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The highlight was the "world premiere" of Joe Hitchcock's The North Pole Deception, a clever, stop-frame animation satire of workers' conditions at Santa's factory.

Hobbits don't have anything to complain about compared with the working conditions the elves have to put up with: the freezing cold, lack of toilet breaks and a tyrannical boss who appears to be the missing link between the workers and the big man himself.

The film had all the makings of parody gold, particularly the broad Kiwi accents that peppered the dialogue with street slang, and blasé yeahs, nahs and y'knows.
- Short films pack in originality and wit, Rebecca Barry, NZ Herald (9th Nov 2010)

Financially-beneficial or otherwise, there's no doubt that the range of films on offer in the 2010 offer a diverse selection of takes on the world. While some films have benefitted from funding, others have been achieved by the sheer amount of time and energy their creators have invested in them – Joe Hitchcock's claymation North Pole Deception (screening in the Imagination strand) being a case in point.
- Show Me Shorts: exhibits sexual preference for soft toys, Screen Hub (20 Oct 2010)

What films are you most looking forward to at this years line-up?
We have such a strong programme of films this year. The collection includes timely and clever gems like the claymation mockumentary ‘The North Pole Deception’, about the poor working conditions for elves in Santa’s workshop.
- Show Me Shorts Film Festival interview, Viewauckland.co.nz


This could be my first negative review, but it's too brief for me to tell:
The North Pole Deception is a claymation doco about the intolerable working conditions for elves under Santa’s yolk and owes more than a little to Aardman’s famous Creature Comforts series.
- At the movies with Dan Slevin, Capital Times (10 Nov 2010)