A quietly profound, deeply poetic film about a Maori family from Hawke's Bay, This Way of Life was the only New Zealand documentary chosen to compete at this year's Berlin Film Festival. The festival is unique in that there's no separate documentary section, so this little self-funded independent release is up against feature films with huge budgets. But a meagre budget does not translate into poor attendences or a lack of visual and emotional impact. On each of its three Berlin screenings, This Way of Lifesold out a 1000-seat theatre. As the credits rolled, some viewers were moved to tears while others stood up whooping and hollering, whistling and stamping their feet. Afterwards, the audience queued up to talk to two of the family featured in the film, 12-year-old narrator Llewelyn Karena-Otley and his mother Colleen, who have been flown in from rural Hawke's Bay by the festival organisers to support the opening. "People ask them questions, like, is it really true?" says Sumner Burstyn. "Did it all happen this way? Can you really ride a horse like that? And they say, 'Yes – this is my life."'

The film finished the festival with a coveted Jury Prize. The judges described This Way of Life as "a window opening to a wonderful different kind of world: A happy family living freely in nature. Respect for life and joy of being are what count in this film".