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Love Cuts

Love Cuts is a short documentary about love.

The speculative nature of the film investigates what love is now, within the perspective of four young people living in Auckland, New Zealand. Their revealing thoughts are presented through intimate forms of poetry and an unaltered realism that infuses their questions and anxieties about what love is today.

  • Karen Reis
    Director
  • Karen Reis
    Writer
  • Karen Reis
    Producer
  • Mariana Brasil
    Producer
  • Jaqui Rose Margetts
    Key Cast
  • Ruby Tautuhi-Lloyd
    Key Cast
  • George Oates
    Key Cast
  • Karen Reis
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Karen Reis
  • Doc Edge Festival
    Auckland
    New Zealand
    June 1, 2018
    NZ Premiere
    Nominated Best NZ Short
  • Ethnografilm Paris
    Paris
    France
    April 7, 2018
    European Premiere
Distribution Information
  • Karen Reis
Director Biography - Karen Reis

Karen Reis was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and moved to New Zealand in 2009 where she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts at The University of Auckland after studying Photography in Brazil.

Love Cuts is her first film, shot entirely with a small crew of 2 people in the period of a month.

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Director Statement

My art and filmmaking practice are in the terrains of everyday stories and investigations on human emotions, connection and psychoanalysis. I am also interested in places as a material for art and filmmaking.

I am driven to tell stories in a true-to-life way. I am attracted to the aesthetics of the everyday within the documental aesthetics, natural soundtrack and long takes, a meticulous representation of the dull, a monotone choice. I like the idea of realism in film where characters and locations are shown as they are, with little to no mediation of a director or set designer, emphasizing the surface of reality. I also like the idea of blurring the concept of documentary and fiction.

I believe that contemporary culture is moving towards an anti-polished esthetics in art as a way of representing ideas. I speculate on a future of sophisticated everyday narratives but in a way that they are closer to the veracity of life.