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Lau, Sándor
Writer's File

Sándor Lau

Auckland - Tāmaki Makaurau
Lau, Sándor
In brief
Sándor Lau is a documentary filmmaker, a journalist, a poet, and a short story writer. His poetry has appeared in a number of literary journals, and he won first place in the Australasian Short Story Awards in 2002. Sándor has written for newspapers and television, but is perhaps best known for his documentaries, Behaviours of the Backpacker (Television New Zealand, 2003), and Squeegee Bandit (2006). Squeegee Bandit has since screened at several national and international film festivals.
Bio

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lau, Sándor (1975-) is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, poet and short fiction writer.

Sándor Lau was born in South Bend, Indiana, USA and educated in Colorado and Oklahoma. Before arriving in New Zealand as a Fulbright Scholar in 2000, Lau lived in Spain, Mexico, France and Taiwan. He has a BA from the University of Oklahoma (1998) and a Master of Creative and Performing Arts from the University of Auckland (2004).

Lau’s fiction and poetry has appeared in many New Zealand publications including Sport, Poetry NZ, JAAM and the NZ Listener. His short story, ‘Why Smoking is Bad for You’ won first place in the Australasian Short Story Awards 2002. It’s Not Downhill if You Have to Pedal, was published in the anthology Creative Juices: New Writing edited by Emma Neale (Harper Collins, 2002).

As a journalist, Sándor Lau has written for publications in the United States, Australia, Taiwan and Aotearoa where his work has featured in the New Zealand Herald, Staple and Lumière magazines and on Radio NZ. In 2003 he spent a year as a reporter on the TV1 programme, Asia Down Under. Lau's first documentary, Another Man’s Treasure (2001) received the Rangatahi Premier Award at the Media Peace Awards. The film also won Best Film at the 15 Minutes of Fame Festival in Auckland; and second place at the Otago Screen Fest 2002.

Behaviours of the Backpacker (2003), Lau's first television documentary has screened on TV1, Maori TV, and the Documentary Channel in New Zealand and the USA. Armed with a backpack and a camera Lau walked from Auckland to Cape Reinga, capturing the stories of the characters he encountered along the way. In Fulbright New Zealand Quarterly Lau comments, 'I could have just written a script and filmed it, but never could I have dreamed up such sad, beautiful and amazing stories as the ones I deliberately stumbled onto filming Behaviours of the Backpacker…I was looking for people who see the world a little differently.'

Squeegee Bandit (2007) was Lau's first feature documentary film. Squeegee tells the story of Starfish, a Maori street corner window washer from South Auckland. The film was released theatrically in New Zealand in February 2007, and has played in over 20 film festivals around the world. Squeegee Bandit earned four-star reviews from the New Zealand Herald and Sunday Star Times, and is available on DVD and made its television premiere on Rialto Channel in 2008.

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