Squeegee Bandit

Kevin Whana (aka 'Starfish') makes a crust by running onto Auckland intersections and cleaning car windscreens. Sándor Lau's acclaimed documentary adopts a style befitting its charismatic subject: witty and street-smart, coloured by more serious moments where Whana struggles with drugs, the law and homelessness; and rages at wrongs against himself, and the Māori people. Keen to make something "political but also entertaining and emotionally engaging", Lau made the film after realising the best window washers "know it’s like street theatre or performance art".

I thought of the character in the film like a character from mythology. Every mythological hero has these amazing superpowers, and Starfish literally does. He can go wash a window for 30 seconds and come up with a 50 dollar bill. Just the fact he’s survived with everything he’s gone through in his life is superhuman ... what makes mythological heroes so interesting to us is that they’re not untouchable, but they are like us in so many ways, amplified.

– Sándor Lau in an interview with Lumiere, April 2007

Key Cast & Crew

Rhonda Kite

Producer

Sándor Lau

Camera, Editor, Director, Writer