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O'Reilly's Luck

Short Film (Full Length) – 1989

This tale of small-town New Zealand in the early 1970s marked screen veteran Pat Robins' second outing as a director. Under pressure to keep an old promise to her mother, Sissy O’Reilly (Poina Te Hiko) bets everything on 11 frames of snooker. With a father she can’t trust (Bruno Lawrence) and a brother who seems interested only in the next beer, Sissy is convinced a local snooker tournament is the only way to secure the future of her whānau’s whenua. The half-hour film provides a nostalgic glimpse at Aotearoa past, and demonstrates Robins' belief that everyday life can be just as dramatic as any Hollywood drama. 

She said don’t ever lose my land.
– Sissy O'Reilly (Poina Te Hiko)

Produced by

Nanapat Productions

Acknowledgements

Made in association with the Short Film Fund of the NZ Film Commission, and Television New Zealand Commissioned Independent Productions 

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