Cinema
The End of the Golden Weather
Ian Mune · 1992
Synopsis
During the Christmas holidays of 1935, on a beach near Auckland, Geoff Crome, twelve, lives the last summer of his childhood and marvels at everything. He befriends Firpo, a thin, odd boy whom the others keep at a distance and who dreams of running in the Olympic Games. When Firpo takes up the challenge of a race on the beach, Geoff sets about preparing him: training, diet and prayers. The film is told as the memory of a man looking back on his childhood.
Context
The film adapts a monologue written and performed solo on stage by Bruce Mason, a dramatist from the country, another of whose works appears in this catalogue. The director proposed the adaptation to him in 1976, without finding the money; taken up again around 1990, the project was finally financed, and shooting began in February 1991, fifteen years after the first work. Stephen Fulford plays Geoff, Stephen Papps Firpo, under the camerawork of Alun Bollinger, for South Pacific Pictures and the New Zealand Film Commission. Premiered at the Toronto festival in September 1991, it was released in the country in 1992, with a premiere in Wellington on 25 February.
Who it is for
One hundred to one hundred and three minutes depending on the sources, in English. Everything is seen from a child's height, between dream, hope and disappointment.
Prizes and reception
Best film and best director at the New Zealand Film Awards; its young lead actor was recognised at the American Young Artist Awards.
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