New Zealand film maker Daniel Joseph Borgman has won the Grand Prix at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. His short film Berik was one of seven selected in competition at Semaine De La Critique, a prestigious sidebar that runs in parallel with Festival de Cannes. Berik is a short drama about friendship and understanding which takes place in Semey, Kazakhstan. Berik, 33, blind and deformed due to radiation poisoning, spends his days at home alone. That is until Adil, 11, the smallest and least popular of the kids in the apartment block, turns up on Berik's doorstep looking for the local bully's football, which he has lost. Berik was funded out of Denmark and is produced by Katja Adomeit for Zentropa. Daniel is also writing his debut feature film 'The Weight of Elephants' at the Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation Residence in Paris with support from the New Zealand Film Commission.