Kiwi Film Seven Years In The Making Finds Worldwide Distribution

After years of hard work, Older, an independently produced film by Kiwi filmmakers has made its international debut on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Tubi and Vimeo.

When a 29 year old man-child meets an old high school friend at a wedding romance blossoms over their current disillusionment with maturity. But he’s still infatuated with someone else he fell in love with 10 years earlier. Older is an honest depiction of modern-day romance, exploring sex and self-awareness set against the backdrop of impending adulthood.

The film which has been almost 7 years in the making, is the creation of Dunedin raised, Auckland based creatives Guy Pigden and Harley Neville. Older was funded almost entirely by local viewers through a campaign on Kiwi crowdfunding platform, Pledge Me and shot on location in Auckland with local crew and extras.

The film is helmed by writer, director and actor Guy Pigden, playing man-child Alex, who at 29 has recently moved back in with his parents. The film also stars actor and co-producer Harley Neville as Alex's’ best friend, Henry. Liesha Ward Knox (Dear Murderer, Hilary, Legend of the Seeker) stars as Alex’s high school friend Jenny alongside Astra McLaren (Penny Black, Go Girls, The Almighty Johnsons) as Stephanie, Alex's off-again on-again fling.

Pidgen and Neville have been friends since high school where they developed Pigville Productions. Their subsequent award winning feature length and short films, web series and skits have cultivated a huge online following with over 19,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel. Older represents a unique change of pace for Pigville, known for their first film I Survived A Zombie Holocaust a bloody horror comedy set around a Zombie outbreak.

Pigden says: “We wanted to make Older an antidote to the traditional Rom-Com, something with a more genuine unfiltered approach. We set out to create a love story that feels like real life and has a level of authenticity that Hollywood can’t replicate.”

The film was fraught with adversity taking almost 7 years to complete. Neville says, “We had many setbacks and re-shoots." Even after completion the whole film had to be censored when it was initially rejected by Amazon. "So now we have two versions the Directors cut which is only available in NZ and the version available everywhere else. Then just before the week of our cinema premiere, the entire city went back into lockdown and we had to postpone the screening. It’s as if the film gods were mocking us” Harley explains.

Older is embracing the new online distribution model, "To have the film find worldwide distribution and have it even more widely available than our first movie is huge and really speaks to the quality of the final film, it shows how the digital landscape is changing for filmmakers and we want to embrace that." The pair are proud of their hard work and are hoping audiences around the globe enjoy the film. "Guy and I started making movies together when we were 16 and formed our production company to see how far we’ve come and what we’ve achieved is pretty remarkable.’

The film is now available to purchase on Vimeo and GooglePlay and is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi. Those interested can find out more about Older on Facebook and Instagram!

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