Southern Exposure presents: Scarfies

Dir: Robert Sarkies
1999 (New Zealand)

Southern Exposure is an ongoing New Zealand cinema series: our aim is to explore and promote the best films from NZ.

Six students discover crime should be left to criminals.
A guide to student life:
SCARFIES/; scarf-ees/ n. - local slang for students at Otago University. Dunedin - Southernmost University in the world.
DUNEDIN/; dunnee-din/ n. - University town in New Zealand. Home of the guitar-based 'Dunedin sound', the legendary Otago rugby team and 16,000 scarfies.
SQUAT/; skwat/ n&v. - An abandoned house coveted by the financially challenged (ie. poor scarfies). Attractions: Free rent; free power; freedom.
MARIJUANA/; marawana/n. - An illicit substance found growing in the basement of a certain Dunedin squat.
DEAL/; de-el/n. - An illegal way to make money from above substance.
CHAOS/; K-os/n. - What happens when five cash-strapped scarfies become amateur drug lords for a week.
LESSON/; less-on/n - That crime should be left to criminals.

In SCARFIES, five Dunedin students find themselves in a free squat - and a dark place - after taking a criminal captive in their basement.

The debut feature from Robert Sarkies starts as a comic tribute to Otago student days, then turns into a psychological thriller. Outside of the two WARRIORS movies, Scarfies was the most successful Kiwi release of the 90s on home turf. It went on to scoop best film, director and screenplay awards at the 2000 NZ Film and TV Awards.