainui descent. Kahi is best known for the 2013 drama Mt. Zion starring Stan Walker, and the Pātea Māori Club documentary Poi E: The Story of a Song (2016).

References

  1. 1 2 "Celebrating 40 years of NZ film: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009)". New Zealand Herald , June 25, 2018.
  2. "Untouchable Girls". The Topp Twins Official Website. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  3. NZ On Screen. "Leon Narbey". Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  4. "An 'Untouchable' Sister Act, Affectionately Drawn". NPR, May 12, 2011.
  5. "Toronto award for Topp twins documentary", Radio New Zealand , September 20, 2009.
  6. "GLAAD nominees announced". The Advocate , January 12, 2010.