Worth celebrating
Florian Habicht has a signature shot: people in cars going nowhere. It was there in Kaikohe Demolition, his offbeat landmark early documentary about life on and off the track at the Northland town’s speedway. It’s been there in the recent advertising campaigns he’s made for the NZ Transport Agency about safety ratings on second-hand cars.
And it’s there in , his new film, which follows a mother and son in the days leading up to her 100th birthday. In a short scene, Isey Cross is back behind the wheel of the pink Holden Premier she got new in 1973. It’s in a garage where it usually sits under a tarpaulin and layers of cobwebs. “We’re all riding in a Māori car,” sings son James Cross from the back seat, to the tune of from . Isey recalls driving it into Kawakawa and parking outside the Star Hotel, one of
