"I just turned the romantic comedy genre on its ass. So I hope you appreciate what I've done for you," said director Taika Waititi to kick off a screening of his film, "Eagle vs Shark," at the Holiday Village.

In the most entertaining Q&A of the festival, New Zealander Waititi had the audience laughing almost as much as they did during the film. So many of the characters' family members were dead, he said, because "it's a lot easier to cut characters out of your script." When asked if he was going to expand his Oscar-nominated short, "Two Cars, One Night" (2004) into a feature, he replied that he would release a version in slow motion.

Following a motif of the film, someone asked Waititi to identify his favorite animal. It's a combination of animals, he said, with a snake tail, the head of a badger, the body of a bird and skeleton wings. He calls it a "brancotch," but didn't respond when asked for a spelling. - Jeremy Mathews