Spacific Films

The multi-award winning, New Zealand box office hit, “Topp Twins-Untouchable Girls” opens at cinemas around Australia on November 26th. Rialto Distribution who handled the hugely successful New Zealand release is also the Australian distributor.

Two films directed by Leanne Pooley appear in the new publication “100 Essential New Zealand Films”. The book published by Awa Press documents over a hundred years of New Zealand image making and includes short films, experimental works as well as tele-features and theatrical films. Pooley’s documentaries “Haunting Douglas” and “Topp Twins-Untouchable Girls” are both featured with the former appearing in the author’s top ten list.

Leanne Pooley’s film Topp Twins-Untouchable Girls has won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“New this year is a Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Documentary and Midnight Madness. The Cadillac People’s Choice Award – Documentary goes to Leanne Pooley’s The Topp Twins. Fun, disarming and musically provocative, the Topp Twins are New Zealand’s finest lesbian country-and-western singers and the country’s greatest export since rack of lamb and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Runner-up is Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. ”

Having received a standing ovation at its premiere the film garnered rave reviews in various publications including Variety.

Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls took away two awards at this year’s New Zealand Film & Television Awards.  The prize for “Best Music in a Feature Film” went to Jools and Lynda, and the film won “Best Feature Film” (budget under $1,000,000).

Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls has won the Audience Award for Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

The winners of the MIFF Audience Poll for 2009 are:

Top Feature: Bran Nue Dae
Top Documentary: The Topp Twins

Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls is to have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. One of the biggest and most prestigious film festivals in the world TIFF will screen the documentary 3 times. Director Leanne Pooley, Producer Arani Cuthbert and The Topp Twins will be in attendance

Check out the festival site for details

www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au

Leanne Pooley’s documentary “Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls” is now part of an elite club of New Zealand films to hit the million dollar mark at the box office.

 Still screening all over New Zealand the film has been a runaway success both critically and with the public.  It is now the most successful New Zealand documentary of all time.

The Topp Twins movie “Untouchable Girls” directed by Leanne opened for nationwide release in New Zealand on April 9th. NZ on Screen interviewed

Leanne Pooley on making docos and Untouchable Girls

Posted by Screen Talker on 2 April 2009 – In the interview-

“Pooley discusses The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, her documentary on Kiwi icons Lynda and Jools Topp.

The doco looks at the yodeling country music comedic phenomenon and examines the subversion amongst the sing-alongs: “Every really important social change that’s happened in New Zealand over the last 30 years the twins have been a part of, and in some cases even provided a soundtrack for.”

This interview was conducted by Clare O’Leary with camera and editing by Leo Guerchmann”

Here is the full  background from Onscreen. The interview is also available to watch below.

Here is a recent  interview for Flicks Magazine by Andreas Heinemann.

“Originally a native of Winnipeg, Canada, Leanne Pooley has plied her craft as a documentary filmmaker all over the world, from productions with the BBC to award winning NZ features.

She kindly invited Flicks into her home a few days after the premiere of her latest, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (in cinemas April 9). She explains the documentary is not only a profile of NZ’s most idiosyncratic entertainers – Jools & Lynda Topp – but a chronicle of our recent history.”

Go here to read the Flicks interview.