Daniel Joseph Borgman has forged a unique path as a New Zealand filmmaker, making his films both there and in Europe. The films are influenced by both environments and filmmaking histories, and he has gained recognition for his emerging talent at the most prestigious festivals in the world. He has been innovative with approach and format, but the films all share a mature sensitivity and strong visual aesthetic.
Daniel Studied film science at Otago University in New Zealand before moving to Europe where he worked in post production, first as an assistant and later as a colourist and VFX artist.
His first film THE MAN AND THE ALBATROSS is remarkable for the arresting visuals on a small budget and premiered at ‘The Leopards of Tomorrow’ Competition at Locarno 2008. His second film LARS AND PETER is a sensitively told drama and screened In Competition at the Festival de Cannes in 2009. In 2009 Daniel was admitted into the Danish Alternative film school Super16 (www.super16.dk).
His next short film BERIK, is a remarkable and confronting film shot in Kazakstan with a small crew. This film was selected for Critics Week at Cannes 2010 and won the Grand Prix for Best Short Film. Also in 2010, Daniel’s debut feature film project THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS was selected for development at the Cannes Cinefondation’s The Residence program in Paris, France.
BERIK was nominated for the European Film Academy Award in 2011.
In 2012 Daniel completed production on THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS, a Danish/New Zealand co-production set in New Zealand. At the same time he completed his studies at the Danish alternative film school Super16 with his graduation project, an experimental live film/theatre/happening, entitled HOW TO SAY GOODBYE.
Co-Pro Case Study – The Weight of Elephants: What Scandinavia does right with Leanne Saunders and Daniel Borgman
