WELLINGTON 27 JULY – 12 AUGUST 2018

BOOK AT NZIFF.CO.NZ

BOOK AT NZIFF.CO.NZ Wine and film.

Both start with a vision and then take years of skill and craft to become a reality. A director draws the best performance from actors and crew, and a winemaker extracts the potential from the land and the grape. Dedication and the pursuit for perfection define both crafts. It’s no wonder success for each is defined by raising a glass.

PARTNER NZ International Film Festival 2010–2018 47th Wellington International Film Festival 27 JULY – 12 AUGUST 2018

Presented by New Zealand Film Festival Trust under the distinguished patronage of Her Excellency PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY The Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, Governor-General of New Zealand

EMBASSY THEATRE READING CINEMAS PENTHOUSE CINEMA ROXY CINEMA LIGHT HOUSE PETONE NGĀ TAONGA SOUND & VISION

Director: Bill Gosden General Manager: Sharon Byrne Communications Manager: Rebecca McMillan Wellington Festival Manager: Caroline Palmer Assistant to the General Manager: Lisa Bomash Publicist (Auckland): Sally Woodfield Programmer: Sandra Reid Programme Manager: Michael McDonnell Animation NOW! Programmer: Malcolm Turner All Ages Programmer: Nic Marshall Incredibly Strange Programmer: Anthony Timpson Programme Consultant: Chris Matthews Online Content Manager: Kailey Carruthers Content Manager: Ina Kinski Materials and Content Assistant: Matt Wilshere Publications Coordinator: Tim Wong Audience Development Manager: Alice Vilardel Social Media Coordinator: Rebecca Shannon Guest Coordinator: Pamela Harvey-White Technical Adviser: Ian Freer Festival Accounts: Alan Collins Ticketing Supervisor: Jane Simons Festival Interns: Jean Teng (Auckland) Zoe Pattinson Fan, Liam Reid (Wellington) Publication Design: Ocean Design Group Publication Production: Greg Simpson Cover Design: Matt Bluett Cover Illustration: Ken Samonte Animated Title: Anthony Hore (designer), Aaron Hilton (animator), Tim Prebble (sound), Catherine Fitzgerald (producer)

THE NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVAL TRUST Chair: Catherine Fitzgerald Trustees: Louise Baker, Adrienne Bonell, James Every-Palmer, Tearepa Kahi, Robin Laing, Andrew Langridge, Helen Marie O’Connell, Chris Watson Financial Controller: Chris Prowse

The New Zealand Film Festival Trust Box 9544, Marion Square Wellington 6141, New Zealand ph: (64 4) 385 0162 [email protected] Resene Resene Wellywood Piha Sand

Resene Resene Pohutukawa Gumboot

Resene Resene Pukeko Koru

Resene Resene Gorse Pavlova

Bringing colour to kiwi life since 1946 Resene’s big screen story began back in 1946 when Ted Nightingale started making paint from his Wellington garage. Over 70 years later and the Resene name lives on as a truly homegrown success story, known for its quality paint, colour and innovation. Our paints are designed and made in New Zealand for our harsh weather conditions and our colours are inspired by everyday kiwi life. So you can be sure they will look great in your home, while also looking after it. Proud supporters of the NZ fi lms in the International Film Festival. CONTENTS

Resene Resene Wellywood Piha Sand 07 12 14 22 50 Big Nights Retro Aotearoa World Fresh

58 60 68 70 76 For All Framing News / Music Portrait Ages Reality Fake News & Dance of an Artist

Resene Resene Pohutukawa Gumboot 80 84 Incredibly Meet the Strange Filmmakers

WELCOME

Resene Resene We could not be prouder or happier about fronting up, in this winter of 2018, to Pukeko Koru offer you a programme as invigorating and timely as any we have ever presented.

If you’ve not joined us before, you have chosen a great year to do so. If you are a regular, this year’s NZIFF is going to feel new and different – unless you have been confining your attendance to the mighty Embassy, or to one of our lovely satellite venues, where it’s business as usual. At age 47, we have lost the 100-year-old Paramount, the cinema that brought us into the world, and found a new home down the street at Reading Cinemas. Comfortable seating, heating, legroom, and a finely tuned picture and sound: it just won’t be the same. We are very grateful to Reading Cinemas for taking us in: there are easier ways for cinema operators to make money than receiving the small share NZIFF can afford on the hard-won box office our busy programme usually generates. Be warned, however: bigger seats mean fewer seats and you are Resene Resene advised to book for Reading screenings. Gorse Pavlova The Paramount may be shuttered, but the yin and yang of the NZIFF ecosystem persist: filmmakers produce work that calls for festivity, and audiences love to gather, evaluate and celebrate. NZIFF survives as a non-profit enterprise, dependent on that audience for almost 90% of our income.

NZIFF returns 25% of that income to filmmakers. The major sponsorship we receive from the New Zealand Film Commission is a gratifying institutional endorsement of that principle. Some other crucial supporters should also be acknowledged. Resene joins us for their fifth year as sponsors of another stimulating strand of films from Aotearoa. The Wellington Community Trust is behind us for the third year, and the Wellington City Council provides grant money – though we thank them above all for their custodianship of mothership Embassy.

Flicks.co.nz, RadioLIVE, nzherald.co.nz and Metro magazine are exactly the media partners an event like ours Bringing colour to kiwi life since 1946 can work with, engaging directly with the films we present. In 2018 we welcome a new Artistic Development Partner in Creative New Zealand. Resene’s big screen story began back in 1946 when Ted Nightingale started making paint from his Wellington garage. Over 70 years later and the Resene name lives on as a truly homegrown success story, known for its quality paint, colour and innovation. Though we encounter numerous not-quite contenders as we go, the thing we NZIFF programmers do for work, we also do for fun. There are debates, difficult decisions and hallelujah moments aplenty, which is exactly Our paints are designed and made in New Zealand for our harsh weather conditions and our colours are inspired by everyday kiwi life. how we hope selecting your NZIFF will turn out for you. May our brave efforts help you spot the movies that So you can be sure they will look great in your home, while also looking after it. mean the most to you. Proud supporters of the NZ fi lms in the International Film Festival.

Bill Gosden Director TICKET PRICES BUYING TICKETS

BOOKINGS OPEN ON THURSDAY 5 JULY AT 10.00 AM A CODED SESSIONS Advance bookings will be available for all NZIFF screenings. You can select your own Sessions starting after 5.00 pm weekdays and all weekend sessions seats if you book online. Book early to secure your favourite seats, and to ensure your (unless otherwise indicated). tickets for screenings at the smaller venues. » Full Price $18.50 ONLINE www.nziff.co.nz » Film Society/Film Industry Guilds/Nurses $15.00 You have the option to select your own seats if you book online, using the ‘CHANGE SEAT’ button before you complete your purchase. Tickets purchased online will » Student/Community Services Card $15.00 be emailed to you, allowing you to print them at home. Please ensure you print » Child (15 and under)/Senior (65+) $12.50 your ticket, not just your confirmation letter, and bring your ID if you have booked concession discount tickets. You may also present your ticket on your mobile. Please B CODED SESSIONS ensure your ticket is loaded and ready for presentation. Sessions starting before 5.00 pm weekdays or of a shorter duration and IN PERSON BEFORE NZIFF (from Thursday 5 July to Thursday 26 July) others as indicated. Advance tickets for all NZIFF screenings will be available at the NZIFF box office » Full Price $15.00 downstairs at Reading Cinemas Courtenay, 100 Courtenay Place. 10.00 am – 6.00 pm Monday to Friday, 11.00 am – 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday. » Child (15 and under)/Senior (65+) $12.50 IN PERSON DURING NZIFF (from Friday 27 July) C CODED SESSIONS Embassy, Reading Cinemas Courtenay, Penthouse Cinema, Light House Petone, » All tickets $11.50 Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision: The box office at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision will be open from 9.00 am – 4.00 pm, Monday – Friday. Tickets to all NZIFF screenings are ONLINE DISCOUNT available here. Purchase ten Full Price tickets or more in one online transaction and automatically Roxy Cinema: The box office at the Roxy Cinema can only sell tickets for their receive a discount of $2.00 per ticket. own NZIFF screenings. The box office opens 45 minutes before each NZIFF session TEN-TRIP PASS commences and closes 15 minutes after each session starts. Box office closed between sessions. Valid for all sessions (excluding Special Events), subject to seat availability. Please note: Patrons buying tickets for sessions about to start may be given priority Venue sales only. over patrons seeking advance bookings. » Ten-Trip Pass $150.00 MAIL BOOKINGS The Ten-Trip Pass can be purchased in advance from the NZIFF box office at Reading A booking form can be found on the NZIFF website. Once printed and completed, post Cinemas Courtenay (or from NZIFF venues during NZIFF dates). It can be used to book to: New Zealand International Film Festival, PO Box 9544, Marion Square, Wellington tickets in advance or on the day at NZIFF box offices for any session that is not sold 6141. Alternatively, you can call (04) 802 2579 and we can post you a booking form. out. The Ten-Trip Pass cannot be used for online, phone or mail bookings. TELEPHONE – Please note that we have very limited phone booking services TICKETING FEES Hours prior to NZIFF (Thursday 5 July to Thursday 26 July) 10.00 am – 5.00 pm Monday to Friday, 11.00 am – 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday. Ph: A $1.00 per ticket transaction fee is already included in the price of the ticket. (04) 801 8054 There are no additional service fees except for where a courier delivery is selected ($5.50). Hours during NZIFF (from Friday 27 July to Sunday 12 August) CONCESSION DISCOUNTS (Film Society/Film Industry Guilds/Nurses/ 10.30 am – 5.00 pm daily. Student/Community Services Card) Ph: (04) 801 8054 Students, Film Society members, Film Industry Guild members, Nurses and Community SCHOOLS AND GROUP BOOKINGS Services Card holders are entitled to purchase one ticket per session at the discount For groups of 20 or more people, contact Alice Vilardel on (04) 802 2571 rate. Student/Membership/Staff or CSC ID is required – please ensure you bring it with or [email protected] you to the venue to present to staff on request; failure to do so will result in the full price being charged for attendance. Film Society ‘Three Film Sampler’ holders are not METHOD OF PAYMENT entitled to the concession discount. Cash: Accepted for box office and venue bookings. Prices are GST inclusive and in NZD. EFTPOS: Accepted for box office and venue bookings. REFUNDS Visa/Mastercard: Accepted for all bookings. Cheque: Personal cheques are accepted for mail bookings only, and must be received Please note that NO REFUNDS will be given for tickets (either unused, uncollected or collected late) and Ten-Trip Passes (either in part or in full). Bookings once made five working days prior to your first screening. Cheques payable to NZ Film Festival Trust. cannot be altered. Please choose carefully as there are no seat swaps, exchanges or TICKET COLLECTION refunds, except as required by law. For phone and mail bookings, tickets can be mailed or couriered out if booking is received at least nine days prior to your first screening. Otherwise they will be held for collection at the cinema box office of your first screening. Please bring your reference number and/or credit card and any concession ID as verification of your ticket purchase. GENERAL ENQUIRES Prior to NZIFF Ph: (04) 802 2579, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Monday to Friday (until 26 July). During NZIFF Ph: (04) 801 6483, 10.30 am – 8.00 pm daily (from 27 July – 12 August). GENERAL INFORMATION

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS VISIT www.nziff.co.nz EXPLORE THE PROGRAMME ONLINE AT www.nziff.co.nz Embassy Theatre (EMB) & Embassy Deluxe (ED): 10 Kent Tce, Ph (04) 801 6483 Find out more about the 160+ feature films and short film programmes we’ve selected Embassy Deluxe is a 70-seat cinema downstairs at the Embassy. for this year’s NZIFF, access exclusive trailers and content, and curate your own shortlist Reading Cinemas Courtenay (RCC): Level 1, 100 Courtenay Pl, Ph (04) 801 8054 and schedule of screenings to watch this winter. NZIFF screenings will take place in Cinemas 2, 5, 9 or 10. Please check your ticket for » Films Explore films by theme, genre, country, language and more, and check out our screen details. ‘Must See’ recommendations from staff and friends of the NZIFF. Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision (NT): cnr Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts, Ph (04) 384 7647 » Register Sign up to receive monthly news and daily session updates during NZIFF, Penthouse Cinema (PH): 205 Ohiro Rd, Brooklyn, Ph (04) 384 3157 and to create wishlists that you can easily share. Take buses 7 or 8 from Lambton Quay/ Willis Street. Check www.metlink.org.nz » Curate a wishlist Add any film to your own wishlist and then share your wishlist for timetables. All screenings this year will be held in Cinema 3. with friends (great for organising a crew), save sessions to your calendar, and create Roxy Cinema (RX): 5 Park Rd, Miramar, Ph (04) 388 5555 a handy shopping list to purchase from. You can even create a wishlist for every Take buses 2, 24, 31, 43 or 44 from Courtenay Place to Miramar shops. town and city where NZIFF screens. Check www.metlink.org.nz for timetables. » Schedule reminders Select the reminder on a film session to be alerted if tickets Light House Cinema Petone (LHP): 52 Beach St, Petone, Ph (04) 939 2061 start selling fast, so you can book ASAP. Take the Hutt Valley train or buses 81, 83, 84, 85 or 91, from Courtenay Pl or Lambton » News Read the latest film announcements, meet the filmmakers and peruse our Quay to Jackson St. Check www.metlink.org.nz for timetables. guest profiles on the news section of the website. PROGRAMME CHANGES » Galleries Browse NZIFF photos of special events, including world premieres, awards We reluctantly reserve the right to change the schedule by amending dates or replacing evenings and Q+As with leading filmmakers. films. From Friday 27 July, confirmation of daily session times can be made by calling the NZIFF box office on (04) 801 8054. Any necessary changes will be advertised on our FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA website or at our venues. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for behind-the-scenes photos and PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY footage, sneak peeks, trailer reveals and giveaways. There are no advertising films or trailers at NZIFF. We reserve the right to ask latecomers to wait until the conclusion of any introductions or short films before they are seated, www.facebook.com/nzfilmfestival or to seat latecomers in seats other than those originally purchased, to minimise Become a friend, watch trailers and take part in competitions and discussions. disturbance to other patrons. Session starting times will not be delayed in deference to late arrivals. If collecting tickets prior to a screening please allow extra time in case www.twitter.com/nzff there are queues. Keep up to date with our Twitter feed.

MOBILE PHONES www.youtube.com/nzintfilmfestival Please ensure mobile phones and other electronic devices are switched off before Watch trailers, interviews and much more. entering the auditorium. www.instagram.com/nziff WHEELCHAIR ACCESS/SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Take a peek behind the scenes. All venues are accessible by wheelchair. Wheelchair accessible seats can now also be identified and purchased online. The Embassy is equipped with hearing loops with good coverage for all seats. All other venues except Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision and Roxy Cinema have amplified infra-red headphones (used without hearing aids), which can be obtained from the box office. Please note that where films are indicated as KEY TO ICONS having subtitles, this is not the same as full captioning for the hearing impaired. Please advise the ticket seller when purchasing your tickets if you have any special Guest Appearance requirements. Visit our website for venue specific information. Meet the makers. Films programmed with introductions and post-screening Q+As with the CENSORSHIP CLASSIFICATION artists in person. Correct at the time of printing. See website for latest updates. G – Suitable for general audiences Short Preceding Feature PG – Parental guidance recommended for younger viewers M – Unrestricted. Recommended as more suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over Shorts paired thematically with selected feature films in the programme. RP13 – Restricted to persons 13 years and over, unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian RP16 – Restricted to persons 16 years and over, unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian World Premiere R13 – Restricted to persons 13 years and over Brand new features and documentaries – often homegrown – that we have the privilege R16 – Restricted to persons 16 years and over of debuting to New Zealand audiences. R18 – Restricted to persons 18 years and over Classifications will be published in NZIFF’s daily newspaper advertising and Cannes Selection 2018 displayed at the venues’ box offices. Children’s tickets are available only for Direct from the Competition and Croisette in the South of France, we bring you the movies films classified G, PG and M. making waves at the most famous film festival of them all. At the time of printing some films have not been rated. Until they receive a Major Festival Award censor rating, they are considered R18 (unless clearly aimed at children) and can Films judged the best and brightest at A-list film festivals around the world, from Venice, only be purchased by and for people aged 18 and over. For more information to Berlin, to Sundance and Cannes. please visit the ticketing and venue information page on our website. Please note: ID may be requested for restricted films.

SPONSORSHIP, BROCHURE AND WEBSITE ADVERTISING KEY TO VENUE CODES Contact: Sharon Byrne Ph: (04) 802 2570 EMB Embassy Theatre RX Roxy Cinema FURTHER INFORMATION ED Embassy Deluxe LHP Light House Petone Contact us: [email protected], www.nziff.co.nz RCC Reading Cinemas Courtenay NT Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision PH Penthouse Cinema Four ballets by international Sarah Foster-Sproull • Danielle Rowe • Penny Saunders • Andrea Schermoly female choreographers (New Zealand) (Australia) (United States) (South Africa) celebrating women’s suffrage

SUPPORTED BY NATIONAL TOURING ROYAL NEW ZEALAND BALLET PARTNER BOOK NOW 17 - 18 AUGUST • Opera House, Wellington rnzb.org.nz BIG NIGHTS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 7

Birds of Passage Pájaros de verano Opening Night

A vibrant Colombian indigenous culture that’s survived centuries of colonisation takes on the 1970s drug trade in our Directors: Cristina Gallego, visually and aurally astounding opener. Ciro Guerra Colombia/Denmark/Mexico 2018 Directors Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the 125 mins Serpent, NZIFF16) and Cristina Gallego Producers: Katrin Pors, Cristina Gallego shake off the clichés of crime-war and Screenplay: María Camila Arias, Jacques imperialism and imbue their saga with Toulemonde. Based on a story by Cristina Gallego Photography: David Gallego surreal beauty and the elemental power Editor: Miguel Schverdfinger of ancient proverb. Music: Leonardo Heiblum With: Carmiña Martínez, Jose Acosta, The film’s formidable matriarch Jhon Narváez, Natalia Reyes, Jose Vicente Cotes, (Carmiña Martínez) knows full well Juan Martínez, Greider Meza Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2018 that the young chancer (José Acosta) In Wayuunaiki, Spanish and English, who has courted her daughter with English subtitles Censors rating tbc (Natalia Reyes) could only have paid the outrageous dowry she demanded PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH by selling dope to the gringos. But the seed is sown: insisting traditional honour codes be observed in enrichening her clan, she bends her shamanistic authority to building an ancestry, or any connection to the empire in the desert. region to understand the broader “Hardly a scene goes “Colombians are sick to the back implications of this epic story of haunted by without something teeth of filmmakers exploiting their druglords and ruthless power grabs troubled past, but Gallego and Guerra’s that are partly predicated on traditional fundamentally familiar inspired take on the blood feud yarn beliefs and shibboleths. Guerra and being rendered in a and mob thriller is really unique and far Gallego’s film is no dusty period piece, unique fashion.” — Jordan A EMB Fri 27 Jul, 6.30 pm from cheap genre thrills as it gets. Birds it is wildly alive, yet it reminds us that A RX Sun 29 Jul, 3.15 pm of Passage is an enthralling, powerful no matter how modern we are, there Hoffman, The Guardian B EMB Wed 1 Aug, 3.30 pm statement.” — Martyn Conterio, Cinevue are ancient songs our forebears knew A LHP Fri 3 Aug, 6.15 pm “This is an absolutely extraordinary whose melodies still rush in our blood.” A PH Sat 4 Aug, 8.15 pm film… You do not have to have Wayuu — Jessica Kiang, The Playlist B PH Thu 9 Aug, 3.45 pm

Capharnaüm Centrepiece

A popular hit in Cannes, and already eyed-up as an Oscar contender, this heartfelt drama of a runaway boy’s Director: Nadine Labaki life on the streets of Beirut was shot Lebanon 2018 | 123 mins Producers: Khaled Mouzanar, Michel Merkt with a cast of non-professional actors Screenplay: Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, by Lebanese actress/director/co-writer Michelle Kesrouani, Georges Khabbaz, Khaled Mouzanar Nadine Labaki (Caramel, NZIFF08). Photography: Christopher Aoun “While this is unquestionably an Editors: Konstantin Bock, Laure Gardette issue film, it tackles its subject with Music: Khaled Mouzanar With: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, intelligence and heart… Labaki uses a Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawthar Al Haddad, Fadi Kamel Youssef, Cedra Izam, Alaa Chouchnieh, trial to structure the film, though this Nadine Labaki isn’t a courtroom drama... Admittedly Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 the case could probably only exist in Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2018 In Arabic and Amharic, with English subtitles cinema: Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), already CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc serving a five-year sentence for stabbing someone, is suing his parents… for giving him life. Approximately 12 years old (even his parents don’t know his exact age), this pint-sized James Dean is a sensitive toughie simmering with righteous resentment. One glimpse at the swaggering, foul-mouthed Zain, his troubled home life and it’s easy to combining the requisite traits of “A social-realist blockbuster understand why… wounded sensitivity with seasoned –fired by furious Firmly in the tradition of great resilience that somehow never feels guttersnipe dramas, the film pays a clichéd.” — Jay Weissberg, Variety compassion and teeming considerable amount of attention to “Capharnaüm is a howl of protest with sorrow, yet strewn milieu, foregrounding the solidarity against social injustice, a film as with diamond-shards of of children as they struggle to survive grounded in a place and time and yet A PH Sat 28 Jul, 3.30 pm in an adult-made hell... Moments of as universal in its empathy with the beauty, wit and hope.” B PH Mon 30 Jul, 11.30 am humor…offer just the right balance dispossessed as Bicycle Thieves or — Robbie Collin, The Telegraph A LHP Sat 4 Aug, 3.45 pm with the overall unforced pathos… Salaam Bombay!” — Lee Marshall, A EMB Sun 5 Aug, 5.45 pm Young Al Rafeea is a revelation as Screendaily B EMB Fri 10 Aug, 11.00 am 8 BIG NIGHTS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 9

Cold War Zimna wojna Closing Night

This dazzling Cannes winner from Paweł Pawlikowski, the director of Ida, feels like the perfect closing night Director: Paweł Pawlikowski choice: you don’t want such glorious Poland/UK/France 2018 | 89 mins Producers: Tanya Seghatchian, Ewa Puszczyńska filmmaking to end. Pawlikowski whisks Screenplay: Paweł Pawlikowski, Janusz Głowacki, his two fatally attracted lovers, a singer Piotr Borkowski Photography: Łukasz Żal and a composer, through myriad, Editor: Jarosław Kamiński brilliantly evoked musical styles and Music: Marcin Masecki With: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, settings either side of the Iron Curtain Agata Kulesza, Cédric Kahn, Jeanne Balibar – from Stalin-era folk troupes to 1950s Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 Paris jazz bars. Best Director, Cannes Film Festival 2018 In Polish and French, with English subtitles “Portraying a whirlwind, border- B&W | Censors rating tbc hopping amour fou in gorgeous black and white, Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold PROUDLY SPONSORED BY War won him the Best Director prize. In post-war Poland, pianist composer Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) tours villages with his lover, music teacher Irena (Agata Kukezsa) in search of folk-based talent. At an audition, Zula (Joanna Kulig) cons her way into a duet with a more Much of the film is a thrillingly talented singer. Though Irena tells seductive musical, shot and edited with “The torn curtain of love Wiktor that Zula is just out of prison for the rhythm of dance, but the surface is the theme of Paweł stabbing her father, he feels that ‘she whirl would not fascinate without the has something’. luminous presence of Joanna Kulig… Pawlikowski’s mysterious, * Closing Night will be preceded Soon she is a star… When the troupe The hopelessly unsuited couple are musically glorious and by a short introduction. performs in Berlin, Wiktor askes Zula to fictionalised versions of Pawlikowski’s visually ravishing film.” cross to the West with him; thereafter parents, and through them we B PH Mon 6 Aug, 4.15 pm many borders are crossed, many lines experience near equal disenchantment — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian B EMB Tue 7 Aug, 1.15 pm of fate are broken… jealousies and with socialist and capitalist mores. I A LHP Wed 8 Aug, 6.15 pm betrayals flourish and die, but the two loved it.” — Nick James, Sight & Sound A PH Sat 11 Aug, 8.45 pm continue to attract and repel each other. A EMB Sun 12 Aug, 7.00 pm*

Burning Beoning Special Presentation

By critical consensus a masterpiece, and the highest ever rated film on the Screen International’s eagerly pored- Director: Lee Chang-dong over Cannes jury grid, Burning, like South Korea/Japan 2018 | 148 mins Producers: Lee Joon-dong, Lee Chang-dong, previous record holder Toni Erdmann, Ok Gwang-hee left the Competition officially prizeless Screenplay: Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong. Based on the short story ‘Barn Burning’ by but showered in glory. A love triangle Murakami Haruki and a mystery, it concerns an earnest Photography: Hong Kyung-pyo young writer’s (Yoo Ah-in) jealous crush Editors: Kim Hyun, Kim Da-won Music: Mowg on a mercurial woman (Jun Jong- With: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yuen, Jun Jong-seo seo) who takes up with a handsome, Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 In Korean with English subtitles prosperous companion (Steven CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc Yeun, The Walking Dead). “Not a lot actually burns in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning… But the cumulative effect of all its perfect moments, all its perfectly true, unexpected and consequential scenes, is scorching. The embers are banked up so gradually and relentlessly that it’s not until a few hours after the ending short of miraculous… The narrative is of this elusive, riveting masterpiece that slippery as silk, eliding from romance “Intensely captivating… you are far enough away to appreciate to tragedy to mystery to something Burning handles the the scale of the conflagration… more unsettling… This sense of It is based on a skeletal short story surprise and inevitability is a hallmark ideas of a triangulated by Murakami Haruki in the same way a of truly masterful writing… and such relationships and emotions spreading oak is based on an acorn… skillful direction that it feels like you’re in intensely mesmerizing The absolute precision of craft, from suspended within the story in an invisible Hong Kyung-pyo’s unerring camera tangle of glances and exchanges, secrets and subtle ways.” — Jordan A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 6.30 pm placement to [the] stunningly variegated and lies, tricks and cruelties and lucky Ruimy, The Playlist A LHP Sun 5 Aug, 4.45 pm and cleverly deployed score, illuminates shafts of reflected sunlight.” — Jessica B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 11.00 am A EMB Sun 12 Aug, 3.45 pm a trio of performances that are little Kiang, Sight & Sound 10 BIG NIGHTS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Leave No Trace Special Presentation

Director Debra Granik introduced Debra Granik* Jennifer Lawrence to the world in Winter’s Bone. In Leave No Trace Director: Debra Granik she directs young Wellington actress USA 2018 | 109 mins Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie in a lead Producers: Anne Harrison, Linda Reisman, Anne Rosellini performance that is just as remarkable. Screenplay: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini. She plays Tom, a teenager who has Based on the novel My Abandonment by Peter Rock Photography: Michael McDonough been living off the grid with her father, Editor: Jane Rizzo Will (Ben Foster), from an early age. Music: Dickon Hinchliffe With: Ben Foster, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Camped in a forest outside Portland, Jeff Kober, Dale Dickey they are peaceable, lo-tech survivalists, Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco, Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), Sydney 2018 perfectly attuned to each other and PG drug references the natural world. Will’s alienation from society is profound – he and Tom Debra Granik will introduce her run drills in preparation for any human film, followed by Q+A sessions intrusion – but it doesn’t prevent at the Embassy screenings. him from providing his daughter an DEBRA GRANIK’S VISIT IS SUPPORTED BY education. Discovery is probably inevitable. When social services try to intervene and Tom’s sheltered life is threatened equally heart-warming and heart- her responses are complex, not least breaking story of the unconditional “Something deeply as she comes to see the shelter she love shared between father and compassionate, a story herself affords her troubled father. daughter. Foster and McKenzie Though there’s the trajectory of a deliver raw, tender, captivating and of a father and daughter chase movie in the pair’s flight from transcending performances. The bond that speaks truths about authority, the heart of the drama lies between them isn’t only compelling, some large things.” in the perceptible shifts in Tom’s view it is inspiring… A profound story about of the world – and in the compassion love, family, loyalty, understanding, and — Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair A EMB Sun 29 Jul, 6.00 pm* extended to the two of them by a compassion.” — Tiffany Tchobanian, B EMB Mon 30 Jul, 12.45 pm* whole world of backwoods dwellers. Film Threat A PH Fri 3 Aug, 6.15 pm A RX Sat 4 Aug, 1.00 pm “Leave No Trace tactfully tells an

Shoplifters Manbiki kazoku Special Presentation

Few filmmakers are as delicate observers of family units – and especially of children – as Kore-eda Hirokazu, and Director/Screenplay/Editor: Shoplifters radiates with the same Kore-eda Hirokazu Japan 2018 | 121 mins joyous naturalism and sad wisdom of Producers: Matsuzaki Kaoru, Yose Akihiko, his best work. The eponymous shoplifters Taguchi Hijiri are the Shibatas, a low-income family of Photography: Kondo Ryuto Music: Hosono Horuomi five struggling away in a tiny corner of With: Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu, Tokyo. Scrimping and saving, as well as Kiki Kilin, Jyo Kairi, Sasaki Miyu Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 stealing whenever necessary, this Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2018 overcrowded household one day opens In Japanese with English subtitles Censors rating tbc their door to an abused child wandering the neighbourhood. Wary of exposing PROUDLY SPONSORED BY their own living situation, they ignore the authorities and secretly adopt the little girl – to everyone’s greater happiness, but also peril. The permissible definition of what makes a family is constantly under suspicion, even as we witness the © 2018 FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK / GAGA CORPORATION Shibata’s closeness. Their ethical latest caught everyone off guard ­– a predicament will ultimately be laid bare testament to his masterfully understated “Profoundly moving… in ways that resound long after this approach to human life, and to the a haunting film about passionately humane film reaches its power of calm, compassionate voices final frame. in a world where we can barely hear abandoned people, A triumph of subtlety over spectacle, one outrage over another for all the and the beautiful things Shoplifters was awarded this year’s screaming. — Tim Wong that are lost and found A LHP Sun 29 Jul, 2.45 pm Palme d’Or at a festival usually overrun “[Kore-eda’s] embrace is as ferocious B RX Wed 1 Aug, 1.00 pm by the most controversial or brazenly and beautiful and loving as that of a between.” — David Ehrlich, B PH Fri 3 Aug, 3.45 pm political films. In fact, as socially mother trying to hug away all her child’s Indiewire A EMB Sat 4 Aug, 6.30 pm conscious as recent Cannes-winner fears. His… film is a gorgeous thing.” B EMB Wed 8 Aug, 3.30 pm I, Daniel Blake, the potency of Kore-eda’s — Jessica Kiang, Sight & Sound A PH Sun 12 Aug, 6.30 pm BIG NIGHTS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 11

Yellow is Forbidden Special Presentation

Chinese designer Guo Pei made fashion Pietra Brettkelly* headlines around the world when Rihanna wore her massive canary yellow Director/Screenplay: Pietra Brettkelly gown to the Met Gala in 2015. If ever New Zealand/China/France 2018 97 mins a dress was intended to stop the show, Producers: Pietra Brettkelly, Richard Fletcher, this was it. Typically of Guo Pei, it was Naomi Wallwork intricately embroidered and bejewelled, Photography: Jacob Bryant Editors: Nicolas Chaudeurge, Margot Francis the product of years rather than Music: Tom Third months of work – an opulent one-off, With: Guo Pei, Philip Treacy, Wendi Murdoch, Godfrey Deeny likely only ever to be worn on a catwalk Festivals: Tribeca, Hot Docs, Sydney 2018 or red carpet. In Chinese, French and English, How did the daughter of a with English subtitles communist soldier and primary school teacher, educated, as she informs a bemused Western press at ‘No 2 Light Industry School, Beijing’, become the designer of choice to China’s one percent, positioning herself for global significance? We are taken into her world as she seeks acceptance from Paris’ Chambre Syndicale de la Haute for imperial grandeur may never have Couture. Her irresistible force may have looked more insanely magnificent than “Compelling and met an immovable object. in Guo Pei’s world of wearable arts. Its stimulating… an intimate, In milieux as different as Afghanistan roots in suppression, aptly alluded to in (A Flickering Truth), South Sudan (The the film’s title, are astutely observed in involving portrait of Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) Brettkelly’s fascinating, gorgeous film. Chinese fashion designer and a NZ high school (Ma¯ori Boy “With a remarkable eye for detail Guo Pei.” — Keith Uhlich, Genius), Pietra Brettkelly has excelled and exquisite blending of visual art A RX Sat 28 Jul, 5.00 pm* as an enthralled yet keenly perceptive forms, Pietra Brettkelly captures Guo’s Hollywood Reporter A EMB Sun 29 Jul, 12.30 pm* observer of highly driven individuals. drive, artistry, meticulousness, and B EMB Wed 1 Aug, 10.30 am In Guo Pei she meets a subject fit for acumen.” — Brian Gordon, Tribeca Film B PH Thu 9 Aug, 11.45 am the times. The contemporary hankering Festival A PH Sat 11 Aug, 6.45 pm

Mirai Mirai no Mirai Special Presentation

“The complex, sometimes fraught relationship between older and younger siblings is mapped with Director/Screenplay: Hosoda Mamoru kindness, imagination and wit in Mirai, Japan 2018 | 98 mins Producers: Saito Yuichiro, Ito Takuya, Adachi Yuichi, from Japanese writer-director Hosoda Kawamura Genki Mamoru… Inspired by Hosoda’s Animation directors: Aoyama Hiroyuki, Hata Ayako experience watching his own kids Artistic directors: Omori Takashi, Takamatsu Yohei Music: Takagi Masakatsu interact, this latest work, rooted more Voices: Kamishiraishi Moka, Kuroki Haru, in realism and domesticity despite some Hoshino Gen, Aso Kumiko, Yoshihara Mitsuo, Miyazaki Yoshiko, Yakusho Koji flights of fancy, continues the director’s Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), Annecy ongoing preoccupation with family 2018 In Japanese with English subtitles dynamics, explored previously with Censors rating tbc more fantastical settings in The Boy and the Beast and Wolf Children… PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH In an affluent suburb, Kun, a little boy of maybe three or four, lives with his mom and dad in a flowing, modernist house – designed by Kun’s dad himself – that descends room by room down a hill, enclosing a little yard with a single tree… The peace of this Hosoda has a lovely, light touch and harmonious little world is disrupted leavens the proceedings with “Beguilingly sweet-natured by the arrival of Mirai, Kun’s new little dry, well-observed humor. Likewise, … Mirai is a work of sister, who, although cute, also makes the character design walks the line demands on his parents’ time and with grace between big-eyed anime heart-swelling beauty attention, much to Kun’s chagrin... cutesiness and closely observed and considerable charm.” realism, capturing with insightful wit When mom goes back to work and — Wendy Ide, Screendaily leaves dad to look after the kids at the way dogs and kids move and home, Kun takes to spending a lot of wiggle.” A RX Sat 28 Jul, 1.00 pm time alone in his playroom or the yard. — Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter A EMB Sun 29 Jul, 3.30 pm There, he makes friends with a dashing A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 10.45 am prince in 18th century clothing... A PH Sun 5 Aug, 12.00 pm 12 RETRO

Desert Hearts Retro

“Exuberant and sexy, Desert Hearts is the most untrammelled love story in this Festival, and the most assured and Director/Producer: Donna Deitch liberating lesbian movie ever. It belts USA 1985 | 91 mins Screenplay: Natalie Cooper. Based on along on fresh air, country music and the novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule sassy dialogue so that you can almost Photography: Robert Elswit feel that warm wind in your hair.” Editor: Robert Estrin With: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, — 15th Wellington Film Festival, 1986 Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, “‘You’re just visiting the way I Alex McArthur Festivals: Locarno 1985; Sundance, Auckland 1986 live,’ confidently queer Cay (Patricia Best Actress (Helen Shaver), Locarno Film Festival Charbonneau) cries out to newly 1985 Special Jury Price, Sundance Film Festival 1986 lesberated Vivian (Helen Shaver) M sex scenes during their first romantic set-to in Donna Deitch’s swoony and sharp- witted Desert Hearts. The same can’t be said of Deitch’s 1985 film, her first, which became a sapphic touchstone precisely by not treating lesbian love as a topic for tourism (as Personal Best did in ’82) or something far worse (cf. The Children’s Hour, from ’61). a decade younger who sculpts when Adapted from Desert of the Heart, she’s not working as a change operator “Steeped in moody, the 1964 debut novel by lavender at the casino. However self-assured, classic country and legend Jane Rule, and scripted by and no matter how many women may Natalie Cooper, Deitch’s movie takes have shared her bed previously, Cay western music, it conveys place in Reno, Nevada, in 1959. is also nakedly vulnerable around this romantic longing and Vivian, a 35-year-old literature soigné New Yorker. She is, in other confusion with professor at Columbia, has headed words, falling in love, a condition never to the city for a quickie divorce from pathologized or diminished in Deitch’s bittersweet intensity.” A EMB Wed 8 Aug, 8.45 pm a fellow academic… The scholar – film but rather celebrated to the fullest.” — Camille Paglia, Sight & Sound A PH Thu 9 Aug, 8.15 pm fragile, remote, wry, serious – ignites — Melissa Anderson, Village Voice (2017) B PH Fri 10 Aug, 4.15 pm something in Cay, a coltish soft butch

Liquid Sky Retro

Bodiless extra-terrestrials descend on Director/Producer: Slava Tsukerman Manhattan’s post-punk club scene USA 1982 | 113 mins for the heroin and stay for the sex, Screenplay: Slava Tsukerman, Anne Carlisle, Nina V. Kerova vaporising their fodder in explosions Photography: Yuri Neyman of psychedelic ecstasy at the moment Editors: Sharyn Leslie Ross, Slava Tsukerman Music: Slava Tsukerman, Brenda I. Hutchinson, of climax. Margaret, a pansexual New Clive Smith Wave fashion star, discovers she can With: Anne Carlisle, Paula E. Sheppard, Susan Doukas, Otto von Wernherr, Bob Brady, dispatch unwelcome visitors by feeding Elaine C. Grove, Stanley Knap, Jack Adalist, the aliens’ habit. Anne Carlisle, who Lloyd Ziff, Harry Lum, Roy MacArthur Festivals: Wellington 1983, Auckland 1984 co-wrote the film with recent Russian 4K DCP | R18 cert émigrés Slava Tsukerman and Nina V. Kerova, brings eerie concentration to playing both the dangerously bored Margaret and cokehead male model Jimmy, her caustic fashionista rival. Their jaded carnival of sexual identity as art form and weapon is as startling now as when it twice filled the Paramount for Festival midnight screenings in 1983. A quintessential artefact of 1980s New Wave, Liquid ubiquitous neon, lavishly asymmetrical Sky now looks and sounds sharper than hairdos and so-primitive-they-fascinate “This film isn’t about the ever in this 2018 4K restoration. alien effects demand truly to be seen… 1980s, it is the 1980s. “At last… Slava Tsukerman’s 1982 Liquid Sky has always been caught neon-fired New Wave New York alien smack between delirious curio, avant- Layered in face paint and sex-party punk-disco orgasm-as-revenge garde put-on, exploitation cheapie, neon, it is a vivid world, proto-electroclash feminist genderfuck and naive masterpiece. Today, it both nightmarish and is on screens in its finest form, scrubbed seems prescient… A singular vision and crisp and gorgeous, ready to of a twilight Manhattan haunted by seductive.” — Patrick Dahl, A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 9.00 pm baffle, disquiet, thrill, and trigger… The the lost, the daring, the damned, the Screen Slate A EMB Sun 29 Jul, 9.00 pm tangerine skylines, sweat-slick club jonesing – and some aliens.” — Alan B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 4.00 pm dancers, grubby-chic apartments, Scherstuhl, Village Voice RETRO 13

Orlando Retro

Sally Potter’s sumptuous adaptation Director: Sally Potter of Virginia Woolf’s fantasia of shifting UK/Russia/France/Italy/ gender identity through 400 years of The Netherlands 1992 | 94 mins English history is as fresh today as it Producer: Christopher Sheppard Screenplay: Sally Potter. was when it first dazzled New Zealand Based on the novel by Virginia Woolf festivalgoers in 1993. Photography: Aleksei Rodionov Editor: Hervé Schneid “Many intellectual traditions vie for Music: David Motion, Sally Potter ascendancy in Sally Potter’s adaptation With: Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Lothaire Bluteau, John Wood, Heathcote Williams, of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 modernist Charlotte Valandrey, Quentin Crisp, Dudley Sutton, novel, but the joy is that the film comes Thom Hoffman, Jimmy Somerville Festivals: Auckland 1993 over simply: a beautiful historical In English and French, with English subtitles pageant of 400 years of English history, PG sexual references full of grand visual and aural pleasures, sly jokes, provocative insights, emotional truths – and romance… The film, comprising six or so major scenes, begins at the opulent court of the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth (played by self-proclaimed stately homo Quentin Crisp), where the male Orlando receives favour, an estate and immortality; film’s complicitous eyes and ears… It’s a it then follows his quest for love in critical work, in that it comments wryly “Tilda Swinton’s 50-year jumps through the Civil War, on such things as representations of performance as Orlando the early colonial period, the effete English history, sexuality/androgyny and literary salons of 1750 by which time class – but made in the spirit of a love- in this adaptation of Orlando is apparelled as a woman, and poem to both Woolf and the England Virginia Woolf’s novel is the Victorian era of property, to a 20th that made us. It’s wonderful.” — Wally luminous and thrilling, an century postscript added by Potter. Hammond, Time Out The fine, stylised performances from omnisexual romp through A EMB Sun 5 Aug, 3.30 pm an idiosyncratic international cast are 400 years of history.” admirably headed by Tilda Swinton’s — Kate Muir, The Sunday Times magnificent Orlando, who acts as the

Wings of Desire Der Himmel über Berlin Retro

For many the highlight of this year’s Director: Wim Wenders Berlinale was the premiere of this West Germany/France 1987 dazzling new 4K restoration of Wim 128 mins Wenders’ spectacularly aerial Wings of Producers: Wim Wenders, Anatole Dauman Screenplay: Wim Wenders, Peter Handke Desire. Shot in Berlin two years before Photography: Henri Alekan the fall of the Wall, it’s a palpably Editor: Peter Przygodda Music: Jürgen Knieper, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds humanistic film purporting to see into With: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, the anxious souls of city dwellers Curt Bois, Peter Falk Festivals: Cannes 1987; Auckland 1988 through the eyes of angels. One of Best Director, Cannes Film Festival 1987 them (Bruno Ganz) hankers to become In German, French and English, with English subtitles human and taste the coffee. The 4K DCP | B&W and Colour | PG coarse language surround-soundscape is as gloriously untethered as the film’s floating camera, PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH a symphony of voices, music and urban ambience cradling the poetry of Peter Handke’s script. Lyrically articulating a profusion of existential doubts and fleeting sensory delights, it’s one of the great Rorschach test movies, many things to many people – and incidentally a must for Nick Cave completists. in 4K shows us a city and shows us No longer subject to the intermediate a world that is 30 years old, but it is “It’s full of astonishingly steps entailed in printing black and so succinct, so there and so rich that hypnotic images… and white imagery on colour film stock, the it could also be a new film.” — Wim digital restoration, scanned from the Wenders manages effortlessly original negative, renders the legendary “Wings of Desire is shot in a silvery to turn Wenders’ and cinematography of Henri Alekan even black and white so that Berlin seems Peter Handke’s poetic, more vividly than when we first showed dusted with celestial soot… The first the film in 1988. Don’t miss your time I saw the film I thought it was a literary script into pure A LHP Sun 29 Jul, 5.15 pm chance to experience it on the giant knockout; on second viewing it already cinematic expression.” B EMB Wed 8 Aug, 12.30 pm Embassy screen. seemed a classic.” — J. Hoberman, A EMB Sat 11 Aug, 4.00 pm — Geoff Andrew, Time Out A RX Sun 12 Aug, 3.00 pm “Wings of Desire on the big screen Village Voice 14

Bludgeon AOTEAROA Ryan Heron Andy Deere Directors/Producers: Ryan Heron, Andy Deere New Zealand 2018 90 mins Photography: Ryan Heron, Tim Flower, Andy Deere Editor: Andy Deere Camera assistant: Kaleb Brown Music: Jeremy Toy Sound design: Department of Post With: Nicholas Matepo Waiariki, Martainn Cuff, Justin Stockbridge Cinemascope

Ryan Heron and Andy Deere’s Captain of the Thorns, Martainn ‘The affectionate and funny documentary Machine’ Cuff, has a lifelong dream introduces us to the competitive sport to represent his country but has an of ‘medieval combat’ and its eccentric unexpected obstacle to overcome – cast of characters – each vying to swing his pathological fear of wolves. Thorns swords (not to mention battle axes, manager and master armourer Justin maces and halberds) for New Zealand Stockbridge is one of New Zealand’s on the world stage. Just don’t call it most experienced fighters, but his re-enactment or LARPing, because take-no-prisoners management style this intensely physical and exhausting ruffles more than a few feathers. Does sport of violent armour-clad combat is this oddball crew have what it takes anything but play-acting. to compete internationally in what Our initiation into this weird and must be one of the world’s most brutal wonderful world comes through the combat sports? — MM enthusiastic but self-confessedly out-of- shape rookie Nick Waiariki. His quest for A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 8.15 pm glory takes him from Rotorua to Taranaki, A RX Sat 4 Aug, 5.15 pm where he is set to try out for the number A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 3.00 pm one-ranked Kiwi team, the Steel Thorns.

NEW ZEALAND FILMS AT NZIFF ARE PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY She Shears

Jack Nicol* Director: Jack Nicol New Zealand 2018 86 mins Producers: Georgina Allison Conder, Ainsley Gardiner Screenplay: Jack Nicol Photography: David Russell With: Jills Angus Burney, Hazel Wood, Catherine Mullooly, NZIFF is always proud to provide big screen Pagan Karauria, Emily Welch premieres for striking work made within our own shores – and by Kiwis working elsewhere. © REBECCA MCMILLAN PHOTOGRAPHY Documentary filmmakers celebrate remarkable When a Kiwi girl sets her heart on no special category for women. For becoming a shearer there’s not a lot Ruawai’s Hazel Wood, busting to New Zealanders on this year’s programme. that’s going to stop her, as the five escape the world of dairy conversion, We also welcome the home landing of Dustin women profiled in this lively doco the competition represents a first foot happily testify. Central Otago’s Pagan on the ladder. Though Pagan claims Feneley’s spectacular feature Stray. In selecting Karauria admits it was tough getting a she’s bent on placing ‘first or second’, our two regular short film programmes – New gig at the start, but with her champion her true determination lies in beating dad staunchly behind her, she’s made the terrible internal injuries suffered in a Zealand’s Best and Ngā Whanaunga – we saw the shearing shed the focus of her road accident. While the Golden Shears so many terrific new shorts in 2018 that we added career, not just as a competitive shearer, comperes freestyle with verbal flair on but as an ace wool sorter and mentor a flying fleece or a kicky ewe, director two more programmes to show them off. to other young women. With whānau Jack Nicol applies camera poetry to the solidly backing them, each of these agility, strength, skill and rhythmic grace See also: Yellow is Forbidden (p11), Dog’s Best women strive, more than anything, of women wielding blades of steel. Friend (p63), Mega Time Squad (p83). to better themselves. For legends Jills Angus Burney and Emily Welch, A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 6.15 pm* personal bests have been world records. B RCC Thu 9 Aug, 11.00 am At the Golden Shears, the world’s biggest shearing competition, there’s AOTEAROA 15

Angie

When Angie Meiklejohn’s mother Costa Botes followed the latest love of her life to Centrepoint in 1985, taking Angie, Director/Producer/Cinematography/ her younger brother and two little Editor: Costa Botes New Zealand 2018 | 119 mins sisters, they’d never lived anywhere so Associate producer/Researcher: Anke Richter nice. The parkland setting was idyllic, Music: Richard Adams, Nigel Gavin, Jonathan Besser with an Olympic-size swimming pool, Additional music: Harley Greene, Podington Bear, Blue Dot Sessions and all their material needs were With: Angie Meiklejohn covered. As we now know, what Censors rating tbc happened to children at Bert Potter’s alternative lifestyle settlement was far from nice. Costa Botes’ film about Angie and her siblings provides a vivid, multidimensional view of the damage done – often to already damaged people. Angie herself was in trouble even before the move to Centrepoint. She and her brother had been wards of the state. She’d been sexually abused by one of her mother’s lovers, and then raped, aged 11, by the teenage Her younger sisters recall just as clearly, son of another. Desperate for some but remember nothing but horror. “Funny, smart, big hearted, sense of belonging and approval, she The catalogue of projects and love unflinchingly honest, embraced the community’s values and affairs subsequently undertaken and the attention of its founder. abandoned by Angie is staggering. a steadfast friend – Angie and her siblings are compelling, What never seems in doubt is her whatever her past hurts, strikingly assured camera subjects. One great appetite for life and a mind that’s Angie is an engaging and of the many salutary virtues of Angie’s never sharper than when dissecting the account is the livid clarity with which dynamics of sexual abuse, and the way loveable human being.” A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 5.15 pm she recalls, for example, how empowered parental neglect and that abuse have — Costa Botes A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 8.00 pm she felt being wanted by old men that shaped her choices. She has much to A RX Sat 11 Aug, 5.00 pm she could barely bring herself to look at. tell us all.

Celia

Celia Lashlie, an impassioned, charismatic Amanda Millar advocate for equality of opportunity in New Zealand, is mourned and celebrated Director/Producer: Amanda Millar in this documentary written, directed New Zealand | 101 mins Executive Producer: Garry Robertson and produced by former TV current Photography: Belinda Walshe, David Paul affairs journalist Amanda Millar. Millar Editor: Lala Rolls was responsible for several 60 Minutes Music: Naia Alkhouri, Michel Alkhouri With: Celia Lashlie, Salvatore ‘Salvi’ Gargiulo, items that enabled Lashlie, frequently at Gabe Quirke, Rebekah Henderson, Heather Main, odds with bureaucracy, to put her case Adele Bull to the nation. When Lashlie received a terminal cancer diagnosis in late 2014, she invited Millar to film the final year of her life. The end came much sooner than expected, but Lashlie’s final participation at the domestic violence camp she helped found, and an intensely moving interview filmed days before she died, provide the heart of this inspiring portrait. Archive footage and the testimony of colleagues show her at her long- © TARANAKI DAILY NEWS running peak: compassionate, funny, Heather Main. Four symbols on Main’s combative and blunt. Addressing the painting structure the film to embrace “Every child is born pure victim blaming in the bureaucratic four cornerstones of Lashlie’s life: and filled with their own characterisation of dysfunctional empowering women in prison; her families, she is a blistering bullshit landmark book He’ll Be OK: Growing particular brand of magic.” detector of the highest order. Gorgeous Boys into Good Men; her — Celia Lashlie Two other memorial projects are conviction that by changing the lives woven through this one: a theme of the mothers, crime, suffering and song composed and performed by deaths could be prevented; and the A EMB Thu 2 Aug, 6.15 pm 12-year-old Naia Alkhouri and fellow deep respect for human potential B EMB Fri 3 Aug, 10.30 am band members, aged 9–13; and the expressed through the transformative B PH Fri 10 Aug, 11.30 am A PH Sat 11 Aug, 1.15 pm portrait painted by her close friend originality of her work. 16 AOTEAROA

The Heart Dances – the Journey of The Piano: the ballet

Czech choreographer Jiří Bubeníček Rebecca Tansley and his twin brother and designer, Otto are stars in the European dance Director: Rebecca Tansley world, creators of vital, innovative New Zealand 2018 | 99 mins Producers: Robin Laing, Rebecca Tansley contemporary ballets. Director Rebecca Photography: Simon Raby Tansley (Crossing Rachmaninoff) follows Editor: Thomas Gleeson them from Prague to Aotearoa as Music: Aldous Harding, Charles Ives, Michael Nyman, Bic Runga, Alfred Schnittke, they take up an invitation from the Dmitri Shostakovich, Bedřich Smetana, Flavio Villani Royal New Zealand Ballet to expand With: Jiří Bubeníček, Otto Bubeníček, Moss Patterson, Patricia Barker, the dancers and staff their adaptation, made in Germany in of the Royal New Zealand Ballet 2015, of Jane Campion’s film. Tansley’s documentary feasts on the sheer beauty of the Bubeníčeks’ work – the music, the theatricality, the costumes, the suite of achingly expressive pas de deux at the heart of the piece. It also presents a delicately traced picture of the Old World at sea in the New, and vice versa. The Bubeníčeks arrive apparently unaware that the work they have been invited to stage but above all she celebrates his vigour poses significant problems for Moss and enthusiasm for communication. “This is the 21st century Patterson, the Māori cultural adviser She observes the enormous reserves of and we have to stand contracted by the RNZB. (The original skill and discipline required of classical ballet gave prominent place to ‘Ka performers, all the more to savour the proud as Maˉori, but we Mate’.) Only someone who’s never thrill when everything takes flight. also have to find ways worked in the New Zealand cultural Intercutting rehearsal and performance, to work together, to be sector could be surprised that the The Heart Dances weaves a seductive, ensuing struggle, signally embedded in elegant celebration of a vital, centuries- together and to create A EMB Sat 28 Jul, 5.45 pm the 2015 work, unfolds over the four old art that still has a squillion tiny together.” — Moss Te Ururangi B EMB Tue 31 Jul, 10.30 am weeks before opening night. dancers line up to audition for the B PH Wed 8 Aug, 11.15 am Patterson A PH Sat 11 Aug, 4.00 pm Tansley sees Bubeníček’s dismay, Anna Paquin role.

M a¯ u i ’ s H o o k

Invoking the skills, cunning and defiance Paora Joseph of the legendary tupuna, the title of this stirring film by psychologist and Director: Paora Joseph filmmaker Paora Joseph also alludes to New Zealand 2018 | 92 mins Producer: Karen Te O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble the line on a map traced by the bus trip Executive Producer: Quinton Hita he takes us on from Parihaka to Cape Screenplay: Lani-rain Feltham. Reinga. The travellers who join this hikoi Based on a story by Paora Joseph Photography: Bevan Crothers, Maria Ines wairua are five families, four Māori, one Manchego Pākehā, each grieving the suicide of Editor: Gareth Dick Music: Dick Reade, Janine Martin, Gareth Dick, someone very close. In the bravest, most Paora Joseph sobering of interviews, these five families With: Niwa Whatuira, Hera Foley, Nicola Kawana, Paora Joseph each gather to tell the story of the In Māori and English, with English subtitles person in their midst who took their life. Censors rating tbc Joseph conducts and films wānanga with the families as they journey north to release and farewell their loved ones. Addressing the demographic most commonly reflected in our tragic suicide statistics he introduces their fictional surrogate in young Tama (Niwa Whatuira), who observes the suffering “Maˉui’s Hook is a courageous of loved ones left behind and comes too journey exposing the raw reality of “We want our young late to apprehend that while his pain pain, grief and loss for whānau in the people to be like Ma¯ui and anger need not be permanent, aftermath of suicide; yet spiritually death most surely is. uplifting and healing for those involved, – to push through life’s Maˉui’s Hook is purpose-built to and the viewer too. It highlights challenges, using the change attitudes and provoke action. how the solutions for addressing Ma¯ui attitude.” — Producer Post-NZIFF, as it travels to selected and preventing suicide in Māori community venues around the communities, particularly rurally, will Karen Te O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 5.45 pm country it will be supported by suicide come from those Māori communities.” A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 1.30 pm prevention workshops organised by — Dr Monique Faleafa, CEO Le Va, Māori health providers. Pasifika health provider AOTEAROA 17

Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen

By the time the pioneering indigenous Heperi Mita filmmaker and activist Merata Mita died suddenly in 2010, she had packed an Director: Heperi Mita extraordinary amount of action into her New Zealand 2018 | 95 mins Producer: Chelsea Winstanley 68 years. If her youngest son Heperi Executive producer: Cliff Curtis Mita became a film archivist and a Creative producer: Tearepa Kahi filmmaker in order to discover the stories Associate producer: Manutai Schuster Photography: Mike Jonathon she did not live to tell him, then we in Editor: Te Rurehe Paki Aotearoa have something new to thank Consulting editor: Annie Collins With: Merata Mita, Rafer Rautjoki, Richard Rautjoki, her for. His first film is a remarkable Rhys Rautjoki, Awatea Mita, Eruera `Bob' Mita, accomplishment, a compelling Great Heperi Mita, Taika Waititi, Alanis Obomsawin, Bird Runningwater Woman portrait that speaks intimately In Māori and English, with English subtitles from personal experience. Colour and B&W He has an abundant archive of film and TV appearances to draw on, beginning with his mother’s mesmerising testimony as a Māori woman bringing up children alone in the 1977 TV documentary Maˉori Women in a Paˉkehaˉ World. By 1979 she was making © GIL HANLEY landmark documentaries herself, most when Merata and his father Geoff notably Bastion Point: Day 507 (1980) Murphy lived in LA and Hawaii. He “Merata Mita is the and Patu! (1983) which rattled Kiwi turns to his older siblings to learn about grandmother of complacency by so clearly identifying earlier days when living was often the violation of Māori rights – the latter hand-to-mouth and police raided the Indigenous Cinema. film explicitly tying New Zealand’s record house in search of Patu! footage. They This film is a dedication to apartheid in South Africa. In 1988 are a loving whānau whose testimony to her life’s work her film Mauri, deftly quoted in this reverberates with the conviction that one, was the first feature written and their mother’s fierce maternal instinct towards that goal.” A EMB Thu 9 Aug, 6.15 pm directed by a Māori woman. was integral to her work as a fighter, — Chelsea Winstanley A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 1.15 pm Heperi is the first to acknowledge mover, shaker, mentor and artist of that he grew up in the best of times, abiding international significance.

Stray

One of the most strikingly Dustin Feneley photographed New Zealand films in recent memory, Stray is the statement- Director/Screenplay: Dustin Feneley making feature debut of writer/director New Zealand 2018 | 104 mins Producers: Desray Armstrong, Dustin Feneley Dustin Feneley. Set in the wintry south, Photography: Ari Wegner this bracingly spare character drama Editor: Dione Chard frames Aotearoa’s oft-filmed landscapes Production designer: Sophie Durham Sound designer: Dick Reade in a clear and startling new light. With: Arta Dobroshi, Kieran Charnock, Joel Fili, Jack (Kieran Charnock, The Ross Harper, Mia Blake, Sean Crawford Festivals: Moscow 2018 Rehearsal), a taciturn young man on Best Actor (Kieran Charnock), Moscow International parole for grievous bodily harm, holes Film Festival 2018 M adult themes up in a cabin somewhere in Central Otago. It’s not clear whether he’s trying to forget the past or reconcile with it, although his hesitancy with locals suggests he’s much closer to the scene of the crime than he’d care to admit. Locked away in a prison of his own making, Jack one evening encounters Grace, very far from home and seeking refuge. Played by the emotions lend greater power to its captivating Arta Dobroshi, star of the visuals. Ari Wegner, the talented DP Capturing New Zealand’s Dardenne brothers’ Lorna’s Silence, behind Lady Macbeth’s intense painterly moody and majestic Grace’s own private struggles linger compositions, does astonishing things beneath her attraction to Jack. These with darkness and diffused natural southern landscape with lonely, enigmatic strangers drift into a light. Within these stunning images, terrific clarity, Stray relationship that promises to either heal the Man Alone tradition is alive and demands to be seen on or hurt. well, but it’s also crisply refocused There’s a deliberate – in the context through Feneley’s commitment to stark the big screen. A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 8.30 pm of the short history of our national silences and bold cinematic spaces into A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 5.45 pm cinema even daring – aesthetic a kind of hard-edged New Zealand discipline to this film, whose suppressed poetry. — Tim Wong 18 AOTEAROA

Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy Oko na Roki The Eye in My Hand

Martin Sagadin Director/Producer/ Director/Screenplay/ Photography: Tony Hiles Editor: Martin Sagadin New Zealand 2018 New Zealand 2018 39 mins 83 mins Editor: Daria Malesic Music: Martin Sagadin, Anita Clark Sound: Paul Wedel

Tony Hiles delivers the ninth episode of winter light through the boughs of The one ‘experimental’ feature to be a new phase ahead for this band of in his documentary series 2009–2019 an ancient pohutukawa is reworked submitted by a New Zealand filmmaker friends, but that’s to imply structure in Michael Smither: The Next Ten Years – into an expression of high summer. this year is a thing of remarkable a film shaped by memories that strike and NZIFF’s lunchtime serial – catching Poetry is the subject of the film’s wandering beauty. Shot with a hand- wherever Sagadin’s eye for beauty up once more with his friend, the artist third chapter. The artist exhibits and held camera whenever the spirit took leads him. Here a ravishing blue-and- and composer at the easel and piano. discusses the recent restoration of ‘The him over a period of four years, Martin white image of fruit blossom and sky Smither continues to work on the Sick Rose’, his 1970s acrylic panels Sagadin’s film is a succession of colour- may segue to a bike-cam tracing a large portraits of self and friends which rendering the William Blake poem; saturated visual pleasures, woven with path strewn with russet fallen leaves. we first saw in 2016. Abandoning then sings his own delicate setting of occasional diegetic sound and a feather- Two black-and-white dogs swirl round the unsettling implications of jihadist a poem by his late boon companion, light musical score composed by Anita the backyard greenery joined by the propaganda he had entertained at the Peter Jacobson. Loss and recuperation Clark and the filmmaker himself. contested fragment of a football. time, he reframes the imposing faces are the recurrent themes here, with the Sagadin, his partner and their friends Seeking to keep hold of a thousand with collar-lines, engaging as ever in his film ending on a celebratory montage hang out and traverse the wide open, such pictures, Sagadin adds to the store narration of the visual ideas at play. of work accomplished. often broken spaces of Christchurch of wonders we have seen ourselves. Failure to sell the painting that was where they live. They get out of town, the subject of Light Through the Trees C NT Tue 7 Aug, 12.15 pm follow the rivers, picnic in the hills, A ED Sat 11 Aug, 1.45 pm triggers a more radical act of recovery. C NT Wed 8 Aug, 1.30 pm pop up in Wellington and Auckland. A ED Sun 12 Aug, 6.15 pm In a case study for future students of There are pets galore. The glimpse of pentimento, what originated as a study a baby late in the film maybe signals

MISSED IT AT NZIFF? GET YOUR FIX ONLINE.

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Recent additions include popular New Zealand documentaries: Costa Botes’ Candyman, Rebecca Tansley’s Crossing Rachmaninoff, and Shirley Horrock’s Marti: The Passionate Eye.

 ondemand.nziff.co.nz AOTEAROA 19

MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT CREATIVE NEW ZEALAND New Zealand’s Best 2018 JURY PRIZE EMERGING TALENT AWARD 87 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

Help give the year’s best New Zealand Run Rabbit No Shame My Friend Michael Jones short films the homegrown recognition NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Robyn Paterson NZ 2018 | Director: Brendan Donovan | Producer: NZ 2018 | Directors: Ian Leaupepe, Samson Rambo they deserve by voting for your Producer: Paula Boock | Photography: Alun Bollinger Alex Clark | Screenplay: Carl Shuker, Brendan Donovan. Producers: Alex Lovell, Eldon Booth | Screenplay: favourite at these screenings. For this Editor: Gretchen Petersen | With: Saman Tehrani, Based on the novel The Lazy Boys by Shuker Eldon Booth, Ian Leaupepe, Samson Rambo Ram Al Laham | 19 mins Photography: Ian McCarroll | Editor: Chris Plummer Photography: Ian McCarroll | Editors: Luke Haigh, year’s New Zealand’s Best short film With: Kieran Charnock | 13 mins Eldon Booth | With: Villa Junior Lemanu, Luciane competition, NZIFF programmers Bill A refugee boy in an alien landscape. Buchanan | 15 mins A delicate work where reflections of Be warned, this is scary stuff. A Gosden, Sandra Reid and Michael Being different is difficult within a war and family tragedy are triggered young man returns home fractured McDonnell viewed 84 submissions school where bullying and torment are by everyday actions. Captured with by past relationships. Love and family to make a shortlist of 12 from which the norm. Tight storytelling and great a very real sense of place and an cannot uncover his hurt. Close and director and cinematographer Leon performances, with select camera unhurried openness of storytelling. intense performances edited with a Narbey selected these six finalists. A clarity where you can almost smell coverage allowing the characters to jury of three will select the winner of Charmer the adrenaline. work the frame. the $5,000 Madman Entertainment NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Judah Finnigan Jury Prize and a Creative New Producer: Olivia Shanks | Photography: Matt Henley Falling Up Sail Away | | Zealand Emerging Talent Award of Editor: Paul Wedel With: Robyn Malcolm, Stephen NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Chelsie Preston NZ 2018 Director: Ella Becroft, Tama Jarman | | Lovatt 12 mins Crayford | Producer: Andrew Marshall | Photography: Producer: Ilai Amar Screenplay: Tama Jarman $4,000. A $4,000 Wallace Friends | Raymond Edwards | Editor: Sarah Grohnert | With: Photography: Matt Henley Editor: Dione Chard A dating couple’s first real encounter. | of the Civic Award will be awarded Chelsie Preston Crayford | 13 mins With: Tama Jarman, Jarod Rawiri 15 mins Intimate and sensitive performances by donors the Wallace Foundation A young man dreams of escape into where sexuality, loneliness and age When a relationship collapses and and Wallace Media Ltd to the film or a childhood passion. Mad, funny and are covered in unhurried moments. the mother is trapped with the child, contributor to a film they deem to on the edge of the grotesque. A very Enhanced use of colour expresses the love and anguish are portrayed in an merit special recognition. The winner stylish film with formal compositions feelings of the situation. almost raw documentary way where of the audience vote takes away the all the emotional and telling details adding to a theatrically absurdist Audience Choice Award, consisting of are present. cabaret quality. 25 percent of the box office from the main-centre NZIFF screenings. Notes on each film provided by Leon Narbey.

A EMB Wed 1 Aug, 6.15 pm B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 1.45 pm

RUN RABBIT CHARMER FALLING UP

PRESENTED IN Nga¯ Whanaunga Ma¯ori Pasifika Shorts 2018 ASSOCIATION WITH 94 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc | In English and Maˉori, with English subtitles

A collection of Māori and Pasifika Ka Piko Moon Melon Mouse short films curated by Leo Koziol USA 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Bryson Chun NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Trina Peters NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Lani-rain Feltham (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), Producer: Grace Lim | 8 mins Producer: Unitec Institute of Technology Screen Arts Producers: Alyx Duncan, Lani-rain Feltham, Emma Programme | 9 mins Mortimer | 15 mins Director of the Wairoa Māori Film A young native Hawaiian man must Festival, with guest co-curator Craig undergo an unfamiliar tradition A night out with a group of young A strained relationship is tested Fasi (Niue), Director of the Pollywood following a tragic death. A beautiful Pasifika women. Much more than by the encroachment of a chaotic Film Festival. Curators’ comments on story of love, ownership and a slice of life portrait, Moon Melon natural world. When love has left the each film appear in italics. acceptance. — CF portrays Poly women breaking room, the rodents return to breed boundaries of culture and stereotype resentment. — LK My Brother Mitchell on the street. — LK Native in Nuhaka NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Todd Karehana The Messiah NZ 2017 | Director: Hiona Henare | Producers: Hiona Producer: Mia Mārama Henry-Tierney | 9 mins Shadow Cut NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Vela Manusaute Henare, Louisa Tipene Opetaia | 15 mins Producers: Sandra Kailahi | 15 mins A Māori boy comes to terms with the NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Lucy Suess Producer: Johnny Lyon | 14 mins A short doco exploring the Māori death of his brother. A matter of the A young runaway finds refuge with passion for cinema against the heart must be resolved between two A young man has decided to leave his a self-proclaimed teenaged Messiah. backdrop of the annual Wairoa Māori young brothers. — LK small town but struggles to tell the one A sublime, dreamy and surreal Film Festival. Beautiful and undeniably friend he should. Drawn to a world Polynesian parable. — LK real, Native in Nuhaka encourages beyond restrictive walls of rural NZ, a more natives to use film as their young couple finds truth. — CF statement of choice. — CF

B RCC Fri 10 Aug, 1.30 pm A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 4.00 pm

KA PIKO MY BROTHER MITCHELL THE MESSIAH 20

Everything you could be doing. Right now.

MUSIC ARTS MOVIES

Discover what’s on and what’s good, all day, every day at nzherald.co.nz/timeout

Iconography of Revolt 28 July–18 November 2018 Featuring Emory Douglas, Marco Fusinato, Jean-Luc Godard, Johan Grimonprez, Maharishi, Oliver Maxwell, Dane Mitchell, Muslimgauze, Pussy Riot, Varvara Stepanova, Rosemarie Trockel, Jemima Wyman, and others.

Opening Day Screening Saturday 28 July, 2pm Johan Grimonprez introduces Blue Orchids (2017, 48min).

Free entry image Jemima Wyman Combat Drag 2008 City Gallery is part of Experience Wellington. Principal Funder: Wellington City Council AOTEAROA 21

Foreign Correspondents 78 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

Kiwi filmmakers aren’t limited to Last Summer Spinosaurus One Thousand and telling New Zealand stories. They make Japan/NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Asuka Sylvie UK 2017 | Director/Screenplay/Producer: Tessa Hoffe films in all corners of the globe, often Producer: Kosuke Onishi | 13 mins 14 mins Fifty Minutes NZ 2018 | Directors: Gabriel Abreu, Daniel Lynch bringing a uniquely Kiwi perspective A young boy on his summer holidays A young girl is thrust into a parental Screenplay: Gabriel Abreu | Producer: Nina Human to foreign stories, while immigrant stays home with his grandmother who role in this story of denial and 14 mins filmmakers can often bring a fresh is starting to show signs of dementia. dinosaurs set in remote coastal A young Venezuelan Kiwi is knocked perspective to stories told here. Asuka Sylvie was inspired by her Scotland. Expat director Tessa off balance by news of political unrest This collection of accomplished and own time staying in Japan with her Hoffe gets beautifully authentic back home. Based on co-director affecting films shares tales told by Japanese grandmother. performances from her young cast. Gabriel Abreu’s own experiences, Kiwis around the world. sharpened by the obliviousness of his The Horns of Kolkata Shit One Carries new compatriots. India/NZ 2018 | Director/Producer: Andrew Scott NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Shuchi Kothari 6 mins Producers: Shailesh Prajapati, Shuchi Kothari | 13 mins A Boy from Rarotonga A documentary exploration of an A father and a son face an awkward NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Joshua Teariki Baker essential automotive accessory on the intimacy when caregiving roles are Producer: Unitec Institute of Technology Screen Arts Programme | 18 mins streets of Kolkata. The cacophony reversed. Writer/producer Shuchi stirred Andrew Scott to delve into Kothari makes her directorial debut A grandmother must look after a the horns behind the ever-present with this Indian-set drama about guilt grandson she never knew she had. honking. and filial obligation. Joshia Teariki Baker’s poignant film tells the story of an elderly Cook Islander who is confronted by a connection to a past she had left behind.

C NT Thu 9 Aug, 12.30 pm A ED Sat 11 Aug, 11.30 am

LAST SUMMER SHIT ONE CARRIES ONE THOUSAND AND FIFTY MINUTES

Eight Uneasy Pieces 81 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

From the bright lights of the big city Bats The Night That Holds You Trap to the imposing backdrop of the NZ 2017 | Director: Michelle Savill | Screenplay: NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay/Producer: NZ 2018 | Director: Paul James | Screenplay: high-country wilderness, the ‘Cinema Michelle Savill, Simon Price | Producer: Desray Steven Chow | 12 mins Kahra Scott-James | Producer: Tony Leslie | 12 mins Armstrong | 15 mins of Unease’ is alive and well in this A young woman is obsessed by A young girl fights for a sense of stylish collection of eight Kiwi shorts, Hard-partying twenty-somethings memories of her vanished lover. Steven belonging. Paul James brings his taking us on a perceptive and soul- crash through a soupy Wellington Chow’s poetic and elliptical narrative mother’s story to life with animation searching tour the length and breadth night out. Michelle Savill delivers a short is set on Auckland’s rugged west inspired by the work of local artists of Aotearoa. stylish ensemble piece about sex, coast. Michael Smithers and Rita Angus. freedom, friendship and chicken kebabs. The Brother Under the Bridge NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay: Summer Agnew NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Lauren Porteus Cul de Sac PaPa Producers: Dan Higgins, Matt Noonan, Stephan Fruth, Producer: A.J. Bertenshaw | 7 mins NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay: Jake Mahaffy Summer Agnew | 14 mins NZ 2017 | Director/Screenplay/Producer: A runaway boy meets a homeless Producers: Joe Griffen, Jake Mahaffy | 4 mins Ryan Alexander Lloyd | 7 mins A prodigal son hunt for atonement in man under a bridge. Lauren Porteus A father brings stress home from Two grown daughters reflect on the rugged wilderness. The imposing premieres an extended cut of her work. An intriguing and seriously memories of their indigenous father. landscapes of the Southern Alps form prizewinning 48-Hour short. amusing morsel from US-transplant A beautiful, meditative documentary the backdrop for this tense tale of Jake Mahaffy. from cinematographer Ryan Alexander murder and redemption. The Crying Wind Lloyd. NZ 2018 | Director/Screenplay/Producer: Niamh Peren | 9 mins Tenderness undercuts the tension in Niamh Peren’s movingly resolved tale of love, loss and orphaned lambs set in Central Otago.

A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 11.15 am B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 2.45 pm

THE CRYING WIND BATS PAPA 22 ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA

Zama WORLD Director/Screenplay: Lucrecia Martel Argentina/Brazil/Spain/ France 2017 115 mins Photography: Rui Poças Editors: Miguel Schverdfinger, Karen Harley Sound: Guido Berenblum With: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Minujín Festivals: Venice, Toronto, New York 2017; Rotterdam 2018 In Spanish with English subtitles M violence & nudity

Based on a classic of Argentinian he’s trapped in. As Martel delights in literature, Zama is a strange, unsettling the irony of Zama’s impotence and and surprisingly funny look at a zeroes in on the failures of colonialism, bumbling bureaucrat relegated to the she also takes hold of Antonio Di outskirts of Spain’s colonial takeover Benedetto’s famously unfilmable book of South America. As the first feature with startling formal control. It’s quite by Lucrecia Martel in nearly a decade, a feat to evoke both the complexity it’s also nothing less than an event: an of novel writing and the intricacy of outstanding new film by one of the classical painting inside of a singular great contemporary filmmakers. cinematic whole, but Martel has done Slumming it in a Paraguayan it, surrounding it with extraordinary backwater, the titular Zama is an sound design, a signature of all her officer of the Spanish Crown who films. — Tim Wong longs for a transfer to Argentina – but in between being branded a voyeur, impregnating a local woman and other B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 2.15 pm routine humiliations, he is as powerless A RCC Thu 9 Aug, 6.15 pm to change his circumstances as he is the prospects of the squalid town

Jirga

Help yourself to our pick of the features Benjamin Gilmour* we have encountered in a year of intense Director/Screenwriter/ Cinematographer: engagement with international cinema. We Benjamin Gilmour do what we can to cover many bases, not Australia 2018 | 78 mins Producer: John Maynard Editor: Nikki Stevens least the Festival de Cannes, yielding some Music: AJ True With: Sam Smith, Sher Alam of our most exciting choices in the frantic Miskeen Ustad, Amir Shah Talash Festivals: Sydney 2018 fortnight before we close our schedule. In English and Pushto, with English subtitles Censors rating tbc

An Australian soldier arrives in dissimilar from their lead character. Afghanistan, his torso strapped with This personal proximity to the cash. His mission is entirely personal: to material results in a potent, focused make amends for an atrocity committed drama that quickly accumulates an during a military raid three years earlier. emotional force. With staggering This is the premise for Australian imagery that imbues the journey filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour’s affecting with mythical grandeur, Gilmour redemption fable Jirga – a perilous roots his quest for forgiveness in a journey into Taliban territory that bears warmly optimistic conviction of shared some striking parallels to its real-life humanity, even as the film grapples production story. Gilmour and lead head-on with the perils its set-up actor Sam Smith were ready to shoot promises us. Rarely have combatants in Pakistan, when their funding was been portrayed with such even- suddenly withdrawn (their script was handed grace. — JF deemed too ‘politically sensitive’). Gilmour bought a camera at a Pakistani A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 8.30 pm* mall and the pair set off to Afghanistan A RX Sun 29 Jul, 1.00 pm* to make the film anyway, putting B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 2.00 pm themselves at risk in a manner not so AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM WORLD 23

Breath

Actor Simon Baker, star of The Mentalist, Director: Simon Baker returns to his native Australia for his Australia 2017 | 116 mins directorial debut adapting, with Top Producers: Mark Johnson, Simon Baker, Jamie Hilton of the Lake writer Gerard Lee, Tim Screenplay: Gerard Lee, Simon Baker, Tim Winton. Winton’s celebrated novel. Based on the novel by Tim Winton Photography: Marden Dean The film follows two teenage boys Editor: Dany Cooper (both played by first-time actors who Music: Harry Gregson-Williams With: Simon Baker, Elizabeth Debicki, grew up surfing competitively), Pikelet Samson Coulter, Ben Spence, Richard Roxburgh (Samson Coulter) and Loonie (Ben Festivals: Toronto 2017 Spence) awkwardly carrying their crappy M sex scenes & offensive language surfboards out to the beach on their bikes. When former surf champ Sando (Simon Baker) takes the boys under his wing, their passion for the surf becomes an obsession with upping the odds. While Loonie lives up to his name when it comes to taking risks on the ocean, Pikelet is more contemplative and hesitant, embracing Sando as an exciting role model while observing the © NIC DUNCAN quiet commitment of his own father the relationship between Pikelet and his (Richard Roxburgh) to a simple family father told in shifting glances; Pikelet’s “Never had I seen something life. Sando’s intriguingly sidelined wife realisation of the implications of his so beautiful, so pointless (Elizabeth Debicki) however hints at decisions more observed than stated. risks to be taken ashore. Dealing with the basic, universal and elegant, as if dancing The surfing scenes are magnificently elements of budding manhood with on water was the best shot, often under dark skies, tracking simplicity and integrity, the film speaks thing a man could do.” the cresting waves with grace and with loving nostalgia about passion, risk A LHP Sun 29 Jul, 7.45 pm capturing the boys’ relationship with and the ripples of our decisions. Winton — Pikelet in Breath B EMB Mon 30 Jul, 3.45 pm the water with intimacy and immediacy. provides the ultimate seal of approval, A EMB Tue 31 Jul, 8.30 pm The film suggests deep undercurrents doing the voiceovers of Pikelet as an A PH Fri 3 Aug, 8.30 pm beneath its straightforward narrative: adult looking back. — Chris Kirk B RX Tue 7 Aug, 1.00 pm

Girl

This achingly beautiful drama about a teenager who is transitioning gender while training to be a ballerina was one Director: Lukas Dhont of Cannes 2018’s most talked about Belgium/The Netherlands 2018 105 mins films, deservedly winning the Camera Producer: Dirk Impens d’Or for first-time director Lukas Screenplay: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens Dhont, and the Un Certain Regard Photography: Frank van den Eeden Editor: Alain Dessauvage acting award for its standout central Music: Valentin Hadjadj performance from Victor Polster. With: Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter, Oliver Bodart, Tijmen Govaerts, Katelijne Damen, Valentijn While Lara already identifies as a girl, Dhaenens, Magali Elali, Alice de Broqueville, her world is undergoing significant and Alain Honorez, Chris Thys, Angelo Tijssens, Marie-Louise Wilderijckx much desired transformation. She has Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2018 just moved with her father and beloved Camera d’Or (Best Film Film) & Best Actor (Un Certain Regard, Victor Polster), Cannes Film kid brother to a new city where she Festival 2018 has been provisionally accepted into a In French and Dutch, with English subtitles prestigious dance school and she will Censors rating tbc soon be old enough to start hormone replacement therapy. Lara's aspiration to femininity is so great that she has chosen the most extreme physical form of its expression. But here, dance is not external conflict and prejudice, the a release. Held captive by her body, camera movement and performance “Girl has the power to she tapes her genitals and hides the revealing the tumult beneath Lara’s not just change lives but bloodied feet which have not grown steely poise. And while the casting up en pointe like the other girls. While of Polster, who identifies cis gender, reinvigorate your belief her father offers her nothing but will be the subject of debate at a in cinema.” — Jordan Ruimy, support, she is all teenage uncertainty time when awareness of transgender The Playlist and impatience and her interior world actors is improving, there can be no A LHP Sat 28 Jul, 4.15 pm moves closer to self-destruction even as argument that this is a deeply intuitive A PH Sun 29 Jul, 7.45 pm her outer beauty blooms. performance, rendering the truth A EMB Mon 30 Jul, 6.15 pm Dhont and co-writer Angelo Tijssens of Lara’s battle with indelible grace. B EMB Wed 1 Aug, 1.00 pm keep the screenplay stripped bare of — Clare Stewart B PH Thu 2 Aug, 4.00 pm 24 WORLD CHINA

Ash Is Purest White Jianghu er nv

Jia Zhang-ke, China’s pre-eminent contemporary filmmaker – and veteran poet of modern life in flux – continues Director/Screenplay: Jia Zhang-ke his blessed run with this blazing jianghu China/France 2018 | 141 mins Producer: Ichiyama Shozo drama starring his faithful partner and Photography: Eric Gautier leading lady, Zhao Tao, a force to be Editors: Matthieu Laclau, Lin Xudong Music: Lim Giong reckoned with. With: Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Xu Zheng, “A beautiful marriage of the political Casper Liang, Feng Xiaogang, Diao Yinan, Zhang Yibai, Ding Jiali, Zhang Yi, Dong Zijian and the personal... Ash Is Purest White Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 subtly distills nearly two decades of In Mandarin with English subtitles gradual social change into the story Censors rating tbc of a small-town gangster and his moll. The movie opens in 2001, in the northern village of Datong, where Guo Bin (Liao Fan), a member of the jianghu underworld, runs a mahjong parlor… But from the start, it’s Bin’s girlfriend, Qiao (Zhao Tao), who magnetizes the camera’s attention… A fiercely devoted partner to Bin, she more than holds her own in this masculine enclave, and her heroine who would be right at home own belief in the brotherly codes of the in a 1940s Hollywood melodrama… “Clever, subversive, and jianghu, a commitment referenced by In its swirl of violence and hugely ambitious… the title, runs startlingly deep. emotion… [Jia’s film] is fierce, When Bin is attacked by local thugs, gripping, emotionally generous and A quixotic and profound it is Qiao who fatefully intervenes and surprisingly funny.... Meanwhile, even statement on… life in pays the steepest price. From there, those accustomed to seeing Zhao in 21st-century China.” the film undergoes a series of thrilling Jia’s movies… might be taken aback narrative reversals but always keeps by the depths of her acting here… — Sam C. Mac, Slant A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 6.15 pm Qiao at the fore, grounding its portrait with the richest, most subtly complex A EMB Mon 6 Aug, 8.45 pm of long-term social and technological performance she’s given to date.” B EMB Thu 9 Aug, 3.15 pm flux with the kind of gutsy, lovelorn — Justin Chang, LA Times

Angels Wear White Jia nian hua

Director/Screenplay: You’re invited! Vivian Qu China 2017 | 107 mins …hilarious, touching, Producer: Sean Chen Photography: Benoît Dervaux and altogether rewarding Editor: Yang Hongyu Music: Wen Zi Theatreview With: Wen Qi, Zhou Meijun, Shi Ke, Geng Le, Liu Weiwei, Peng Jing, Wang Yuexin, Li Mengnan Festivals: Venice, Toronto, London 2017; San Francisco 2018 In Mandarin with English subtitles M sexual abuse themes

Vivian Qu’s enthralling drama about an Working with cinematographer Benoît illegal teenage worker who witnesses Dervaux, regular camera operator something suspicious, and two young for the Dardennes, her social realist girls who are the victims of abuse, is a approach is imbued with symbolic deeply resonant film, even more so since beauty, most sublimely apparent in the the #MeToo movement. Surveillance film’s closing sequence. Angels Wear and paranoia were dominant themes in White confirms Qu as an exciting new Qu’s debut feature Trap Street and the voice in independent Chinese cinema dramatic structure of Angels Wear (she was also producer on the Berlin- White hinges on a single piece of CCTV winning Black Coal, Thin Ice, NZIFF14) footage, impulsively captured by Mia and she brings a distinctively feminist (the wonderful Wen Qi) on her mobile perspective to a subject that is rarely 19 – 29 SEPTEMBER phone while working a late shift at a tackled with such nuance and empathy. BOOK indianink.co.nz cheap hotel. — Clare Stewart Qu has a potent grasp of storytelling and from this single incident, and A EMB Wed 1 Aug, 9.00 pm the moral dilemma it presents she spins a compelling narrative about gender, exploitation and corruption. BRAZIL, BULGARIA WORLD 25

Loveling Benzinho

Certain travails of motherhood are Mum Jeans embraced with buoyant good humour and poignancy in this film written Director: Gustavo Pizzi by husband-and-wife team, director Brazil/Uruguay 2018 | 98 mins Producers: Tatiana Leite, Gustavo Pizzi Gustavo Pizzi and lead actress Karine Screenplay: Gustavo Pizzi, Karine Teles Teles (The Second Mother). Photography: Pedro Faerstein Irene (Teles) has four sons. The Editor: Livia Serpa Music: Dany Roland, Pedro Sá, Maximiliano Silveira youngest are six-year-old twins, With: Karine Teles, Otávio Müller, Adriana Esteves, played by Teles and Pizzi’s sons. (The Konstantinos Sarris, César Troncoso, Artur Teles Pizzi, Francisco Teles Pizzi, Vicente Demori, abundance of first-hand experience Luan Teles clearly informing the film extends Festivals: Sundance, Rotterdam 2018 In Portuguese with English subtitles to the casting.) Middle boy Rodrigo CinemaScope | M offensive language (played by Teles’ nephew) is overweight and permanently attached to his tuba, while the apple of everybody’s eye, 17-year-old Fernando (charismatic Konstantinos Sarris) is an ace high school athlete. Irene also plays mother to her sweet but impractical husband, Klaus. Miraculously, she has carved © BIANCA AUN BENZINHO out some space for herself, studying “The first pangs of empty nest to complete the high school diploma syndrome hit the devoted, exuberant “A vibrant and sap-free she abandoned to take up work as mom at the center of Loveling, a valentine to motherhood… a maid. captivating portrait of the joys and When Fernando announces that aches of family life. Karine Teles its deft mix of humor and he wants to leave home, Irene is brings ferocious warmth and humor melancholy never falters.” blindsided. Like many before her, to the lead role… She creates an — Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 6.15 pm she does not rise to the occasion. exceptionally sympathetic focal point B RX Mon 30 Jul, 1.00 pm Loveling’s winning shrewdness lies for a story that embraces the messy B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 12.15 pm in understanding all too well that tenderness of life as it’s lived.” — Sheri A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 2.45 pm awkward rites of passage are not for Linden, Hollywood Reporter B PH Tue 7 Aug, 11.45 am 17-year-olds only. A PH Fri 10 Aug, 6.15 pm

Ága

Writer/director Milko Lazarov’s second Director: Milko Lazarov feature spotlights an aging Yakut couple Bulgaria/Germany/France 2018 whose lifestyle may soon be extinct. In 96 mins snow-covered North Eastern Siberia, Producer: Veselka Kiryakova Screenplay: Milko Lazarov, Simeon Ventsislavov every footprint, every cloud, every Photography: Kaloyan Bozhilov passing airplane must be interpreted Editor: Veselka Kiryakova Music: Penka Kouneva for crucial details on which their lives With: Mikhail Aprosimov, Feodosia Ivanova, could depend. This attentive listening Galina Tikhonova, Sergey Egorov, Afanasiy Kylaev Festivals: Berlin 2018 must also be applied internally, towards In Sakha (Yakut) with English subtitles each other. Despite the couple’s long CinemaScope | PG cert and intimate companionship there are mysteries still unknown. There are complicated family dynamics to unravel in connection with their children, one of whom works in the city and the other (the titular Ága) in a diamond mine, several days journey away. Kaloyan Bozhilov’s majestic cinematography sinks the viewer deep into every magnificent icy frame, and despite a contemplative pace this a delight as a viewer to be asked to movie never dawdles. Nothing exists engage our own whole attention. A “A fiction with a in this landscape without a reason, dangerous imminence hangs heavily documentarian’s eye and Lazarov’s precise cinematic poetry over the film, as with many stories set creates an intense, affecting and in such harsh conditions, but a sudden and feel… Lazarov emotional piece of cinema where emotional finale bursts this movie into and his cinematographer animals, bloodied or mystical, are key a whole new genre. This is a formally Kaloyan Bozhilov never B PH Fri 27 Jul, 12.15 pm players. Important messages are relayed surprising and clever piece of story- A PH Sun 29 Jul, 1.45 pm through dreams and meaning is literally telling which lands an unexpected cease to amaze.” B EMB Mon 30 Jul, 10.30 am carried through the air. conclusion – the triumph of connection — Demetrios Matheou, Screendaily A EMB Tue 31 Jul, 6.15 pm Each image, each word in this story over disengagement. — Jo Randerson B RX Mon 6 Aug, 1.00 pm is placed with extreme care and it is A LHP Sat 11 Aug, 1.45 pm 26 WORLD DENMARK, FRANCE

The Guilty Den skyldige

This innovative debut from Danish filmmaker Gustav Möller has racked up audience awards from the Sundance Director: Gustav Möller and Rotterdam film festivals, delivering Denmark 2018 | 85 mins Producer: Lina Flint a tension-packed crime drama without Screenplay: Emil Nygaard Albertsen, Gustav Möller ever leaving the claustrophobic confines Photography: Jasper Spanning of an emergency call centre. Editor: Carla Luffe Music: Carl Coleman, Caspar Hesselager Police officer Asger Holm has With: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, been suspended from active duty Johan Olsen, Omar Shargawi, Katinka Evers-Jahnsen and assigned to a desk job as an Festivals: Sundance, Rotterdam, New Directors/ emergency dispatcher while he awaits New Films 2018 Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival an upcoming court case that could have & Rotterdam Film Festival 2018 serious ramifications for his future. A In Danish and English, with English subtitles CinemaScope | M offensive language & content frustratingly mundane shift dealing with that may disturb abusive drunks and ripped-off johns is suddenly upended when he receives a panicked call from an abducted woman, who is soon cut off. With the clock ticking, the short-fused Asger decides to ignore bureaucratic process and take © NIKOLAJ MLLER matters into his own hands. Piecing aids, forcing viewers to dust off their together clues with little more than a imaginations and put them to work with “A claustrophobic thriller phone and a headset at his disposal, the chillingly effective results.” — Michael that finds fascinating more he finds out the more the mystery Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter deepens. Are things really as they ways to spiritually seem? — MM transcend its confines.” “A twisty crime thriller that’s every — Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice bit as pulse-pounding and involving B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 4.30 pm as its action-oriented, adrenaline- A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 9.00 pm soaked counterparts… Gustav Möller A LHP Fri 3 Aug, 8.45 pm masterfully ratchets up tension A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 9.00 pm A PH Wed 8 Aug, 8.15 pm 06-2018_RialtoUNLOCKED_NZIFF.qxp_SKYWatchwithout the benefit of the usual visual 20/05/18 9:27 PM Page 1

Custody Jusqu’à la garde

Director/Screenplay: Xavier Legrand France 2017 | 94 mins Producer: Alexandre Gavras Photography: Nathalie Durand With: Denis Ménochet, Léa Drucker, Thomas Gioria Festivals: Venice, Toronto, London 2017; Rotterdam 2018 Best Director, Venice Film Festival 2017 In French with English subtitles Cinemascope | M violence & offensive language

We begin the film in the magistrate’s intense involvement he obtains from chair as a divorcing couple, Antoine Thomas Gioria as Julien, tellingly absent and Miriam, and their counsels argue from the first scene but at the centre of the case for custody. Their 18-year-old every other in the contest that follows. daughter is old enough to make her “Custody isn’t just a fine film that own choice: she is severing ties with her makes vivid and visceral the escalating, father. Miriam argues for sole custody of suffocating all-pervasive terror of 11-year-old Julien, offering in evidence domestic abuse in a way few films the boy’s own written testimony. have managed. It’s also an extremely Antoine, clearly stung, implies that the auspicious debut for a writer-director boy’s rejection is the product of Miriam’s with the rare, almost classicist ability brainwashing. to make utterly riveting drama out of For the remainder of this dauntingly painfully real life.” — Jessica Kiang, unblinkered film we watch the The Playlist consequences of the magistrate’s THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER decision, which may or may not be A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 9.00 pm Screening from 28 July the one we arrived at too. First-time B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 12.15 pm Learn more at rialtochannel.co.nz director Xavier Legrand was a child actor himself, which may explain the FRANCE, GERMANY, SWITZERLAND WORLD 27

The World Is Yours Le monde est à toi

Louche and charming in a distinctly Gallic fashion, this star-studded, action-packed gangster comedy pits a Director: Romain Gavras criminal matriarch (scary Isabelle Adjani) France 2018 | 104 mins Producers: Charles Marie Anthonioz, against her peace-loving son (Karim Mourad Belkeddar, Jean Duhamel, Leklou) who dreams of setting up a Mr Nicolas Lhermite, Vincent Mazel, Hugo Selignac Screenplay: Romain Gavras, Noé Debré, Freeze franchise in the Maghreb. Karim Boukercha Unfortunately, Mama has squandered Photography: André Chémétoff Editor: Benjamin Weill the money he needed to secure the deal, Music: Jamie XX & Sebastian so it’s time to head to the Costa Brava With: Karim Leklou, Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Cassel, Oulaya Amamra, for that one last dope consignment that François Damiens, Philippe Katerine will put him in the clear. The loose- Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2018 cannon team accompanying him on the In French and English, with English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc trip includes Henry (Vincent Cassel), a garrulous Illuminati obsessive who sees triangles everywhere, and a gold- digging beauty (Oulaya Amamra), whose loyalty seems highly negotiable. “A hyper-stylish and unexpectedly sweet rebuke to the idea that screwing people is a good way to get ahead, tormented young daughter, a Jewish [Romain] Gavras’ second feature lawyer, a group of 20 bleached-blond “A French gangster comedy manages the almost impossible task Zairian guys, a karaoke singalong of that zips along with of mining something nice from the Toto’s ‘Africa’, and a live grenade in me-first mentality that’s been sweeping a Hello Kitty backpack. This strange all the bright, bouncy across… Europe. It’s Sexy Beast, Spring potpourri is strung together on the energy of a live-action Breakers, and Little Miss Sunshine all strength of André Chémétoff’s glossy Looney Tunes cartoon.” A PH Tue 31 Jul, 8.30 pm blended together and served with a cinematography and a bouncy score by A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 6.45 pm lad-rock swagger; it’s the best movie Jamie XX and Sebastian… It helps that — Peter Debruge, Variety B PH Tue 7 Aug, 4.00 pm that Guy Ritchie never made… every single one of the performances B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 4.00 pm The World Is Yours somehow comes is extraordinary.” — David Erhlich, A LHP Thu 9 Aug, 8.00 pm to involve a Scottish drug lord, his Indiewire A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 9.00 pm

The Image Book Looking for Oum Kulthum Le livre d’image

Director: Shirin Neshat Germany/Austria/Italy/ Director/Screenplay: Qatar/Lebanon 2017 Jean-Luc Godard 90 mins Switzerland/France 2018 Co-director: Shoja Azari 85 mins Screenplay: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari Editors: Jean-Luc Godard, Fabrice Photography: Martin Gschlacht Aragno, Jean-Paul Battagia, With: Neda Rahmanian, Nicole Brenez Yasmin Raeis, Mehdi Moinzadeh, With: Jean-Luc Godard Kais Nashif Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) Festivals: Venice, Toronto, London 2018 2017 Special Palme d’Or, Cannes 2018 In English, Arabic and Farsi, In French with English subtitles with English subtitles | CinemaScope Censors rating tbc Censors rating tbc

“Taking the form of an essay film collage human beings continues. Why, the Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin different quests for artistic perfection. akin to his opus Histoire(s) du cinéma, film asks, if we have the capability of Neshat’s visually ravishing ode to Working with regular collaborator [The Image Book] is a salvo of anger and filming, of recording, acts of horror, beloved Egyptian singer Oum Kulthum Shoja Azari and reprising her interest soul-searching inquiry from [a] director do we keep repeating the cruelty, is also a rich and complex film about in the transcendent power of song too often venerated only for his 1960s continuing the oppression? artistic pursuit. Oum Kulthum rose (so powerfully rendered in her 1998 films… and dismissed for his later ones Flattening the distinction between to prominence in the 1920s and her installation work Turbulant), Neshat that, with far greater rigor, ask some of the fiction films Godard is citing career soared to iconic heights over follows Women Without Men (NZIFF10) the hardest questions about ourselves (including many of his own) and the following decades. Adored first by with another arresting film, one as people living in the same era as he. newsreels and Internet clips… The royalty, then the revolutionaries, she that gives glorious testimony to the Made of five chapters, opening with Image Book sees the moving image became a true star of the Arab world, experience of being a creative and ‘Remakes’, on the mutable repetitions culture of the cinema era as both her trajectory inextricably linked with successful Muslim woman. — Clare of modern human wars, moving to a inquisitor and evidence for our capacity Egypt’s move to nationhood. Stewart chapter on revolutions, trains… the for horror, as well as for compassion and Using a prismatic, film-within- ‘spirit of law’… and concluding with ‘la grace.” — Daniel Kasman, Mubi.com a-film structure in which outsider région centrale’ – a movement to the Iranian director Mitra struggles to Middle East – The Image Book absorbs B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 4.45 pm make a film about her elusive heroine, A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 6.45 pm clips from cinema and reportage, A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 1.30 pm Neshat parallels the prejudices and B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 2.45 pm equating both, trusting both, to search A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 8.45 pm the personal cost experienced by both A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 11.30 am for the reason why violence between filmmaker and singer in their very 28 WORLD GERMANY

In the Aisles In den Gängen

In the night-time world of an East Director: Thomas Stuber German supermarket, forklifts glide, Germany 2018 | 126 mins crates of alcohol are stacked, and Producers: Jochen Laube, Fabian Maubach Screenplay: Clemens Meyer, Thomas Stuber shelves of gourmet foodstuffs are Photography: Peter Matjasko re-filled. Despite the grim climate of ‘re- Editor: Kaya Inan With: Sandra Hüller, Franz Rogowski, unified’ Germany, where the economic Peter Kurth, Andreas Leupold, Michael Specht, imperative dictates that edible food Steffen Scheumann, Ramona Kunze-Libnow, Henning Peker, Matthias Brenner, Gerdy Zint must rot in bins, the workers find their Festivals: Berlin 2018 own ways to carve out humane spaces. In German with English subtitles Rising German star Franz Rogowski M violence (Transit, see below) is immensely watchable, despite few words, as Christian, the new worker with a troubled past taking his first shift in the prestigious aisle of Beverages. Before long, he has fallen for a nearby worker from the Sweet Goods aisle. Sandra Hüller, whom many will recognise from Toni Erdmann, plays the object of his attention. Both shine, as do the surrounding support people slip through the gaps in a cast who hold their lonely realities capitalist world. It’s simple but deeply “You’re forklifting like a with poignancy and humour. Peter suspenseful, and as the screws turn in lunatic because you’re in Matjasko’s cinematography delicately the plot, several heavy threats hang captures the bizarreness of this large. Yet Stuber’s craft allows us to love!” — Bruno to Christian in surreal world, in all its magical and feel all the possible resonances without In the Aisles heart-breaking poetry. taking us to melodrama, and in the Director Thomas Stuber’s delightfully end the story’s subtlety is its triumph. considered third feature fully immerses A lively and often surprising soundtrack A EMB Sat 28 Jul, 1.00 pm the viewer in this culturally specific folk sets In the Aisles squarely in its own A PH Wed 1 Aug, 6.15 pm tragedy which resonates with films like compassionate, totally engaging and B EMB Thu 2 Aug, 1.00 pm I, Daniel Blake, portraying the way unique world. — Jo Randerson

Transit

Set in a present-day Marseille occupied Director: Christian Petzold by phantoms from a wartime past, Germany/France 2018 | 101 mins Transit is Christian Petzold’s follow-up Producers: Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber to his sublime period pieces Barbara Screenplay: Christian Petzold. Based on the novel and Phoenix. Echoes of Casablanca, by Anna Seghers Photography: Hans Fromm Kafka and Hitchcock reverberate Editor: Bettina Böhler around this coolly existential love With: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, story, which is also very much its own, Matthias Brandt, Sebastian Hülk, unique thing: a haunting daylight noir Emilie de Preissac Festivals: Berlin 2018 whose characters, refugees seeking In German and French, with English subtitles safe passage from a fascist threat, CinemaScope | M cert bewitch from the first frame to the last. — Tim Wong “In Petzold’s adaptation [of Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel]… a Jewish audio technician named Georg (Franz Rogowski) assumes the identity of a recently deceased communist author after accepting a job to deliver his personal effects to the Mexican © MARCO KRÜGER / SCHRAMM FILM Consulate in Marseille. Though still Hoss), whose mysterious dealings [referencing] World War II, Transit draws lead him further into a web of false “Patient, probing, and plain but potent parallels with the identities and unrequited romance. poetic in both its affairs ongoing European refugee crises, not Shooting with customary economy, to mention the more unsettling rise Petzold takes full advantage of the of the heart and its of neo-Nazism. Armed with the dead story’s genre machinations, chiseling the worries of the soul… author’s transit papers, Georg finds melodramatic gestures that punctuated a film of intricately B PH Tue 31 Jul, 1.45 pm his escape plan getting complicated his previous triumph, Phoenix, into B RX Fri 3 Aug, 1.00 pm when he crosses paths (and slowly falls a taut thriller whose incongruous layered artistry.” A EMB Sat 4 Aug, 4.00 pm in love) with his surrogate’s widowed narrative elements only accentuate the — Sarah Ward, Goethe-Institut A PH Sun 5 Aug, 7.30 pm wife (Paula Beer, looking uncannily film’s timelessly tragic arc.” — Jordan B EMB Mon 6 Aug, 1.00 pm like the director’s longtime muse Nina Cronk, Film Comment A LHP Tue 7 Aug, 6.15 pm ICELAND, IRAN WORLD 29

Arctic

It’s Mads Mikkelsen versus the elements in this intense survival story shot on location in the frozen grandeur of Director: Joe Penna Iceland’s polar wilderness. Iceland/USA 2018 | 97 mins Producers: Noah C. Haeussner, Having crash-landed somewhere in Christopher Lemole, Tim Zajaros the arctic tundra, Mikkelsen’s stranded Screenplay: Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison Photography: Tómas Örn Tómasson pilot seems to have been surviving for Editor: Ryan Morrison what seems like months as the film Music: Joseph Trapanese opens. He has set up a shelter in the With: Mads Mikkelsen, María Thelma Smáradóttir, Tintrinai Thikhasuk broken fuselage of his plane and is Festivals: Cannes (Out of Competition) 2018 living on a diet of raw trout from a CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc nearby frozen lake, where an ominous paw print in the snow may be a sign of dangers to come. He has meticulously carved the ice away from the rocky hillside to form a giant SOS and keeps a regular timetable signalling with a handcranked location beacon, until one day his routine is broken by a surprise occurrence. To say more would give away too much, suffice to say staying “The movie is built around the gruff put is no longer an option. mystique of Mads Mikkelsen, who “Mads Mikkelsen doesn’t First time director Joe Penna came never betrays a hint of showiness. need any dialogue to into filmmaking by producing his own Mikkelsen’s height and stalwart YouTube clips, but Arctic is a far cry presence fill the frame, and his face deliver the best from the rapid-fire cuts of his viral looks inward and outward at the same performance of his career.” MysteryGuitarMan videos. He packs time; it’s tense, focused, ravaged, not — David Ehrlich, Indiewire the film with plenty of incident and afraid to be a little blank. He speaks excitement but keeps the action firmly just a few words (of English), yet his B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 4.15 pm grounded and believable with the rapt desperation consumes the viewer.” A LHP Wed 1 Aug, 8.15 pm assistance of Mikkelsen’s impressively — Owen Glieberman, Variety A EMB Sun 5 Aug, 8.30 pm A RX Wed 8 Aug, 6.15 pm stoic performance. — MM

And Breathe Normally Ava Andið eðlilega

Director/Screenplay: Ísold Uggadóttir Iceland/Sweden/Belgium Director/Screenplay: 2018 | 100 mins Sadaf Foroughi Producer: Skúli Malmquist Iran/Canada/Qatar 2017 Photography: Ita Zbroniec-Zaj 104 mins Editor: Frédérique Broos With: Kristín Thóra Haraldsdóttir, With: Mahour Jabbari, Bahar Babetida Sadjo, Patrik Nökkvi Noohian, Vahid Aghapour Pétursson Festivals: Toronto 2017; New Festivals: Sundance 2018 Directors/New Films 2018 In Icelandic, English and Creole, FIPRESCI Award (Discovery), with English subtitles Toronto International Film Festival 2018 CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc In Farsi with English subtitles Censors rating tbc

Unfolding amongst the desolate and “Guinea-born Belgian actress This riveting debut drama, shot in in Foroughi’s scrutiny of the intricate windswept landscapes of Iceland, this [Babetida] Sadjo impresses with her Tehran by Canadian Iranian Sadaf dynamics of social entrapment. It’s potent social-realist drama is deserving dignity and warmth. Meanwhile, petite Foroughi, and based on her own there, too, in her refusal to soften Ava’s of comparison with the films of Ken [Kristín Thóra] Haraldsdóttir displays coming of age, explores the sobering belligerence or pull back on her reflexive Loach and the Dardenne brothers. such patience and love for her son consequences of a 16-year-old needling of those already determined Struggling financially, single mother that she keeps viewers rooting for schoolgirl’s defiance. The rebellions to cut her down to size. Lara gets a lifeline in the form of a new her to overcome her obstacles despite staged by Ava (Mahour Jabbari) and “We’re terrified for Ava, but what job training as a border patrol officer. her occasional bad judgment. And her friends may seem like standard rites comes through, despite her few words, When she spots a suspicious looking young [Patrik Nökkvi] Pétursson is a of passage to any teenager, but in the is the character’s strength and courage; passport, her employers are impressed, delight as the least whiny child ever… conservative girls’ school they attend, it’s a gripping, steely performance, but the passport’s owner, Adja, a The turbulent autumn weather and the honour of family and institution complex and smart in a way you female refugee from Guinea-Bissau, rugged landscapes of Iceland practically are upheld with a fervour that bespeaks don’t often see teen girls portrayed is quickly detained and placed into a become another character.” — Alissa deep insecurity. Ava quickly discovers – anywhere.” — Janet Smith, Georgia local refugee centre. When Lara and Simon, Variety that her parents, who have long Straight her son are evicted from their home, encouraged her enquiring spirit and Lara crosses paths with Adja again and B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 4.15 pm musical flair, may not be impervious B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 12.30 pm the pair discover they have more in A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 6.15 pm to the fear of ostracism. A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 6.45 pm common than first meets the eye. A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 3.30 pm The empowering influence of Asghar A ED Sat 11 Aug, 8.30 pm Farhadi (A Separation) is unmistakable 30 WORLD ICELAND, IRAN

Woman at War Kona fer í stríð

Meet Halla, Icelandic superwoman in a woolly jumper. At 49 and single, she leads a full and satisfying life. She’s Director: Benedikt Erlingsson the popular conductor of an a capella Iceland/France/Ukraine | 101 mins Producers: Marianne Slot, Benedikt Erlingsson, choir, practices tai chi, swims laps, cycles Carine Leblanc everywhere – and unbeknownst to all Screenplay: Benedikt Erlingsson, Ólafur Egill Egilsson bar a single tremulous accomplice, is Photography: Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson saving the countryside from industrial Editor: Davíð Alexsander Corno pollution, one exploded pylon at a time. Music: Davíð Þór Jónsson With: Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Dubbed the ‘Mountain Woman’ in Juan Camillo Roman Estrada, Jörundur Ragnarsson the media, demonised as an economic Festivals: Cannes (Critics’ Week) 2018 In Icelandic with English subtitles spoiler by government spinners, she’s CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc feeling the pressure when a letter arrives reminding her that four years earlier, supported by her twin sister, she applied to adopt a Ukrainian orphan. Actress Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir makes Halla an engagingly formidable eco-justice warrior (and plays her twin as an equally dedicated activist – of the self) in this delightfully off-the-wall new scampers across the highlands, pursued film from Benedikt Erlingsson, director by drones. “Offbeat, poignant and of Of Horses and Men. Funny – in the “Is there anything rarer than an visually exquisite… a way Halla exploits the invisibility of intelligent feel-good film that knows middle-aged womanhood – suspenseful how to tackle urgent global issues with work that’s both quirky and as spectacular as any film shot humor as well as a satisfying sense of and altogether timely.” in Iceland, Woman at War is further justice? Look no further than Woman — Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood A PH Fri 27 Jul, 6.15 pm graced by the wittiest of musical at War, Benedikt Erlingsson’s gloriously B PH Mon 30 Jul, 2.00 pm soundtracks, performed by an Icelandic Icelandic (for lack of a better adjective), Reporter A LHP Wed 1 Aug, 6.15 pm oompah band and Ukrainian vocal trio near-perfect follow-up to Of Horses B RX Thu 2 Aug, 1.00 pm within the movie, standing by even as and Men.” — Jay Weissberg, Variety A EMB Wed 8 Aug, 6.15 pm Halla aims her crossbow at pylons or B EMB Fri 10 Aug, 1.45 pm

3 Faces Se rokh

Co-winner of the Cannes Best Screenplay award, 3 Faces is Jafar Panahi’s fourth under-the-radar production since the Director/Producer/Screenplay: Iranian government hit him with a Jafar Panahi Iran 2018 | 100 mins 20-year travel and filmmaking ban. Photography: Amin Jafari Panahi was a guest at NZIFF06 with his Editor: Mastaneh Mohajer filmOffside . With: Behnaz Jafari, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Rezaei, Maedeh Erteghaei, Narges Del Aram “An artful, surprising and thrillingly Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 intelligent story about a few women Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival 2018 In Farsi and Azeri, with English subtitles trying to make a difference, forging CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc bonds of solidarity in quiet defiance of the repressive, small-minded men in their rural village… 3 Faces may be modest and low-key on the surface, but its surprises are worth preserving, its insights casually profound. At the heart of the story is a mystery: What happened to Marziyeh (Marziyeh Rezaei), a teenage girl and aspiring actress from Iran’s Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan region, who has suddenly gone missing? Panahi and Jafari as they drop in on Before she vanished, Marziyeh, whose the villagers and make inquiries… They “The most feminist film family strongly disapproves of her choice drive slowly around the hilly, rocky of the [Cannes] festival… of calling, sent an alarming self-shot countryside, along winding mountain video to the famed actress Behnaz Jafari roads that are often too narrow is the quiet, subtle and (playing herself). Jafari was sufficiently to accommodate two cars passing beautiful work of art of a rattled by the footage that she has now each other in opposite directions – a 57-year-old male Iranian.” come to the girl’s village in search of situation that Panahi turns into an answers, chauffeured by none other ingenious metaphor for a society mired — Agnès Poirier, The Guardian A PH Mon 30 Jul, 8.15 pm than Panahi himself. in tradition for tradition's sake, unable B EMB Fri 3 Aug, 1.45 pm Much of this subtly, bracingly to see past the end of its patriarchal A LHP Mon 6 Aug, 6.15 pm A EMB Sun 12 Aug, 1.15 pm pleasurable movie is spent following nose.” — Justin Chang, LA Times ITALY WORLD 31

Dogman

A gentle dog groomer makes the perilous mistake of thinking he can pacify the town psycho as readily as a Director: Matteo Garrone snarling mutt in this darkly flamboyant Italy/France 2018 | 103 mins Producers: Matteo Garrone, Paolo Del Brocco, Cannes Competition crime thriller from Jean Labadie, Jeremy Thomas the director of Gomorrah. Screenplay: Matteo Garrone, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudisio “Though it has far less outright Photography: Nicolaj Bruel violence than Gomorrah, whose Editor: Marco Spoletini oppressive criminal atmosphere it Music: Michele Braga With: Marcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce, shares, Matteo Garrone’s Dogman is Adamo Dionisi, Francesco Acquaroli, just as intense a viewing experience, Gianluca Gobbi, Nunzia Schiano, Alida Baldari Calabria one that will have audiences gripping Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 their armrests with its frighteningly real Best Actor (Marcello Fonte), Cannes Film Festival 2018 portrayal of a good man tempted by the In Italian with English subtitles devil. Once again set in the Camorra- CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc ridden hinterlands around Naples, the new film pours the various threads running through the Italian director's work into a boiling cauldron of poverty, ignorance and self-interest…. Here the conflict is reduced to its “Instead of simply returning to the barest existential essentials: A good comfortable well that yielded his best “A movie with man who loves dogs and grooms them notices, Garrone looks at the seed of incomparable bite for a living is tempted by a demonic, violence through another lens; not half-crazed brute to steal… Superb the pervasive malignancy of mafia and strength.” performances by Marcello Fonte as corruption, but rather an unsettling, — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian a mild-mannered dog groomer and malevolent individual perpetrating his a crazed Edoardo Pesce as his fatal own brand of terror. A hyper-realistic attraction poise the film midway urban tragedy Dogman is ferocious and A RX Wed 1 Aug, 9.00 pm between the realistic criminal world in its own way, much more frightening B EMB Fri 3 Aug, 4.00 pm and a symbolic, universal dimension.” than Gomorrah.” — Jordan Ruimy, A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 8.30 pm A EMB Fri 10 Aug, 9.15 pm — Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter The Playlist

Happy As Lazzaro Lazzaro felice

Part bucolic fable, part social realism and all fertile imagination, Alice Rohrwacher’s beguiling third feature Director/Screenplay: Alice Rohrwacher proves she is one of the most inventive Italy/Switzerland/France/Germany | and compelling voices in contemporary 2018 125 mins Producer: Carlo Cresto-Dina world cinema. Photography: Hélène Louvart Set in rustic Italy, rewarding ground Editor: Nelly Quettier With: Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, for her previous feature NZIFF14 Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani, Centrepiece, The Wonders (in which Tommaso Ragno, Sergi Lopez, Natalino Balasso, Gala Othero Winter, David Bennent, sister Alba also had a significant Nicoletta Braschi role), the film opens as a peasant Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival 2018 boy serenades his love with fairy-tale In Italian with English subtitles conviction. The revellers, it transpires, Censors rating tbc are tobacco harvesters subjugated by an over-entitled marchesa. Village innocent Lazzaro (divine newcomer Adriano Tardiolo) becomes the unlikely friend and accomplice of Tancredi, the marchesa’s dandified son. Imbued with a saint-like beauty, Lazzaro is alternately adored and exploited by all and is soon Rohrwacher’s poetic amalgam of the unwittingly embroiled in a kidnapping two is as deliberate as it is teasing and “Alice Rohrwacher’s plot by his manipulative friend. magical. To give the rest away would supernatural sun-drenched What seems at first to be a story be an injustice to her breathtaking ‘out of time’ reveals itself to be a very cinematic logic (she jointly won the Best folk tale of the birth of particular historical moment and then, Screenplay award at Cannes this year). modern Italy is as sublime with a sly and unexpected narrative spin, Gorgeously filmed on Super 16 by as it is beautiful.” becomes decidedly more immediate regular collaborator Hélène Louvart, and familiar. The biblical stories of the this modern-day allegory is no flight — Joseph Walsh, Time Out A PH Sat 4 Aug, 4.00 pm resurrected Lazarus and the beggar of fancy; it also serves as a biting A EMB Tue 7 Aug, 6.15 pm Lazarus are frequently conflated – critique of our own very troubled times. B PH Wed 8 Aug, 3.45 pm B EMB Thu 9 Aug, 12.30 pm either by accident or ignorance – but — Clare Stewart 32 WORLD PALESTINE

The Reports on Sarah and Saleem

Director: Muayad Alayan Palestine/Netherlands/ Germany/Mexico 2018 132 mins Screenplay: Rami Alayan Photography: Sebastian Bock Editor: Sameer Qumsiyeh With: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Adeeb Safadi, Sivane Kretchner, Ishai Golan Festivals: Rotterdam 2018 In Arabic, Hebrew and English, with English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

A casual affair between a cosmopolitan posing as a European tourist, on a late- Jewish café owner and the hunky night ride to Bethlehem, a West Bank Palestinian who delivers her croissants is city under Palestinian authority, where swept into the battle zone of politics in he drops off black market goods for his this taut, superbly acted psychological brother-in-law. The face-saving cover-up, drama, inspired by a true story. contrived when Sarah’s Hebrew pendant Sarah (Israeli actress Sivane is spotted by Arab men in a club, lands Kretchner) and Saleem (Adeeb Safadi) Saleem in hazardous territory. The odds live on opposite sides of Jerusalem, mount as focus shifts from Saleem hooking up secretly at night. Both are to Bisan, his lawyer Maryam and to married, Sarah to tetchy Israeli Defence Sarah, frantically negotiating their own Force officer David (Ishai Golan), whose compromised futures and the minefield constant relocations have left her of Saleem’s jeopardy. unsettled, and Saleem to his pregnant wife, Bisan (Maisa Abd Elhadi). He is bridling at the weight of impending B ED Tue 31 Jul, 3.45 pm fatherhood and financial dependence A ED Wed 1 Aug, 8.45 pm on Bisan’s ever-hovering family. A LHP Thu 2 Aug, 7.45 pm A ED Sat 4 Aug, 8.45 pm Saleem persuades Sarah to join him,

Wajib – The Wedding Invitation

Director/Screenplay: Annemarie Jacir HOT SAUCE CRANKS UP THE COOL WITH ASIAN Palestine/France/ INSPIRED DISHES, BANGING COCKTAILS Germany 2017 | 96 mins AND AN ELECTRIC VIBE THAT EMBODIES Producer: Ossama Bawardi Photography: Antoine Héberlé — NO FUSS, JUST FLAVOUR. Editor: Jacques Comets With: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik, Rana Alamuddin Festivals: Locarno, Toronto, London 2017; Rotterdam, Sydney 2018 In Arabic with English subtitles Censors rating tbc

In this astute and delightfully humorous frustration with the old man’s over- urban road movie, which winds commitment to ‘duty’ (wajib in Arabic), through the streets of Nazareth, a is both provoked and countered by father and son observe centuries-old Abu Shadi’s fear that their culture and tradition and hand-deliver wedding way of life are disappearing. Jacir has invitations. Shadi, an architect whose a great ear for dialogue and extracts colourful fashion sensibility makes terrific performances from real-life his father Abu Shadi nervous, has father and son Mohammad and Saleh returned home from Italy for his sister’s Bakri, whose charismatic on-screen upcoming nuptials. relationship is both relatable and highly Annemarie Jacir’s (Salt of this Sea) enjoyable. — Clare Stewart third feature is an absorbing ride. There are constant shifts in the exchanges between the estranged, cosmopolitan 7 DAYS, FROM 4PM UNTIL LATE son and his crotchety, pragmatic father QT MUSEUM WELLINGTON, 90 CABLE STREET, as each encounter with invitation A PH Wed 1 Aug, 8.45 pm recipients unlocks past family tensions A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 1.15 pm WELLINGTON or reveals the differences in their B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 2.00 pm lived Palestinian experience. Shadi’s JAPAN, LEBANON WORLD 33

The Third Murder Sandome no satsujin

Celebrated as a director of humanistic Director/Screenplay/Editor: family portraits, Kore-eda Hirokazu Kore-eda Hirokazu made an unexpected turn before Japan 2017 | 124 mins his Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters Producers: Matsuzaki Kaoru, Taguchi Hijiri Photography: Takimoto Mikiya (p10) with this intense legal drama – Music: Ludovico Einaudi though it shouldn’t surprise anyone With: Fukuyama Masaharu, Yakusho Koji, Hirose Suzu that his mastery extends to the genre. Festivals: Venice, Toronto 2017 Distinguished by sharp widescreen In Japanese, with English subtitles CinemaScope | M violence & sexual violence photography and steely performances references from a prestige Japanese cast, The Third Murder finds Kore-eda not only excelling at the craft of classical filmmaking, but imprinting it with a central theme of his work: the nature of memory and truth. From his own original script, Kore-eda draws an ever-shifting sight line between Misumi (the redoubtable Yakusho Koji), a convicted double murderer who has confessed to killing his boss; the victim’s daughter, Sakie (Hirose Suzu, Our © 2017 FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK / AMUSE INC / GAGA CORPORATION Little Sister); and Shigemori (Fukuyama much a Kore-eda film: a considered, Masaharu, Like Father, Like Son), the understated, quietly critical window “The Japanese auteur’s defence lawyer assigned to what into Japanese society, impactful striking film… turns appears to be an open-and-shut case. precisely because of what it doesn’t tell Told with a fluidity that recalls us after the final verdict. — Tim Wong convention on its head to Rashomon and through a starkly “Sleek and suspenseful, deceptive create a captivating and elegant visual style that rivals David and profound, The Third Murder is an unknowable puzzle.” Fincher’s, the complexities of who artful addition to the canon of modern- did what and why are obscured and day crime drama, one whose core — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian A RCC Thu 9 Aug, 6.30 pm inverted just as soon as they’re pulled mysteries encompass more than just into view. But this engrossing, deftly the case at hand.” — Michael Leader, constructed murder mystery is also very Sight & Sound

The Insult L’insulte

Galvanizing performances and even- handed moral inquiry bring a bracing power to Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar-nominated Director: Ziad Doueiri legal thriller The Insult – the tale of how Lebanon/France 2017 | 113 mins a bitter feud between a mechanic and Producers: Antoun Sehnaoui, Jean Bréhat, Rachid Bouchareb, Julie Gayet, Nadia Turincev a construction foreman snowballs into Screenplay: Ziad Doueiri, Joëlle Touma a national crisis. Photography: Tommaso Fiorilli Editor: Dominique Marcombe “Two words set the story in motion. Music: Éric Neveux One man shouts an insult at another, With: Adel Karam, Rita Hayek, Kamel El Basha, Christine Choueiri, Camille Salameh, who's infuriated and demands an Diamand Bou Abboud apology… Soon things escalate and Festivals: Venice, Telluride, Toronto, Vancouver 2017; Rotterdam 2018 the men end up in the first of two Audience Award, Sydney Film Festival 2018; courtrooms where they will face off Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 2018 against each other… In Arabic with English subtitles Does it matter that Toni is a CinemaScope | M violence, offensive language & content that may disturb right-wing Christian and Yasser a Palestinian? In this context, it matters a lot… One can learn a lot about contemporary Lebanon from The Insult, but it's also possible to go into the film © TESSALIT PRODUCTIONS / ROUGE INTERNATIONAL knowing little about the situation With their combination of personal and depicted and still come away completely political animosities, the film's highly “A crackling legal thriller captivated. That's because the conflict charged courtroom scenes prove both that boils down centuries at the drama's center is so personal, riveting and revelatory… [Doueiri] is visceral and universally recognizable; also great with actors… [the leads] here of Middle Eastern conflict it could take place in Mississippi, Beijing are all superb (El Basha won the Best into one reckless insult or Bogota… Actor prize at Venice). Altogether, the – and lets the sparks fly.” As the second trial unfolds, it accomplishments of The Insult place provokes violent outbursts both inside Doueiri in the company of such masters — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone A LHP Fri 27 Jul, 8.30 pm and outside the courtroom, and of politicized suspense as Costa-Gavras B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 4.30 pm sensational media coverage stokes and Asghar Farhadi.” — Godfrey A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 8.15 pm A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 6.30 pm sectarian passions across Lebanon. Cheshire, RogerEbert.com 34 WORLD INDONESIA, PARAGUAY, PORTUGAL

The Heiresses Las herederas

In a Festival abounding with lesbian characters, this richly modulated tale of a couple who have been together Director/Screenplay: for three decades may be the most Marcelo Martinessi Paraguay/Germany/Brazil/Uruguay/ remarkable. Chela (Ana Brun) and Norway/France 2018 | 98 mins Chiquita (Margarita Irún) have long Producers: Sebastian Peña Escobar, been living a life of privilege in Marcelo Martinessi Chela’s family mansion. A crack in the Photography: Luis Armando Artega Editor: Fernando Epstein elaborate pattern of their lives becomes With: Ana Brun, Margarita Irún, Ana Ivanova, apparent when the much worldlier Nilda Gonzalez, María Martins, Alicia Guerra, Yverá Zayas Chiquita is imprisoned for fraud, Festivals: Berlin 2018 related, we guess, to keeping Chela in Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival 2018 Best Film, Sydney Film Festival 2018 the style to which she is accustomed. In Spanish with English subtitles The sheltered Chela must for the CinemaScope | M sexual references first time fend for herself. Barely acknowledging that she’s actually doing it, she begins accepting payment from the wealthy dowagers of the neighbourhood when she drives them about in the family car. The breezily confiding daughter of one of her her journey is emotionally captivating, passengers sparks feelings in Chula Martinessi persuasively merges her “[A] beautifully realized she’d forgotten she ever knew. fate with that of a nation, providing a debut that exquisitely Ana Brun was awarded the Best lace draped window in which to pry Actress Award at Berlin this year for her on a section of Paraguayan society balances character study mesmerising performance – and first- that prefers to cling to the shadows with shrewd commentary time writer/director Marcelo Martinessi of its past, than embrace the future.” on class, desire, and A LHP Mon 30 Jul, 6.15 pm took the Silver Bear for “a feature that — Patrick Gamble, Cine Vue A PH Thu 2 Aug, 8.15 pm opens up new perspectives.” the lingering privileges B PH Fri 3 Aug, 1.45 pm “Brun has created one of the most of Paraguay’s elite.” B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 12.15 pm complex, fully fleshed-out over-50 A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 2.45 pm — Jay Weissberg, Variety females to ever hit the screen. Though A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 6.15 pm

The Seen and Unseen Djon África Sekala Niskala

Directors: Filipa Reis, The Heart of Spring João Miller Guerra Director/Screenplay: Portugal 2018 | 99 mins Kamila Andini Screenplay: Pedro Pinho, Indonesia 2017 João Miller Guerra Photography: Vasco Viana 86 mins Editors: Eduardo Serrano, With: Ni Kadek Thaly Titi Kasih, Ricardo Pretti, Luisa Homem Ida Bagus Putu Radithya With: Miguel Moreira Mahijasena, Ayu Laksmi Festivals: Rotterdam, New Festivals: Toronto 2017; Berlin, Directors/New Films 2018 Sydney 2018 In Cape Verdean Creole and In Indonesian and Balinese, with Portuguese, with English subtitles English subtitles PG coarse language & sexual CinemaScope | PG adult themes references

This enchanting and otherworldly play, dance and sing with each other. A quietly charismatic turn from documentarians – Moreira was actually Indonesian film explores the deep Elements from the ‘seen’ world such newcomer Miguel Moreira brings a subject in their last feature, which symbiotic connection between two as the fighting cocks Tantri sees in the an affable swagger to this laidback shone a light on undocumented Cape young twins. Ten-year-olds Tantra and village or the monkeys living in the picaresque road movie. In a performance Verdeans living in Portugal. Those Tantri are boy-girl (buncing) twins temple bleed into this netherworld in not too far from reality, Moreira plays observational roots lend themselves growing up in a remote and rural part fascinating fashion. Miguel, an aspiring musician with a beautifully to this perennially chill screen of Bali. They are very much yin and Aided by Anggi Frisca’s lush knack for smooth talk, who’s coasting journey, one that is light on incident but yang, separate but whole. While Tantra cinematography and a mesmerising through a life of construction work, loaded with breezy charm. — JF will only eat the yolk of an egg, Tantri score from Morinaga Yasuhiro, director petty shoplifting and womanising in “Like its central character, the film eats only the white. One day Tantra Kamila Andini draws upon rich Balinese Portugal. When he learns his father has a leisurely, slightly woozy appeal… steals an egg from a religious offering traditions of costume and dance to (who he has never met but greatly The warmth in [the] encounters with and shortly afterwards he is hospitalised create a magical world where the seen resembles) is residing in Cape Verde, the people of Cape Verde is wholly with a serious illness. and unseen, the physical and spiritual, Miguel impulsively buys a one-way ticket persuasive.” — Wendy Ide, Screendaily In Balinese philosophy the world is intersect. — MM and sets out to track him down. Thus divided into the seen (sekala) and the begins a pleasurable African odyssey unseen (niskala). With her twin brother B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 2.00 pm brimming with colourful characters, A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 8.30 pm comatose, Tantri learns to communicate A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 6.30 pm boozy encounters and requisite soul- B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 12.45 pm with him through her own ‘unseen’ A PH Mon 6 Aug, 8.15 pm searching. Directors Filipa Reis and A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 4.15 pm A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 3.45 pm dream world and they can once again João Miller Guerra are best known as SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH KOREA, SPAIN WORLD 35

Petra

Petra (Bárbara Lennie), a painter in her 20s, arrives to take up a residency in the workshops of Jaume, a sculptor Director: Jaime Rosales of grand-scale commissions. Jaume’s Spain/France/Denmark 2018 107 mins Catalan estate encompasses forest Producers: Bárbara Díez, José María Morales, lands and a magnificent home. Invited Antonio Chavarrías, Jérôme Dopffer, to dinner by the great man’s wife Katrin Pons, Mikkel Jersin, Eva Jakobsen Screenplay: Jaime Rosales, Michel Gaztambide, Marisa (Marisa Paredes), Petra speaks Clara Roquet of art as a path to the truth. Marisa, it Photography: Hélène Louvart Editor: Lucía Casal transpires, has reason to be sceptical Music: Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen about such idealism: the truth Petra With: Bárbara Lennie, Alex Brendemühl, Joan Botey, Marisa Paredes, Petra Martínez, seeks is the identity of her father, and Carme Pla, Oriol Pla, Chema Del Barco, she has reason to believe he might be Natalie Madueño Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2018 Jaume. This possibility rules out romantic In Spanish and Catalan, with English subtitles adventures offered by handsome Lucas CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc (Alex Brendemühl), Jaume’s intriguingly disenchanted photographer son. Jaime Rosales’ supremely elegant feature contains enough switches to furnish a soap opera and a body count akin to classical tragedy, satisfaction, is where the final chapter which it more closely resembles in should be. “An intense, cunningly tone. Rosales distances himself from As Jaume, the breaker-in-chief, structured and rewarding emotional frenzy, serving his story in Joan Botey makes an indelible screen achronological chapters, several of debut at the age of 77. Actually the item about a woman’s which bear titles that resonate with owner of the estate where the film was search for her father.” the authority of irrevocable fate. The shot, Botey may have taken the role — Jonathan Holland, Hollywood B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 12.15 pm effect is curiously engaging, each scene to discourage the tourist invasion that A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 2.45 pm exploring the one-to-one dynamics Hélène Louvart’s camerawork surely Reporter B RX Tue 31 Jul, 1.00 pm within a seriously broken family and encourages. In an NZIFF not short of A PH Tue 7 Aug, 6.15 pm their co-dependent staff. And the men behaving badly, he plays a villain B PH Fri 10 Aug, 2.00 pm final chapter, offering some gentle it’s a pleasure to heartily loathe. A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 6.45 pm

The Harvesters Last Child Die Stropers

Director/Screenplay: Shin Dong-seok Director/Screenplay: South Korea 2017 Etienne Kallos 124 mins South Africa 2018 Producer: Je Jeong-ju 104 mins Photography: Lee Zi-hoon Editor: Lee Young-lim Photography: Michal Englert Music: Kim Hae-won Editor: Muriel Breton With: Choi Moo-seong, With: Bernt Vermeulen, Alex van Kim Yeo-jin, Seong Yu-bin Dyk, Juliana Venter, Morne Visser Festivals: Busan 2017; Berlin, Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Hong Kong 2018 Regard) 2018 In Korean with English subtitles In Afrikaans and Zulu, with Censors rating tbc English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

Spectacularly set in the grasslands the help of an added son, he and This engrossing and startling Korean boy and decides to take him on as an and mesas of South Africa’s Free State Janno are both dismayed when she drama draws us into the lives of apprentice. At first Mi-sook objects to region, writer/director Etienne Kallos’ chooses to augment the household by grieving parent, Sung-cheol and Mi- the idea, but soon begins to form her daunting first feature drills into the rescuing Pieter, an orphan of Afrikaans sook. Their only son drowned rescuing own attachment to Ki-hyun. Before insecurities of an embattled white parentage from a halfway house. She one of his classmates and while the long the couple are treating Ki-hyun like minority ranch culture once empowered instructs Janno to make him his brother. school has posthumously proclaimed their own kin, but there’s something not by apartheid. In a devout Afrikaans We watch through Janno’s astonished, the boy a hero, six months on the loss quite right… family of cattle farmers, teenage Janno resentful eyes as this scathing, predatory is still palpably raw. First time director Shin Dong-seok feels out of step. No wonder: as his survivor of the city streets puts a blazing Sung-cheol attempts to cope by skillfully navigates the weighty subject mother observes his sturdy form trailing torch to everything that has ever throwing himself into his work as matters of grief, reconciliation and the herd we hear her implore her God held Janno back. The heart of Kallos’ an interior decorator while Mi-sook community healing with arresting to strengthen the boy’s blood, his heart, challenge to his countrymen lies in the attempts to conceive by artificial insight, delivering an intensely his seed. A long-withheld close-up of Cain and Abel dance of the two young insemination. When Sung-cheol runs emotional drama driven by a trio of his open, vulnerable face suggests that men, and they are electrifying. into Ki-hyun, the boy their son rescued, powerhouse performances. — MM no amount of prayer, obedience or he starts to take an interest in the rugby on Janno’s part can make him the A ED Fri 27 Jul, 8.00 pm withdrawn young man. Ki-hyun has B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 4.15 pm mighty man of the land and procreator A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 6.45 pm dropped out of school and doesn’t A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 6.30 pm she prays for. A ED Sun 12 Aug, 4.00 pm seem to have a family of his own. Though her husband could do with Eventually Sung-cheol takes pity on the 36 WORLD TURKEY

The Wild Pear Tree Ahlat agaci

“The Wild Pear Tree is a gentle, humane, beautifully made and magnificently acted movie from the Director/Editor: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turkish filmmaker and former Palme Turkey/France/Germany/Bulgaria 2018 | 188 mins winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan: garrulous, Producer: Zeynep Özbatur Atakan humorous and lugubrious in his Screenplay: Akın Aksu, Ebru Ceylan, unmistakable and very engaging style. Nuri Bilge Ceylan Photography: Gökhan Tiryaki It’s an unhurried, elegiac address to With: Aydin Doğu Demirkol, Murat Cemcir, the idea of childhood and your home Bennu Yildirimlar, Hazar Ergüçlü, Serkan Keskin, Tamer Levent town – and how returning to both has Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 a bittersweet savour… In Turkish with English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc An ambitious, malcontent young graduate and would-be writer comes back to his rural village with a diploma but no job… The graduate is Sinan (Aydın Doğu Demirkol), who has come back with ambiguous feelings about the place where he grew up. As for so many writers, his home looks wonderful when he is away from it, © NBC FILM when it is tamed and transformed by bluster and cajoling. He is a gambling his imagination. But actually being addict who has borrowed money all “Ceylan expertly draws there reminds him of all its irritations over town; his addiction has kept his your eye and ear to and absurdities. Sinan is from a village family on the poverty line… near the port of Çanakkale, a tourist The question of life, and the gamble the drama behind the destination on account of being near on life that we are required to make drama, and gives the the site of the Gallipoli campaign, and in our early 20s, runs under the most gently naturalistic also the ancient city of Troy… movie’s meandering path. It is another His father is Idris, tremendously deeply satisfying, intelligent piece of scenes the weight and A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 3.00 pm played by Murat Cemcir, a man whose film-making from Ceylan.” — Peter grain of visions.” — Robbie B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 11.15 am youthful charm and romanticism has Bradshaw, The Guardian A PH Sun 12 Aug, 3.00 pm Collin, The Telegraph curdled with age into a pre-emptive

“I am big, it’s the pictures that got small” We’re making the pictures big again at our new home… The Embassy Grand. “So, who approached you, Tattaglia or Barzini?” “Care for a little necrophilia?” “Gilda, are you decent?” “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?”

We've got the questions. Have you got the answers? Now’s your chance to show off your film knowledge #MakingMondaysBetter at the 7th Annual WFS Film Quiz. Monday nights at 6.15pm. Join us. Saturday 4 August 2pm–3.30pm www.filmsocietywellington.net.nz at Blondini’s, upstairs at The Embassy Register your team via the link on the Wellington Film Quiz page on nziff.co.nz UK WORLD 37

Lean on Pete

One could be forgiven for fearing Director/Screenplay: Andrew Haigh syrupy sentimentality from a drama UK 2017 | 121 mins about the emotional bond between a Producer: Tristan Goligher Photography: Magnus Jonck boy and his horse. But easy pathos isn’t Editor: Jonathan Alberts in the toolbox of British master Andrew Music: James Edward Barker With: Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Haigh, whose last two films, Weekend Steve Buscemi, Travis Fimmel, Steve Zahn, and 45 Years, put him on the map as Justin Rain, Lewis Pullman, Bob Olin, Teyah Hartley, Alison Elliot, Amy Seimetz an understated and achingly perceptive Festivals: Venice, Telluride, Toronto, London 2017; chronicler of human relationships. Rotterdam, SXSW 2018 His focus here is on a sensitive M violence & offensive language teenager named Charley (gifted newcomer Charlie Plummer), who, in the absence of his deadbeat dad, bonds with the damaged goods (both human and equine) at his local racecourse. Taken under the wing of jaded race- circuit vet, Del (Steve Buscemi), and jockey Bonnie (Chloë Sevigny), Charley quickly empathises with a racehorse named “Lean on Pete”, especially after discovering he’s being dangerously resilience as the reality of his character’s overworked to make a quick buck. worsening situation dawns on him… “I marveled at the When the fate of the horse is thrown Haigh also demonstrates his continued humanist depth of the into jeopardy, Charley escapes with him mastery of his craft, following here and begins an odyssey through rural in the grand tradition of US-bound world Haigh creates, one America that is as eye-opening as it is Euro auteurs like Wim Wenders by that can only be rendered deeply affecting. — JF delivering an outsider’s portrait of by a truly great writer “An emotionally complex film, America that’s fully attuned to both the B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 12.00 pm economically scripted and full of mythic grandeur and the harsh realities and director, working A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 6.15 pm delicately crafted performances… of life in a country where wide-open near the top of his game.” A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 12.45 pm Plummer is magnificent in the lead, spaces belie the high cost of freedom.” B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 1.45 pm — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com intuitive and naturalistic, exuding quiet — Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman A LHP Sat 11 Aug, 3.45 pm

Disobedience

“Is the greater sin to defy God, or defy Director: Sebastián Lelio your true nature? It’s not a question UK 2017 | 114 mins that’s asked directly in Disobedience, Producers: Frida Torresblanco, Ed Guiney, Rachel Weisz but lingers at the edges of the turmoil Screenplay: Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz. that slowly simmers into passion Based on the novel by Naomi Alderman Photography: Danny Cohen and penitence, in a story that turns Editor: Nathan Nugent a colorful premise into a thoughtful Music: Matthew Herbert With: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, rumination on choice. Set inside the Alessandro Nivola conservative community of Orthodox Festivals: Toronto 2017; Tribeca 2018 In English, Hebrew and Yiddish, Judaism, Sebastián Lelio’s graceful with English subtitles adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel R13 sex scenes & sexual references is a probing look at the illusion of freedom in both religious and secular life, and the bracing reality faced by two women when the relationship between them sparks back to life. When Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a portrait photographer living in New York City, learns that her father Rav, a revered rabbi and community leader, has passed © BLEEKER STREET away, she temporarily numbs the pain After the transcendent Gloria and in booze and sex, before boarding a [last] year’s buzzworthy A Fantastic “[A] striking and warmly plane to London… Ronit has been Woman, Lelio once again shows a nuanced portrait of the disconnected for so long, she’s surprised remarkable sensitivity to the challenges to learn her former friends Dovit women face, particularly those who are kinds of women whose (Alessandro Nivola) – who became Rav’s marginalized by their age or identity… internal lives are rarely spiritual son and protegé – and Esti [He] crafts a drama that’s both sensual portrayed on screen.” A LHP Fri 27 Jul, 6.15 pm (Rachel McAdams) are now married. and spiritual, deeply moving and A PH Sat 28 Jul, 8.15 pm However, Ronit and Esti have a surprise tender.” — Kevin Jagernauth, The — Andrew Barker, Variety A RX Tue 31 Jul, 6.15 pm of their own – a long buried connection Playlist B PH Wed 1 Aug, 4.00 pm that will be rekindled, and unravel the B EMB Mon 6 Aug, 3.30 pm orderly world around them… A EMB Fri 10 Aug, 6.30 pm 38 WORLD USA

Beirut

The magnetic Jon Hamm brings Director: Brad Anderson swagger in spades to this cracking, USA 2018 |109 mins old-fashioned spy thriller from the Producers: Mike Weber, Tony Gilroy, Shivani Rawat, Monica Levinson writer of Michael Clayton. Hamm plays Screenplay: Tony Gilroy Mason Skiles, an alcoholic ex-diplomat Photography: Bjorn Charpentier Editor: Andrew Hafitz who fled Beirut in 1972 when a terror Music: John Debney raid upended his life. When an old With: Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Dean Norris, Mark Pellegrino, Larry Pine, Shea Whigham colleague is taken hostage ten years Festivals: Sundance 2018 later, and the kidnappers ask for him In English, Arabic and French, with English subtitles by name, Mason is forced to return and CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc navigate a web fraught with danger, deceit and personal demons. Viewers can expect the requisite twists and jolts of gritty action characteristic of its writer Tony Gilroy, while Hamm and a roster of ace supporting players (that includes Rosamund Pike, Shea Whigham and Dean Norris) bring welcome human gravitas to the knotty plot workings. — JF © SIFE EDDINE EL AMINE “A handsome, charismatic actor with the force of surprise… Beirut is as who has had difficulty finding film roles relevant as it is entertaining, and it is “A tense, tight kidnapping that suit him as well as his TV success very entertaining indeed.” — Kenneth thriller about shifting in Mad Men, Hamm is all he should be Turan, LA Times as the film's flawed hero, projecting “Beirut is a crafty drama that doesn’t loyalties and finding a juicy combination of weakness and depend on car crashes or shootouts redemption, Beirut marks strength that involves us completely... for its sense of propulsive action. It Jon Hamm’s finest film As any fan of the Bourne films can may be a mostly pessimistic portrait of attest, screenwriter Gilroy is a master at its time and place, but it offers hope, work to date.” — Adam A RX Fri 27 Jul, 6.15 pm laying out a twisty plot, and Anderson if only that movies of its style, scope Graham, The Detroit News A LHP Sat 28 Jul, 8.15 pm directs with the kind of verve that and smarts can still get made.” — Ann B EMB Thu 2 Aug, 3.45 pm A EMB Fri 3 Aug, 9.00 pm enables almost all the twists to hit us Hornaday, The Washington Post

Chamber Music New Zealand presents Juliet, Naked

I Will Not Write Unless I Am… Ensemble Director: Jesse Peretz USA 2018 | 97 mins Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Jeffrey Soros Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, Zefiro Jim Taylor, Phil Alden Robinson, Evgenia Peretz. Based on the DALLA TAFELMUSIK AL DIVERTIMENTO novel by Nick Hornby With: Ethan Hawke, Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd, Jimmy O. Yang Festivals: Sundance 2018 Light, elegant and unapologetically CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

entertaining, feast on a decadent banquet © ALEX-BAILEY. COURTESY OF LIONSGATE & ROADSIDE-ATTRACTIONS of ‘Table Music’ performed with Italian Annie (Rose Byrne) has long tolerated Hornby’s smart, pop culture obsessed, virtuosity and style. her partner Duncan’s (Chris O’Dowd) emotionally stunted characters. Juliet, obsession with the obscure rocker Naked is a witty, niftily constructed and Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), but sneakily romantic film – with a great she’s reaching the end of her tether. soundtrack, of course. Friday 10 August, 7.30pm Crowe had a following in the 1990s, “The Sundance audience was Michael Fowler Centre / WELLINGTON but he disappeared after a mid-show buzzing after the premiere of Juliet, breakdown, to become the subject of Naked, not because it moves the Free Prelude talk at 6.45pm rumour and legend ever since – at least boundary posts but because it’s to those who care. everything a mainstream rom-com No one cares more than Duncan, should be but no longer is – literate, who runs a fan forum for similar unpredictable, full of bustling chambermusic.co.nz/ obsessives around the world. When a tangents.” — David Edelstein, Vulture previously unknown demo of a Crowe ensemblezefiro album emerges after 25 years, Annie finally takes to Duncan’s forum with a B EMB Tue 31 Jul, 1.30 pm Core Funder withering review. Amongst the startled A EMB Sat 11 Aug, 7.00 pm readers there’s one Tucker Crowe. Perfectly cast, Jesse Peretz’s film nails USA WORLD 39

First Reformed

Gripping and intensely focused, First Director/Screenplay: Paul Schrader Reformed is Paul Schrader’s latest USA 2017 | 114 mins character study of male self-destruction Producers: Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, and redemption. Haunted by the Gary Hamilton, Deepak Sikka ghost of Taxi Driver, it stands as the Photography: Alexander Dynan Editor: Benjamin Rodriguez Jr. culmination of a writing/directing career Music: Lustmord studded with God’s lonely men – and With: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Antonio Kyles, Victoria Hill, Philip Ettinger one of Schrader’s most personal films Festivals: Venice, Toronto, New York 2017; in decades. Rotterdam, SXSW 2018 A terrific Ethan Hawke cuts a stern, Censors rating tbc troubled figure as Toller, a Protestant minister of a tiny congregation overshadowed by a nearby populist church. His internal and spiritual despair – rivetingly chronicled in Schrader’s powerful script – begins to seep out into the unforgiving world upon meeting Mary (Amanda Seyfried) and her husband Michael, a distraught environmental activist whose salvation lies in a suicide vest. of the great American filmmakers. As Toller’s dwindling faith and — Tim Wong “An important and moving growing political rage points ostensibly “First Reformed [is] the writer/ work by a master towards an explosive final act, director’s best work in a very long Schrader’s artistry, heavily indebted to time. The writer of Taxi Driver [and] filmmaker.”— Godfrey his cinematic heroes Carl Dreyer and Raging Bull… is having a crisis of faith, Cheshire, RogerEbert.com Robert Bresson, beautifully counteracts examining personal issues of religion the violent pathos of his most iconic in a way that he hasn’t done in a very screen antiheroes. At once austere and long time… It’s the kind of work of art B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 4.00 pm electrifying, First Reformed is directed that seems like it could inspire fantastic B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 4.15 pm with startling simplicity and profundity; conversation. We need more movies like A EMB Tue 7 Aug, 9.00 pm A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 9.00 pm a bravely un-American film by one it.” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

A Kid Like Jake

At the outset of this smart, topical Director: Silas Howard and moving comedy-drama, one-time USA 2018 | 92 mins lawyer Alex (Claire Danes) and her Producers: Jim Parsons, Todd Spiewak, Eric Norsoph, Paul Bernon, Rachel Xiaowen Song psychiatrist husband, Greg (Jim Parsons), Screenplay: Daniel Pearle. Based on his play are plotting private school applications. Photography: Steven Capitano Calitri Editor: Michael Taylor Their young son Jake’s intelligence and Music: Roger Neill imagination have won him impressive With: Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, Ann Dowd, Leo James Davis, test scores. He is also expressing a Amy Landecker preference for what Judy (Octavia Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco 2018 Spencer), the proprietor of his preschool, Censors rating tbc

labels ‘gender-variant play’. When she PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH encourages them to play up Jake’s transgender leanings so that he might be considered a ‘diverse’ candidate for a progressive school, the parents are torn. Both want what’s best for their son, but as they struggle to agree on what that might be, the identity politics they have always embraced begin to impact in painfully personal ways. These are educated, privileged “Expansively humane and funny… characters, who, along with their The drama of A Kid Like Jake, which is “A sensitive and friends, talk things out – sometimes small and contained and also somehow nuanced portrait of saying things best not said. The script, about everything, is the question of how adapted by Daniel Pearle from his own to protect someone you’re responsible modern parenting.” play, provides fuel for illuminating fire, for, or even if there’s anything to protect — David Ehrlich, Indiewire delivered by a superb cast, including them from; what to cultivate and what the redoubtable Ann Dowd as Alex’s to let run wild, and all the life-altering B PH Fri 27 Jul, 4.15 pm mother, and Amy Landecker as a choices that happen around a child A PH Sun 29 Jul, 5.45 pm patient exasperated by Greg’s Zen-like when they’re barely even old enough B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 2.15 pm calm. Director Silas Howard, trans to remember them.” — Emily Yoshida, A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 4.45 pm himself, is a veteran of Transparent. Vulture A LHP Sun 12 Aug, 5.15 pm 40

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Wellington Auckland Dimension Data House, 157 Lambton Quay Vero Centre, 48 Shortland Street PO Box 10-214, Wellington, New Zealand PO Box 8, Auckland, New Zealand P +64 4 499 9555 F +64 4 499 9556 P +64 9 367 8000 F +64 9 367 8163 USA WORLD 41

Little Woods

Set in a fracking boomtown in North Director/Screenplay: Nia DaCosta Dakota, Little Woods’ wide-open prairies USA 2018 | 105 mins are inhabited by people who have little Producers: Rachael Fung, Gabrielle Nadig, Tim Headington room to move. Trapped by poverty and Photography: Matt Mitchell failed by a broken health system, for Editor: Catrin Hedström Music: Brian McOmber them it’s hard work for little return. First- With: Tessa Thompson, Lily James, time writer and director Nia DaCosta James Badge Dale, Lance Reddick, Luke Kirby Festivals: Tribeca 2018 has drawn a rich world of dynamic Censors rating tbc characters, complex relationships and hard choices that recalls Winter’s Bone. She expertly draws on crime movie tropes to tell an important story: that of the female rural poor. Everyone is after OxyContin, but Ollie (Tessa Thompson) isn’t selling it anymore. She hawks only coffee and sandwiches to cold men at cold worksites. She’s almost completed probation after being caught smuggling Canadian prescription meds, mainly for her terminally ill mum, over the nearby way to get that sort of money. When border. Her mum has now passed away Deb realises she cannot have the baby, “Nia DaCosta’s absorbing and she’s grieving, but things might it turns out that finding a safe abortion debut is laced with urgent finally be looking up: with support is just as difficult. from her probation officer there’s the The sisterly bond between Ollie dread, experienced by possibility of a new job in a new town. and Deb is at the heart of this story. characters you care deeply But that all changes when her adoptive Little Woods is a tense watch that about.” — Sam Weisberg, sister Deb (Lily James), a struggling solo illuminates many aspects of the US mother with a dropkick ex, finds out political zeitgeist from a strong female Village Voice A LHP Sat 4 Aug, 8.15 pm she’s pregnant and in need of a place perspective. This is deeply felt cinema, B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 4.15 pm to live. The sisters need $3,000 to save a directorial debut that is not to be A PH Fri 10 Aug, 8.30 pm A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 9.00 pm the family home and there’s only one missed. — Catherine Bisley

Keep the Change The Kindergarten Teacher

Director/Screenplay: Rachel Israel USA 2017 | 93 mins Director: Sara Colangelo Photography: Zachary Halberd USA 2018 | 96 mins Editor: Alex Camilleri Screenplay: Sara Colangelo. Music: Amie Doherty Based on the film Haganenet by With: Brandon Polansky, Nadav Lapid Samantha Elisofon, Nicky Gottlieb, Photography: Pepe Avila del Pino Jessica Walter, Tibor Feldman With: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Festivals: Tribeca, Los Angeles Parker Sevak, Anna Baryshnikov, 2017 Rosa Salazar, Michael Chernus, M offensive language & sexual Gael García Bernal references Festivals: Sundance, Sydney 2018 Directing Award (Dramatic), Sundance Film Festival 2018 Censors rating tbc

In this funny, affecting and refreshingly Sparks begin to fly, however, when the “Maggie Gyllenhaal gives her best film Gyllenhaal, appearing in every single authentic New York romcom the happy easily smitten young woman declares performance in years as Lisa Spinelli, a scene of the film, gives a completely pair – and the non-professional actors she finds him “really smoking hot and 40-year-old Staten Island teacher who committed, three-dimensional who play them – are autistic. David, so sexy.” is somewhat adrift in life. Her teenage performance… It’s a performance played by Brandon Polansky, on whose But can her cheerfulness withstand kids are more invested in Instagram always on the edge of danger as we experience the film is based, has long the streak of scorn he’s clearly absorbed than family dinners and she’s not doing worry with increasing alarm that Lisa been sheltered by his wealthy parents. from a lifetime of tolerant disdain from as well as she’d like in her poetry class. is going to do something very, very Whether his habit of letting chauffeurs his mother (Arrested Development’s One day after school, she hears one of wrong. It’s a thriller almost, but it’s keep the change is a matter of noblesse Jessica Walter)? Played with such her five-year-old students, a sweet boy suspense that's borne out of human oblige or a lack of arithmetic skill is a directness, the familiar romcom named Jimmy Roy, recite a poem. It’s need for something real in a world moot point. Equipped with a repertoire setbacks feel clean and unforced, a beauty. She becomes fascinated by that feels increasingly fake.” — Brian of deeply inappropriate jokes for every and Rachel Israel’s direction is imbued this child who seems to enter a trance Tallerico, RogerEbert.com occasion, he is ordered to attend an with unmistakable empathy and good and produce gorgeous, pure art… Lisa autism support group after one pig humour. becomes convinced that Jimmy is a A PH Fri 27 Jul, 8.30 pm reference too many to a police officer. once-in-a-generation talent, and she’s A LHP Sat 28 Jul, 6.15 pm His contempt for this group of ‘weirdos’ B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 12.00 pm going to do whatever it takes to help B PH Mon 30 Jul, 4.15 pm is total, not least for the super-chirpy A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 5.00 pm that flower grow. And she’ll push back B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 2.30 pm Sarah who buses in daily from Queens A PH Wed 8 Aug, 6.15 pm against everyone who stands in her A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 7.00 pm B PH Thu 9 Aug, 1.45 pm – and has a song for every occasion. way, even if it destroys her life. A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 8.45 pm 42

WARM UP AT CIRCA THIS WINTER

SONGS FOR BLACK DOG DUCK, DEATH THE DINNER BLOOMSBURY NOBODIES 10 – 21 July AND THE TULIP 10 – 25 Aug WOMEN AND THE 7 July – 4 Aug Directed by Peter Wilson 10 – 21 July Devised by Joan Bellviure WILD COLONIAL GIRL By Joanna Murray-Smith Music by Stephen Gallagher Directed by Nina Nawalowalo Directed by Juliet O’Brien 18 Aug – 15 Sept Directed by Ross Gumbley Company: Little Dog Music by Gareth Farr Company: By Lorae Parry Starring Ali Harper Barking Theatre Company: Little Dog The Improvisors Directed by Susan Wilson Barking Theatre Photo: Danielle Colvin Image: Pamela Allen Image: Miquel Angel Juan Part of WTF! Photo: Stephen A’Court Women’s Theatre Festival

Black Dog, Duck, Death and the Tulip, and Bloomsbury Women and the Wild Colonial Girl are presented by arrangement with Playmarket Image: Alexander Turnbull Library

BOOK NOW circa.co.nz 801 7992 1 TARANAKI ST WELLINGTON

MONDAY DOCUMENTARIES CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND OFTEN AWARD WINNING STORIES THAT CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO.

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23 JULY More Than Honey 13 AUGUST Soundtrack for a Revolution

30 JULY Dark Horse 20 AUGUST The Wrecking Crew The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance 27 AUGUST 20 Feet from Stardom 6 AUGUST The Sound of Her Guitar

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Catch up on films, comedy, lifestyle and more at maoritelevision.com 43

SCHEDULE

EMB Embassy Theatre RX Roxy Cinema ED Embassy Deluxe LHP Light House Petone RCC Reading Cinemas Courtenay NT Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision PH Penthouse Cinema

Friday 27 July A 1.00 pm The Devil We Know (RCC) 88 62 A 2.45 pm Shoplifters (LHP) 121 10 A 1.00 pm Mirai (RX) 98 11 A 3.15 pm Birds of Passage (RX) 125 7 B 11.00 am Puzzle (EMB) 104 48 A 1.15 pm Bisbee ’17 (ED) 118 60 A 3.30 pm Mirai (EMB) 98 11 B 11.45 am Speak Up (RCC) 96 65 A 1.30 pm RBG (PH) 98 67 A 3.45 pm Garry Winogrand: All Things... (ED) 90 77 B 12.00 pm Lean on Pete (RCC) 121 37 A 2.30 pm The Ancient Woods (LHP) 86 60 A 3.45 pm Le Grand Bal (PH) 99 71 B 12.15 pm Ága (PH) 96 25 A 2.30 pm Filmworker (RCC) 94 76 A 3.45 pm Apostasy (RCC) 96 50 B 12.15 pm Petra (RCC) 107 35 A 2.45 pm Petra (RCC) 107 35 A 4.15 pm TERROR NULLIUS (RCC) 55 57 B 1.00 pm The Price of Everything (RX) 105 79 A 3.00 pm The Wild Pear Tree (RCC) 188 36 A 5.15 pm Wings of Desire (LHP) 128 13 B 1.30 pm McQueen (EMB) 111 78 A 3.00 pm The Miseducation of Cameron... (RX) 90 47 A 5.30 pm Milla (ED) 128 54 B 2.00 pm The Seen and Unseen (RCC) 86 + 10 34 A 3.30 pm The Trial (ED) 139 69 A 5.45 pm A Kid Like Jake (PH) 92 39 B 2.15 pm RBG (PH) 98 67 A 3.30 pm Capharnaüm (PH) 123 7 A 5.45 pm Border (RX) 108 52 B 2.30 pm The Distant Barking of Dogs (ED) 91 62 A 3.45 pm Monterey Pop (EMB) 79 73 A 6.00 pm Leave No Trace (EMB) 109 10 B 2.30 pm Gurrumul (RCC) 96 70 A 4.15 pm Girl (LHP) 105 23 A 6.00 pm Thelma (RCC) 117 56 B 2.45 pm Filmworker (RCC) 94 76 A 5.00 pm Three Identical Strangers (RCC) 96 67 A 6.15 pm Shut Up and Play the Piano (RCC) 82 75 B 4.00 pm Searching (EMB) 102 56 A 5.00 pm Yellow is Forbidden (RX) 97 11 A 6.45 pm Minding the Gap (RCC) 98 64 B 4.15 pm A Kid Like Jake (PH) 92 39 A 5.45 pm The Heart Dances... (EMB) 99 16 A 7.45 pm Breath (LHP) 116 23 B 4.15 pm Skate Kitchen (RCC) 106 55 A 5.45 pm Ma¯ui’s Hook (RCC) 92 16 A 7.45 pm Girl (PH) 105 23 B 4.30 pm A Mother Brings Her Son... (ED) 84 66 A 6.00 pm McQueen (PH) 111 78 A 8.00 pm A Mother Brings Her Son... (ED) 84 66 B 4.30 pm The Guilty (RCC) 85 26 A 6.15 pm Blue My Mind (ED) 97 80 A 8.00 pm TERROR NULLIUS (RCC) 55 57 B 4.45 pm The Image Book (RCC) 85 27 A 6.15 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (LHP) 96 41 A 8.30 pm In the Realm of Perfection (RCC) 95 64 A 6.15 pm Lucky (ED) 88 47 A 6.30 pm Burning (RCC) 148 9 A 9.00 pm Liquid Sky (EMB) 113 12 A 6.15 pm Disobedience (LHP) 114 37 A 7.00 pm Rafiki (RCC) 83 55 A 9.00 pm Piercing (RCC) 81 82 A 6.15 pm Woman At War (PH) 101 30 A 8.15 pm Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (ED) 97 74 A 6.15 pm Loveling (RCC) 98 + 8 25 A 8.15 pm Beirut (LHP) 109 38 Monday 30 July A 6.15 pm Beirut (RX) 109 38 A 8.15 pm Disobedience (PH) 114 37 B 10.30 am Ága (EMB) 96 25 A 6.30 pm Birds of Passage (EMB) 125 7 A 8.30 pm Jirga (RCC) 78 22 B 11.30 am Capharnaüm (PH) 123 7 A 6.30 pm McKellen: Playing the Part (RCC) 96 78 A 8.45 pm Searching (EMB) 102 56 B 11.45 am McKellen: Playing the Part (RCC) 96 78 A 6.45 pm Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (RCC) 97 74 A 8.45 pm An Evening with Beverly… (RCC) 108 80 B 12.00 pm Foxtrot (RCC) 113 53 A 8.00 pm The Harvesters (ED) 104 35 A 9.15 pm You Were Never Really… (RCC) 89 57 B 12.30 pm Milla (ED) 128 54 A 8.30 pm The Insult (LHP) 113 33 C 12.30 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: async at the… (NT) 65 74 A 8.30 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (PH) 96 41 Sunday 29 July B 12.30 pm Lots of Kids, a Monkey… (RCC) 91 64 A 8.30 pm Foxtrot (RCC) 113 53 B 10.45 am Animation for Kids 4+ (EMB) 65 59 B 12.45 pm Leave No Trace (EMB) 109 10 A 8.45 pm Thelma (RCC) 117 56 A 11.00 am Science Fair (RCC) 90 58 B 1.00 pm Loveling (RX) 98 + 8 25 A 9.00 pm Liquid Sky (RCC) 113 12 A 11.15 am Eight Uneasy Pieces (RCC) 81 21 B 2.00 pm Woman At War (PH) 101 30 A 9.15 pm American Animals (EMB) 116 51 A 11.45 am RBG (RCC) 98 67 B 2.00 pm The Devil We Know (RCC) 88 62 A 12.00 pm Chulas Fronteras (ED) 58 + 29 70 B 2.15 pm If I Leave Here Tomorrow... (RCC) 95 73 Saturday 28 July A 12.00 pm Pick of the Litter (PH) 81 65 B 2.30 pm I Used to Be Normal... (RCC) 96 72 A 10.45 am Liyana (RCC) 77 58 A 12.30 pm Yellow is Forbidden (EMB) 97 11 B 3.00 pm Our New President (ED) 78 69 A 11.00 am Kusama – Infinity (EMB) 83 77 B 1.00 pm Animation for Kids 8+ (LHP) 76 59 B 3.45 pm Breath (EMB) 116 23 A 11.00 am Pick of the Litter (RCC) 81 65 A 1.00 pm The Green Fog (RCC) 65 53 B 4.00 pm Thelma (RCC) 117 56 A 11.30 am The Cleaners (ED) 89 68 A 1.00 pm Jirga (RX) 78 22 B 4.15 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (PH) 96 41 A 11.30 am Brimstone & Glory (RCC) 67 21 A 1.30 pm Ma¯ui’s Hook (RCC) 92 16 B 4.15 pm Arctic (RCC) 97 29 B 12.00 pm Animation for Kids 4+ (PH) 65 59 A 1.45 pm The Distant Barking of Dogs (ED) 91 62 B 4.30 pm The Insult (RCC) 113 33 A 12.30 pm I Used to Be Normal... (RCC) 96 72 A 1.45 pm Ága (PH) 96 25 B 4.45 pm The Cleaners (ED) 89 68 A 12.45 pm Science Fair (RCC) 90 58 A 1.45 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (RCC) 102 74 A 6.15 pm Girl (EMB) 105 23 A 1.00 pm In the Aisles (EMB) 126 28 A 2.30 pm An Elephant Sitting Still (RCC) 234 52 A 6.15 pm The Heiresses (LHP) 98 34 44 WELLINGTON SCHEDULE

A 6.15 pm The Ice King (PH) 89 73 B 1.00 pm Shoplifters (RX) 121 10 A 8.15 pm Blue My Mind (RCC) 97 80 A 6.15 pm Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr... (RCC) 90 76 B 1.30 pm The Trial (ED) 139 69 A 8.30 pm El Ángel (RCC) 120 51 A 6.15 pm Slut in a Good Way (RX) 89 55 B 2.00 pm The Ancient Woods (PH) 86 60 A 8.45 pm Mandy (ED) 121 82 A 6.30 pm Chulas Fronteras (ED) 58 + 29 70 B 2.00 pm Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr… (RCC) 90 76 A 8.45 pm Holiday (RCC) 93 53 A 6.30 pm The Seen and Unseen (RCC) 86 + 10 34 B 2.15 pm The Song Keepers (RCC) 88 75 A 9.15 pm The Miseducation of Cameron... (EMB) 90 47 A 6.45 pm Eldorado (RCC) 92 68 B 2.45 pm Eight Uneasy Pieces (RCC) 81 21 A 8.15 pm Diamantino (ED) 92 52 B 3.30 pm Birds of Passage (EMB) 125 7 Friday 3 August A 8.15 pm You Were Never Really... (LHP) 89 57 B 4.00 pm Disobedience (PH) 114 37 B 10.30 am Celia (EMB) 101 15 A 8.15 pm 3 Faces (PH) 100 30 B 4.00 pm Three Identical Strangers (RCC) 96 67 B 11.45 am An Elephant Sitting Still (RCC) 234 52 A 8.15 pm Let the Corpses Tan (RCC) 93 81 B 4.15 pm Mandy (ED) 121 82 B 12.00 pm Westwood: Punk, Icon... (PH) 78 79 A 8.30 pm Djon África (RCC) 99 34 B 4.15 pm And Breathe Normally (RCC) 100 29 B 12.00 pm Apostasy (RCC) 96 50 A 8.45 pm Leto (EMB) 126 71 B 4.30 pm You Were Never Really… (RCC) 89 57 B 12.15 pm Loveling (RCC) 98 + 8 25 A 8.45 pm The Rider (RCC) 104 47 A 6.15 pm New Zealand’s Best 2018 (EMB) 87 19 C 12.30 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: async at the... (NT) 65 74 A 6.15 pm Woman at War (LHP) 101 30 B 1.00 pm Transit (RX) 101 28 Tuesday 31 July A 6.15 pm In the Aisles (PH) 126 28 B 1.15 pm Garry Winogrand: All Things... (ED) 90 77 B 10.30 am The Heart Dances... (EMB) 99 16 A 6.15 pm United Skates (RCC) 89 67 B 1.45 pm 3 Faces (EMB) 100 30 B 11.45 am Lots of Kids, a Monkey... (PH) 91 64 A 6.30 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (RCC) 102 74 B 1.45 pm The Heiresses (PH) 98 34 B 11.45 am Science Fair (RCC) 90 58 A 6.45 pm The Distant Barking of Dogs (ED) 91 62 B 2.15 pm Zama (RCC) 115 22 B 12.00 pm Keep the Change (RCC) 93 41 A 6.45 pm The Harvesters (RCC) 104 35 B 2.30 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (RCC) 96 41 C 12.30 pm Dog’s Best Friend (NT) 78 63 A 8.15 pm Arctic (LHP) 97 29 B 3.00 pm Lucky (ED) 88 47 B 12.30 pm Kevin Roche: The Quiet... (RCC) 82 78 A 8.30 pm Apostasy (RCC) 96 50 B 3.45 pm Shoplifters (PH) 121 10 B 1.00 pm Petra (RX) 107 35 A 8.45 pm The Reports on Sarah… (ED) 132 32 B 4.00 pm Dogman (EMB) 103 31 B 1.30 pm Juliet, Naked (EMB) 97 + 6 38 A 8.45 pm Wajib – The Wedding Invitation (PH) 96 32 B 4.00 pm Liquid Sky (RCC) 113 12 B 1.45 pm Transit (PH) 101 28 A 9.00 pm Angels Wear White (EMB) 107 24 B 4.30 pm Holiday (RCC) 93 53 B 1.45 pm The Ice King (RCC) 89 73 A 9.00 pm The Guilty (RCC) 85 26 B 4.45 pm Madeline’s Madeline (ED) 94 54 B 2.00 pm Chulas Fronteras (ED) 58 + 29 70 A 9.00 pm Dogman (RX) 103 31 B 4.45 pm Jill Bilcock: Dancing... (RCC) 81 77 B 2.00 pm Jirga (RCC) 78 22 A 9.15 pm Climax (RCC) 96 81 A 6.15 pm Birds of Passage (LHP) 125 7 B 2.15 pm Virus Tropical (RCC) 97 56 A 6.15 pm Leave No Trace (PH) 109 10 B 3.45 pm The Reports on Sarah... (ED) 132 32 Thursday 2 August A 6.15 pm Lean on Pete (RCC) 121 37 B 3.45 pm Let the Corpses Tan (RCC) 93 81 B 10.30 am Wildlife (EMB) 105 49 A 6.15 pm An Evening with Beverly... (RX) 108 80 B 4.00 pm The Miseducation of Cameron... (EMB) 90 47 B 11.00 am United Skates (RCC) 89 67 A 6.30 pm McQueen (EMB) 111 78 B 4.00 pm McQueen (PH) 111 78 B 11.15 am The Wild Pear Tree (RCC) 188 36 A 6.30 pm Three Identical Strangers (RCC) 96 67 B 4.00 pm First Reformed (RCC) 114 39 B 12.00 pm Nico, 1988 (RCC) 93 75 A 6.45 pm Minding the Gap (ED) 98 64 B 4.15 pm Last Child (RCC) 124 35 B 12.15 pm Kusama – Infinity (PH) 83 77 A 6.45 pm The World Is Yours (RCC) 104 27 A 6.15 pm Ága (EMB) 96 25 C 12.30 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: async at the... (NT) 65 74 A 8.15 pm Bludgeon (RCC) 90 14 A 6.15 pm If I Leave Here Tomorrow... (LHP) 95 73 B 1.00 pm In the Aisles (EMB) 126 28 A 8.30 pm Breath (PH) 116 23 A 6.15 pm Puzzle (PH) 104 48 B 1.00 pm Woman at War (RX) 101 30 A 8.30 pm What Keeps You Alive (RCC) 99 83 A 6.15 pm Ash Is Purest White (RCC) 141 24 B 1.45 pm New Zealand’s Best 2018 (RCC) 87 19 A 8.45 pm Piercing (ED) 81 82 A 6.15 pm Disobedience (RX) 114 37 B 2.00 pm The Ice King (PH) 89 73 A 8.45 pm The Guilty (LHP) 85 26 A 6.30 pm Garry Winogrand: All Things... (ED) 90 77 B 2.00 pm Animation NOW! 2018 (RCC) 88 49 A 8.45 pm Diamantino (RCC) 92 52 A 6.30 pm Island of the Hungry Ghosts (RCC) 98 63 B 2.15 pm Bisbee ’17 (ED) 118 60 A 9.00 pm Beirut (EMB) 109 38 A 6.45 pm Looking for Oum Kulthum (RCC) 90 27 B 2.45 pm Looking for Oum Kulthum (RCC) 90 27 A 9.00 pm You Were Never Really... (RCC) 89 57 A 8.15 pm Our New President (ED) 78 69 B 3.45 pm Beirut (EMB) 109 38 A 8.15 pm The Devil We Know (LHP) 88 62 B 4.00 pm Girl (PH) 105 23 Saturday 4 August A 8.30 pm Breath (EMB) 116 23 B 4.00 pm The Rider (RCC) 104 47 A 10.45 am Mirai (RCC) 98 11 A 8.30 pm The World Is Yours (PH) 104 27 B 4.15 pm An Evening with Beverly... (RCC) 108 80 A 11.00 am RBG (EMB) 98 67 A 8.45 pm Good Manners (RCC) 135 54 B 4.30 pm Minding the Gap (ED) 98 64 A 11.15 am Garry Winogrand: All Things... (ED) 90 77 A 9.00 pm Custody (RCC) 94 26 B 4.45 pm Slut in a Good Way (RCC) 89 55 A 11.15 am Jill Bilcock: Dancing... (RCC) 81 77 A 9.15 pm Terrified (RCC) 87 83 A 6.15 pm Celia (EMB) 101 15 A 11.30 am Lots of Kids, a Monkey... (RCC) 91 64 A 6.15 pm Brimstone & Glory (LHP) 67 61 A 12.00 pm The Ancient Woods (PH) 86 60 Wednesday 1 August A 6.15 pm Lots of Kids, a Monkey… (PH) 91 64 A 12.45 pm Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr... (RCC) 90 76 B 10.30 am Yellow is Forbidden (EMB) 97 11 A 6.15 pm And Breathe Normally (RCC) 100 29 A 1.00 pm Pick of the Litter – audio descriptive (ED) 81 65 B 11.15 am Island of the Hungry Ghosts (RCC) 98 63 A 6.15 pm Searching (RX) 102 56 A 1.00 pm Leave No Trace (RX) 109 10 B 12.15 pm Kevin Roche: The Quiet... (PH) 82 78 A 6.30 pm Gurrumul (RCC) 96 70 A 1.15 pm Wajib – The Wedding Invitation (RCC) 96 32 B 12.15 pm Custody (RCC) 94 26 A 6.45 pm Madeline’s Madeline (ED) 94 54 A 1.30 pm Le Grand Bal (EMB) 99 71 C 12.30 pm Dog’s Best Friend (NT) 78 63 A 6.45 pm Jill Bilcock: Dancing... (RCC) 81 77 A 1.30 pm The King (LHP) 117 72 B 12.45 pm Djon África (RCC) 99 34 A 7.45 pm The Reports on Sarah... (LHP) 132 32 A 1.30 pm The Image Book (RCC) 85 27 B 1.00 pm Girl (EMB) 105 23 A 8.15 pm The Heiresses (PH) 98 34 ◆ 2.00 pm WFS Film Quiz (EMB, Blondini’s) 90 36 WELLINGTON SCHEDULE 45

A 2.00 pm The Song Keepers (PH) 88 75 A 8.00 pm Leto (RCC) 126 71 A 6.15 pm Happy As Lazzaro (EMB) 125 31 A 2.45 pm Nico, 1988 (ED) 93 75 A 8.15 pm Apostasy (ED) 96 50 A 6.15 pm Transit (LHP) 101 28 A 2.45 pm Loveling (RCC) 98 + 8 25 A 8.30 pm Arctic (EMB) 97 29 A 6.15 pm Petra (PH) 107 35 A 3.15 pm Ex Libris: The New York... (RCC) 197 63 A 8.30 pm Holiday (RCC) 93 53 A 6.15 pm Brimstone & Glory (RCC) 67 61 A 3.15 pm A Sculptor’s Journey (RX) 52 79 A 8.45 pm The Field Guide to Evil (RCC) 117 81 A 6.15 pm McQueen (RX) 111 78 A 3.45 pm Capharnaüm (LHP) 123 7 A 6.30 pm An Elephant Sitting Still (ED) 234 52 A 4.00 pm Transit (EMB) 101 28 Monday 6 August A 6.30 pm [CENSORED] (RCC) 63 50 A 4.00 pm Happy As Lazzaro (PH) 125 31 B 10.30 am Le Grand Bal (EMB) 99 71 A 6.45 pm I Used to Be Normal... (RCC) 96 72 A 4.45 pm Lucky (ED) 88 47 B 11.30 am Eldorado (RCC) 92 68 A 7.45 pm Cold Blooded: The Clutter... (RCC) 168 61 A 5.00 pm Keep the Change (RCC) 93 41 B 11.45 am Samouni Road (RCC) 126 66 A 8.15 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (LHP) 102 74 A 5.15 pm Angie (RCC) 119 15 B 12.00 pm Puzzle (PH) 104 48 A 8.30 pm Kevin Roche: The Quiet... (PH) 82 78 A 5.15 pm Bludgeon (RX) 90 14 B 12.00 pm Pick of the Litter (RCC) 81 65 A 8.45 pm Donbass (RCC) 121 69 A 6.15 pm The Miseducation of Cameron... (LHP) 90 47 C 12.30 pm The Green Fog (NT) 65 53 A 9.00 pm First Reformed (EMB) 114 39 A 6.30 pm Shoplifters (EMB) 121 10 B 1.00 pm Transit (EMB) 101 28 A 6.30 pm Kusama – Infinity (PH) 83 77 B 1.00 pm Ága (RX) 96 25 Wednesday 8 August A 6.45 pm Diamantino (ED) 92 52 B 1.30 pm Leto (RCC) 126 71 B 11.00 am Burning (RCC) 148 9 A 7.00 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (RCC) 96 41 B 1.45 pm RBG (RCC) 98 67 B 11.15 am The Heart Dances... (PH) 99 16 A 7.15 pm Virus Tropical (RCC) 97 56 B 2.15 pm The Song Keepers (PH) 88 75 B 11.15 am The King (RCC) 117 72 A 8.15 pm Little Woods (LHP) 105 41 B 2.15 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (RCC) 102 74 B 11.30 am [CENSORED] (RCC) 63 50 A 8.15 pm Birds of Passage (PH) 125 7 B 3.30 pm Disobedience (EMB) 114 37 C 12.15 pm A Sculptor’s Journey (NT) 52 79 A 8.30 pm Stray (RCC) 104 17 B 4.00 pm Border (RCC) 108 52 B 12.30 pm Wings of Desire (EMB) 128 13 A 8.45 pm The Reports on Sarah... (ED) 132 32 B 4.15 pm Cold War (PH) 89 9 B 1.00 pm The Song Keepers (RX) 88 75 A 9.00 pm The Guilty (RCC) 85 26 B 4.15 pm First Reformed (RCC) 114 39 C 1.30 pm Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy (NT) 39 18 A 9.15 pm Mandy (EMB) 121 82 B 4.30 pm In the Realm of Perfection (RCC) 95 64 B 1.30 pm We the Animals (RCC) 93 57 A 9.15 pm Skate Kitchen (RCC) 106 55 A 6.15 pm Wildlife (EMB) 105 49 B 1.45 pm McKellen: Playing the Part (PH) 96 78 A 6.15 pm 3 Faces (LHP) 100 30 B 1.45 pm Lean on Pete (RCC) 121 37 Sunday 5 August A 6.15 pm McKellen: Playing the Part (PH) 96 78 B 2.00 pm Wajib – The Wedding Invitation (RCC) 96 32 B 11.00 am Animation for Kids 8+ (EMB) 76 59 A 6.15 pm Rafiki (RCC) 83 55 B 3.30 pm Shoplifters (EMB) 121 10 A 11.00 am Pick of the Litter (RCC) 81 65 A 6.15 pm Virus Tropical (RX) 97 56 B 3.45 pm Happy As Lazzaro (PH) 125 31 A 11.15 am The Trial (ED) 139 69 A 6.30 pm The Distant Barking of Dogs (ED) 91 62 B 3.45 pm Donbass (RCC) 121 69 A 11.15 am Speak Up (RCC) 96 65 A 6.30 pm Kevin Roche: The Quiet... (RCC) 82 78 B 4.00 pm The World Is Yours (RCC) 104 27 A 12.00 pm Mirai (PH) 98 11 A 6.45 pm Animation NOW! 2018 (RCC) 88 49 B 4.15 pm El Ángel (RCC) 120 51 A 12.45 pm Lean on Pete (RCC) 121 37 A 8.00 pm Angie (RCC) 119 15 A 6.15 pm Woman at War (EMB) 101 30 A 1.00 pm The Price of Everything (EMB) 105 79 A 8.15 pm The Rider (LHP) 104 47 A 6.15 pm Cold War (LHP) 89 9 A 1.00 pm Science Fair (LHP) 90 58 A 8.15 pm The Seen and Unseen (PH) 86 + 10 34 A 6.15 pm Keep the Change (PH) 93 41 A 1.00 pm If I Leave Here Tomorrow... (RCC) 95 73 A 8.30 pm Our New President (ED) 78 69 A 6.15 pm She Shears (RCC) 86 14 B 1.00 pm Animation for Kids 4+ (RX) 65 59 A 8.30 pm El Ángel (RCC) 120 51 A 6.15 pm Arctic (RX) 97 29 A 1.15 pm Cold Blooded: The Clutter... (RCC) 168 61 A 8.45 pm Ash Is Purest White (EMB) 141 24 A 6.30 pm Chulas Fronteras (ED) 58 + 29 70 A 2.00 pm Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (ED) 97 74 A 8.45 pm The Image Book (RCC) 85 27 A 6.30 pm Speak Up (RCC) 96 65 A 2.00 pm Ex Libris: The New York... (PH) 197 63 A 6.45 pm Ava (RCC) 104 29 A 2.30 pm Brimstone & Glory (RX) 67 61 Tuesday 7 August A 8.00 pm Skate Kitchen (LHP) 106 55 A 2.45 pm Puzzle (LHP) 104 48 B 11.15 am Westwood: Punk, Icon... (EMB) 78 79 A 8.15 pm The Trial (ED) 139 69 A 3.00 pm Bludgeon (RCC) 90 14 B 11.45 am Loveling (PH) 98 + 8 25 A 8.15 pm The Guilty (PH) 85 26 A 3.30 pm Orlando (EMB) 94 13 B 11.45 am Ex Libris: The New York... (RCC) 197 63 A 8.30 pm Dogman (RCC) 103 31 A 3.30 pm And Breathe Normally (RCC) 100 29 C 12.15 pm Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy (NT) 39 18 A 8.45 pm Desert Hearts (EMB) 91 12 A 4.00 pm Minding the Gap (ED) 98 64 B 12.15 pm The Heiresses (RCC) 98 34 A 8.45 pm The Kindergarten Teacher (RCC) 96 41 A 4.00 pm Shut Up and Play the Piano (RX) 82 75 B 12.30 pm Ava (RCC) 104 29 A 9.00 pm First Reformed (RCC) 114 39 A 4.30 pm Slut in a Good Way (RCC) 89 55 B 1.00 pm Breath (RX) 116 23 A 4.45 pm Burning (LHP) 148 9 B 1.15 pm Cold War (EMB) 89 9 Thursday 9 August A 5.45 pm Capharnaüm (EMB) 123 7 C 1.30 pm A Sculptor’s Journey (NT) 52 79 B 11.00 am She Shears (RCC) 86 14 A 5.45 pm Westwood: Punk, Icon... (PH) 78 79 B 2.00 pm Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr... (PH) 90 76 B 11.45 am Yellow is Forbidden (PH) 97 11 A 5.45 pm Stray (RCC) 104 17 B 2.15 pm A Kid Like Jake (RCC) 92 39 B 12.30 pm Happy As Lazzaro (EMB) 125 31 A 5.45 pm El Ángel (RX) 120 51 B 2.45 pm Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (RCC) 97 74 C 12.30 pm Foreign Correspondents (NT) 78 21 A 6.00 pm Bisbee ’17 (ED) 118 60 B 3.30 pm American Animals (EMB) 116 51 B 1.30 pm Cold Blooded: The Clutter... (RCC) 168 61 A 6.00 pm The Song Keepers (RCC) 88 75 B 3.30 pm Good Manners (RCC) 135 54 B 1.45 pm Keep the Change (PH) 93 41 A 6.30 pm In the Realm of Perfection (RCC) 95 64 B 4.00 pm The World Is Yours (PH) 104 27 B 3.15 pm Ash Is Purest White (EMB) 141 24 A 7.30 pm Transit (PH) 101 28 B 4.15 pm Little Woods (RCC) 105 41 B 3.45 pm Birds of Passage (PH) 125 7 A 7.45 pm Thelma (LHP) 117 56 B 4.45 pm Piercing (RCC) 81 82 B 4.45 pm Shut Up and Play the Piano (RCC) 82 75 46 WELLINGTON SCHEDULE

A 6.15 pm Merata: How Mum... (EMB) 95 17 A 1.45 pm Ága (LHP) 96 25 A 6.15 pm Pick of the Litter (LHP) 81 65 A 2.45 pm The Heiresses (RCC) 98 34 A 6.15 pm Speak Up (PH) 96 65 A 3.00 pm Three Identical Strangers (RX) 96 67 IT AIN’T A 6.15 pm Zama (RCC) 115 22 A 3.15 pm The Green Fog (RCC) 65 53 A 6.30 pm The Cleaners (ED) 89 68 A 3.45 pm Lean on Pete (LHP) 121 37 A 6.30 pm The Third Murder (RCC) 124 33 A 3.45 pm The Seen and Unseen (RCC) 86 + 10 34 OVER A 8.00 pm The World Is Yours (LHP) 104 27 A 4.00 pm Wings of Desire (EMB) 128 13 A 8.15 pm Foxtrot (ED) 113 53 A 4.00 pm The Heart Dances... (PH) 99 16 A 8.15 pm Desert Hearts (PH) 91 12 A 4.00 pm Nga¯ Whanaunga... (RCC) 94 19 YET... A 8.15 pm Mandy (RX) 121 82 A 4.15 pm Milla (ED) 128 54 A 8.30 pm Nico, 1988 (RCC) 93 75 A 4.45 pm A Kid Like Jake (RCC) 92 39 Because capacity is limited at A 9.00 pm Mega Time Squad (RCC) 79 83 A 5.00 pm Angie (RX) 119 15 many of our venues, we have A 9.15 pm Border (EMB) 108 52 A 6.00 pm We the Animals (RCC) 93 57 A 9.15 pm The Field Guide to Evil (RCC) 117 81 A 6.15 pm Speak Up (LHP) 96 65 pencil-booked screen time within A 6.45 pm A Mother Brings Her Son... (ED) 84 66 the NZIFF period and during Friday 10 August A 6.45 pm Yellow is Forbidden (PH) 97 11 the following week to add new B 11.00 am Capharnaüm (EMB) 123 7 A 6.45 pm Petra (RCC) 107 35 sessions of popular films. B 11.15 am The Price of Everything (RCC) 105 79 A 7.00 pm Juliet, Naked (EMB) 97 + 6 38 B 11.30 am Celia (PH) 101 15 A 8.00 pm Good Manners (RCC) 135 54 Sign up for our daily emails or C 12.30 pm Ryuichi Sakamoto: async at the... (NT) 65 74 A 8.15 pm Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (LHP) 97 74 watch for signage at the venues A 8.30 pm Ava (ED) 104 29 B 1.00 pm The King (RX) 117 72 as new screenings are posted. B 1.30 pm Nga¯ Whanaunga... (RCC) 94 19 A 8.45 pm Cold War (PH) 89 9 B 1.45 pm Woman at War (EMB) 101 30 A 9.00 pm Little Woods (RCC) 105 41 All will be on sale through the B 2.00 pm Petra (PH) 107 35 A 9.15 pm Blaze (RCC) 127 73 normal channels. B 4.00 pm Climax (EMB) 96 81 A 9.30 pm Climax (EMB) 96 81 B 4.15 pm Desert Hearts (PH) 91 12 B 4.15 pm Mega Time Squad (RCC) 79 83 Sunday 12 August A 6.15 pm Madeline’s Madeline (ED) 94 54 A 11.00 am Island of the Hungry Ghosts (RCC) 98 63 A 6.15 pm Kusama – Infinity (LHP) 83 77 A 11.15 am Westwood: Punk, Icon... (EMB) 78 79 A 6.15 pm Loveling (PH) 98 + 8 25 B 11.15 am Animation for Kids 8+ (PH) 76 59 A 6.15 pm Filmworker (RCC) 94 76 A 11.30 am Bisbee ’17 (ED) 118 60 A 6.15 pm Westwood: Punk, Icon... (RX) 78 79 A 11.30 am Looking for Oum Kulthum (RCC) 90 27 A 6.30 pm Disobedience (EMB) 114 37 A 12.00 pm Ex Libris: The New York... (RCC) 197 63 A 6.30 pm Last Child (RCC) 124 35 A 1.00 pm Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr... (PH) 90 76 A 6.45 pm If I Leave Here Tomorrow... (RCC) 95 73 A 1.00 pm I Used to Be Normal... (RX) 96 72 A 8.00 pm Searching (LHP) 102 56 A 1.15 pm 3 Faces (EMB) 100 30 A 8.00 pm Blaze (RX) 127 73 A 1.15 pm Merata: How Mum... (RCC) 95 17 A 8.15 pm Blue My Mind (ED) 97 80 A 1.30 pm The Song Keepers (LHP) 88 75 A 8.15 pm The Insult (RCC) 113 33 A 1.30 pm The Price of Everything (RCC) 105 79 A 8.30 pm Little Woods (PH) 105 41 A 2.00 pm Eldorado (ED) 92 68 A 8.45 pm Terrified (RCC) 87 83 A 3.00 pm The Wild Pear Tree (PH) 188 36 A 9.00 pm The World Is Yours (RCC) 104 27 A 3.00 pm Wings of Desire (RX) 128 13 A 9.15 pm Dogman (EMB) 103 31 A 3.15 pm The Ice King (LHP) 89 73 A 3.45 pm Burning (EMB) 148 9 Saturday 11 August A 3.45 pm The King (RCC) 117 72 A 11.00 am The Price of Everything (PH) 105 79 A 4.00 pm The Harvesters (ED) 104 35 A 11.00 am Liyana (RCC) 77 58 A 4.00 pm Foxtrot (RCC) 113 53 A 11.15 am The Ancient Woods (EMB) 86 60 A 4.15 pm Djon África (RCC) 99 34 A 11.15 am The Devil We Know (RCC) 88 62 A 5.15 pm A Kid Like Jake (LHP) 92 39 A 11.30 am Foreign Correspondents (ED) 78 21 A 6.15 pm Oko na Roki (ED) 83 18 A 11.30 am Science Fair (RCC) 90 58 A 6.15 pm The Heiresses (RCC) 98 34 A 12.45 pm Gurrumul (RCC) 96 70 A 6.30 pm Shoplifters (PH) 121 10 A 1.00 pm Samouni Road (RCC) 126 66 A 6.30 pm The Insult (RCC) 113 33 A 1.00 pm Pick of the Litter (RX) 81 65 A 6.45 pm Blaze (RCC) 127 73 A 1.15 pm Celia (PH) 101 15 A 7.00 pm Cold War (EMB) 89 9 Please note: for contractual reasons A 1.30 pm Puzzle (EMB) 104 48 A 7.15 pm Three Identical Strangers (LHP) 96 67 not every film that sells out is A 1.30 pm The Ice King (RCC) 89 73 A 8.15 pm What Keeps You Alive (RCC) 99 83 guaranteed added sessions. A 1.45 pm Oko na Roki (ED) 83 18 A 8.30 pm Climax (RX) 96 81 USA WORLD 47

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

It’s 1993 in small town America and as Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) prepares for prom, Irma Thomas’ Director: Desiree Akhavan ‘Anyone Who Knows What Love Is’ USA 2018 | 90 mins Producers: Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare, plays over the proceedings. We can Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub sense this is not going to end well. Screenplay: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele. Based on the novel by Emily M. Danforth Before the night is over she and her Photography: Ashley Connor girlfriend Coley are caught getting Editor: Sara Shaw hot and heavy in the back of a car by Music: Julian Wass With: Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Cameron’s boyfriend. Just as quickly Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle as passion flared, Cameron is whisked Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco, Tribeca 2018 Grand Jury Prize, Sundance 2018 off to God’s Promise, a gay conversion Censors rating tbc camp in remote Montana. Run by the Nurse Ratched-like Dr Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle), God’s Promise works with its ‘disciples’ to identify the root cause of their same-sex attraction and cure them of their sinful ways. Cameron shares a room with the fully indoctrinated Erin, a young woman whose gender confusion and ‘SSA’ she haunting music direction. While the enthusiastically confesses stem from her leaders truly believe they are doing “Peppered with biting love of sports. Cameron’s attempts at right by these young people, Cameron humor and warmed by a fitting into the programme are written attempts to come to terms with her ‘sins’ all over her face as she searches for the before realising the truth of her situation. generous spirit that answers they want to hear rather than Featuring strong supporting extends understanding, if fighting for her truth. performances by Sasha Lane (American not forgiveness, even to Never resorting to shocking or Honey) and Forrest Goodluck (The confrontational scenes, director Desiree Revenant) as the camp’s surreptitious the religious zealot A RX Sat 28 Jul, 3.00 pm Akhavan keeps the darkness in her rebels, The Miseducation of Cameron characters.” — Leslie Felperin, B EMB Tue 31 Jul, 4.00 pm material always hovering just on the Post is an ode to survival and finding A EMB Thu 2 Aug, 9.15 pm Hollywood Reporter A LHP Sat 4 Aug, 6.15 pm surface, blossoming with Julian Wass’ your logical family. — Kailey Carruthers

Lucky The Rider

Director: Director/Screenplay: John Carroll Lynch Chloé Zhao USA 2017 | 88 mins USA 2017 | 104 mins Screenplay: Logan Sparks, Photography: Joshua James Drago Sumonja Richards Photography: Tim Suhrstedt Editor: Alex O’Flinn Editor: Slobodan Gajic With: Brady Jandreau, With: Harry Dean Stanton, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr, Lane Scott, Cat Clifford Tom Skerritt, Barry Shabaka Henley, Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ James Darren, Beth Grant, Fortnight), Telluride, Toronto, Yvonne Huff Lee, David Lynch London, New York 2017; Festivals: SXSW, Melbourne, Sundance, Rotterdam, SXSW, Vancouver, London 2017 San Francisco 2018 CinemaScope | M drug use CinemaScope | M drug use & offensive language & offensive language

© MAGNOLIA PICTURES COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS Epitaphs rarely come more perfect than suffocated by the weight of its themes. “The Rider, a marvellous film by Chloé Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, John Carroll Lynch’s Lucky, a stellar There’s a lovely, shambling rhythm at Zhao, tells the story of rodeo horseman The Rider reinvigorates tropes from the curtain call for renowned character work, with first-timer Lynch consistently Brady Blackburn, who, after suffering western genre of men, horses, honor actor Harry Dean Stanton, who left us finding poetry and humor in the a near-fatal head injury after being codes and vast expanses of nature with in September last year. From the nods everyday. And then there’s Stanton, stepped on by a bucking bronco, must a refreshing lack of sentimentality, to Stanton’s most iconic roles to the who offers up one of his richest turns find his place within a world where the without sacrificing their inherent parallels with his personal life, Lucky ever: a performance of wily charisma phrase ‘ride or die’ takes on real, high- lyricism and poetry... feels like a handwritten love letter and bruising melancholy. David Lynch, stakes meaning. Zhao is a filmmaker of extraordinary to the man from the opening frame. Ron Livingston and Beth Grant co-star. Blackburn is played by Brady tact and insight: She has taken a story Stanton is the titular Lucky, an eccentric — JF Jandreau, a real-life bronc rider who that could have been unremarkable veteran living a quiet life of routine “A first-rate showcase for its star as sustained similar injuries. After Zhao or too romanticized and made it in a small Arizona town. But when well as an ideal swan song. The man met him while researching another into something honest, magnificent he suddenly collapses one morning, couldn’t have gone out any better.” film [Songs My Brothers Taught Me, and lasting.” — Anne Hornaday, the shock sends him reeling into a — Mike D’Angelo, AV Club NZIFF16], she decided to create a Washington Post philosophical self-excavation, in which movie around him, lightly fictionalizing he must confront the inevitability of A ED Fri 27 Jul, 6.15 pm his story and casting other non- A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 8.45 pm his own death. What’s remarkable is B ED Fri 3 Aug, 3.00 pm professionals – including Brady’s father B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 4.00 pm that despite being a reflection on our A ED Sat 4 Aug, 4.45 pm and sister – in supporting roles. Filmed A LHP Mon 6 Aug, 8.15 pm impending demise, Lucky never feels with widescreen grandeur on the Pine 48 WORLD USA

Puzzle

“Marc Turtletaub’s film… revels in Director: Marc Turtletaub the possibilities of finding something USA 2018 | 104 mins new in a wholly ordinary life. For Producers: Wren Arthur, Guy Stodel, Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf Agnes (Kelly Macdonald), that starts Screenplay: Oren Moverman with the literal opening of a birthday Photography: Chris Norr Editor: Catherine Haight gift, one that contains a 1,000-piece Music: Dustin O’Halloran jigsaw puzzle that ignites in her With: Kelly Macdonald, Irrfan Khan, David Denman, Bubba Weiler, Austin Abrams, Liv Hewson not only a new passion, but also Festivals: Sundance, Sydney 2018 the long-dormant sense that she’s M offensive language & sexual references excellent at something. And Agnes is really, really good at puzzling, a quick PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH worker who takes great pride in the finished product – before she breaks it all up to start again… Oren Moverman’s script, based on the Argentinian film by Natalia Smirnoff [NZIFF10], is graceful with the details and its characters. Agnes never went to college, lives in the same house she did while growing up with her Hungarian © CHRIS NORR immigrant dad, and looks way too looking for a partner. Agnes’ entire life young to already have two grown sons. blows up. “Puzzle is a superb Her husband Louie (David Denman, Puzzle toes a tough line, managing vehicle for the talents essentially playing the same role he did to stay relentlessly good-hearted and in The Office) is a blue-collar dude who deeply humane, even as Agnes herself of Kelly Macdonald loves his wife, but is unable to truly plunges into deeper, more dramatic and Irrfan Khan, and see her. Agnes’ world is a tight circle, waters. It’s the kind of mid-life crisis a sweet and empathetic moving between home and church and story that so rarely centers on a B EMB Fri 27 Jul, 11.00 am errands and back again… woman and Macdonald shines in the film about finally A PH Tue 31 Jul, 6.15 pm At the puzzle store, a small note role, riveting even in the quietest of finding independence.” A LHP Sun 5 Aug, 2.45 pm hangs from the register: a champion moments.” — Kate Erbland, Indiewire B PH Mon 6 Aug, 12.00 pm — Sydney Film Festival puzzler [charismatic Irrfan Khan] is A EMB Sat 11 Aug, 1.30 pm USA WORLD 49

Wildlife

Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, two of the most gifted performers of their generation, lend a haunted Director: Paul Dano melancholy to this evocative portrait USA 2018 | 105 mins Producers: Alex Saks, Paul Dano, Oren Moverman, of a crumbling marriage in 1950s Ann Ruark, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker Montana. Adapted from Richard Ford’s Screenplay: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan novel, Wildlife observes with acute Photography: Diego García Editors: Matt Hannam, Louise Ford nuance the emotional fallout that Music: David Lang occurs for a small American family With: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, Bill Camp when dad Jerry (Gyllenhaal) loses his Festivals: Sundance, Cannes 2018 job. In a crisis of self, Jerry departs for M offensive language the mountains to fight wildfires, leaving wife Jeanette (Mulligan) and son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) to fend for themselves. Jaded by the confines of domesticity, Jeanette responds with an identity exploration of her own, trashing her 1950s homemaker image and embarking on an unsettling affair with a local bachelor. This dual metamorphosis is sensitively observed by only child Mulligan’s frayed performance resolves Joe, whose coming of age here is rife into an immensely powerful study of “It’s astounding this is with the volatility evoked in the film’s reinvention. It’s striking to see such a a director’s first time title. First-time helmsman Paul Dano proven actress deliver what’s so clearly is best known as an actor (There Will the best work of her career… Directing behind the camera… Be Blood, Love & Mercy), but judging with all the confidence you might A fascinatingly complex by the virtues of this deeply affecting expect from someone who’s spent portrait of the fracturing excavation of period mores, he’ll soon the last two decades living the best be equally revered as a director. — JF film school imaginable, Dano crafts of American ideals.” B EMB Thu 2 Aug, 10.30 am “Supported by a script that an unsparing portrait that’s harsh and — Jordan Raup, The Film Stage A EMB Mon 6 Aug, 6.15 pm understands Jeanette’s challenges and humane in equal measure.” — David approaches them with rare empathy, Ehrlich, Indiewire

Animation NOW! 2018 PRESENTED WITH SUPPORT FROM 88 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

Our longstanding animation Manivald Silent London Lost Property Office programmer Malcolm Turner, also head Estonia 2017 | Director: Chintis Lundgren | 13 mins UK 2017 | Director: Ivelina Ivanova | 2 mins Australia 2017 | Director: Daniel Agdag | 9 mins honcho at the Melbourne International Everything changes for Manivald and his A visual ode to the grabbed, found A clerk at a lost property office is faced Animation Festival, offers a selection of over-bearing mother when a sexy wolf and overheard sounds of London, with unexpected change, and plans an the best and brightest from this year’s arrives to fix their washing machine. delivered in an intensely rendered unconventional response. Animation NOW! Festival. If you’re water-coloured canvas. looking to sample the international The Battle of San Strange Case animation ecosystem in all its multi- Romano Tom Poland 2017 | Director: Zbigniew Czapla | 13 mins coloured, variously shaped glories, | | Switzerland 2017 | Director: Georges Schwizgebel New Zealand 2018 Director: David Midgley 4 mins A bold, breathtaking, painterly film there’s no better place to begin. Visit 2 mins Tom is living a nightmare he is having streaming images, thoughts and nziff.co.nz for full programme details. Master animator Schwizgebel brings his problems understanding – and the memories of random experiences. magic to this adaptation of the Paolo help he is getting seems more like a Afterwork Uccello triptych depicting an infamous sinister threat. Ugly Ecuador 2017 | Directors: Luis Usón, Andrés Aguilar 15th century battle outside Naples. Germany 2017 | Directors: Nikita Diakur, Redbear 6 mins Five Thirty Five Easterman | 2 mins In the toon biz you fall further, land After All UK 2017 | Director: Alex Dunford | 5 mins An astonishing deep-dive into a harder and bounce back quicker. Australia 2016 | Director: Michael Cusack | 13 mins Quitting time it may be, but the stunning post-beauty world that could But you’re still stuck in traffic on the A poignant, sometimes hilarious look commute home tonight has turned the only be created by harnessing the way home. at the inevitable journey a middle-aged surreal up to 11… or 12! power of CG animation. Negative Space man must make in coming to terms with the loss of his mother. France 2017 | Directors: Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata 5 mins There is a beautiful and precise artform to packing a suitcase – and as we all know, art transcends science.

B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 2.00 pm A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 6.45 pm

NEGATIVE SPACE MANIVALD UGLY 50

Apostasy FRESH Director/Screenplay: Daniel Kokotajlo UK 2017 | 96 mins Producers: Marcie MacLellan, Andrea Cornwell Photography: Adam Scarth Editor: Napoleon Stratogiannakis Music: Matthew Wilcock With: Siobhan Finneran, Sacha Parkinson, Molly Wright, Robert Emmst Festivals: Toronto, London 2017 In English and Urdu, with English subtitles PG adult themes

Set in the cloistered world of and the narrative of the film – the Manchester's Jehovah's Witness foundation of this pious family is torn community, this exquisitely observed, asunder. Rigorous in its critique of superbly acted British debut is a quietly the church, and entirely sympathetic devastating film about the tension in its treatment of character, this is between personal devotion and a rare film about a rarefied world. It institutional power. Alex and Luisa heralds Daniel Kokotajlo (who draws have grown up in the faith with their on his own experience growing unquestioning single mother, Ivanna, up as a Jehovah’s Witness) as a major as spiritual guide. The deeply reverent new talent. This is reflected in his Alex is suffering from a disease receipt of the prestigious BFI and that requires blood transfusions, IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary a 'contaminating' procedure that Award. — Clare Stewart is forbidden by the church. Her older sister Luisa begins art school, romances an outsider and starts to A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 3.45 pm doubt the tenets of their religion. A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 8.30 pm When a sudden rift occurs – in B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 12.00 pm A ED Sun 5 Aug, 8.15 pm both the lives of the protagonists

[CENSORED]

We line up the films that held our attention Sari Braithwaite with their energy and originality – in terms Director/Screenplay: Sari Braithwaite of subject, technique and sensibility. Not every Australia 2018 | 63 mins Producers: Chloé Brugalé, film that feels like a harbinger of the future Sari Braithwaite Executive producer: is the work of a young filmmaker – though Robert Connolly Editor: James Arneman an encouraging number on the pages that Music: Munro Melano Festivals: Sydney 2018 follow are. Colour and B&W | Censors rating tbc

With footage spanning classically A kiss reel will make you wonder how unimaginative smut-and-violence to the films worked without that charge. raucous Bob Dylan and heart-in-your- Context is provided by bureaucratic mouth Bergman, Sari Braithwaite’s censor's notes and beautifully abraded mesmerising and confronting slugs of celluloid separate sequences. [CENSORED] is composed solely of clips As Braithwaite views the 1,991 cut from foreign films by Australian purged clips, her original mission censors between 1951 and 1978. to ‘liberate’ the footage takes a Braithwaite, who narrates, pieces provocative turn. [CENSORED] reaches selections from the National Archives of far in 63 minutes. If you like to think Australia into deft montages. Hers is a about how we look, who we look at, distinct and entertaining voice. A knife- and the power dynamics involved, themed section is described with the don’t miss it. — Catherine Bisley double-edged ‘little man, with his little knife’ and at one point she refers to the archive as ‘a state sanctioned spank A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 6.30 pm bank’. Between the Peeping Toms and B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 11.30 am gut-turning violence against women, expect surprising tenderness and desire. FRESH 51

American Animals

In 2003, a bored American college Director/Screenplay: Bart Layton student visits his university library and USA/UK 2018 | 116 mins tours a private collection of art and Producers: Katherine Butler, Mary Jane Skalski, Derrin Schlesinger, Dimitri Doganis literature valued in the millions. A Photography: Ole Bratt Birkeland matter of months (and several crime Editors: Nick Fenton, Julian Hart Music: Anne Nikitin movie marathons) later, he and three With: Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, friends will don disguises and attempt Jared Abrahamson, Ann Dowd, Udo Kier Festivals: Sundance 2018 one of the most audacious art heists in CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc recent American history. It’s a real-life set-up so juicily cinematic that it virtually PROUDLY SPONSORED BY demands its pulse-pounding Hollywood treatment, but also one so loaded with psychological curiosity that you feel equally compelled to sit down with the subjects and hear what on earth they were thinking. Acclaimed documentarian Bart Layton slyly gives us both with this slick, suspenseful heist thriller which playfully alternates between fireworks from an ensemble of rising actors, and older but wiser recollections from the adrenalin, before U-turning into a real-life perpetrators. — JF sobering reflection on young male “A stylish and compelling… “[This is] ideal material for Layton, privilege and entitlement. Performed portrait of how privilege, whose 2012 hybrid documentary The with piss, vinegar and some poignancy Imposter [NZIFF12] hinged on the by a fractious quartet of bright young entitlement and boredom tension between facts and subjective things… Layton’s crowdpleasing [film] can give rise to wayward storytelling. In American Animals, is tricked out to the max with lithe criminal impulses.” Layton brings that same preoccupation structural fillips, flashes of cinematic to (mostly) narrative form for the first quotation and formal sleight of hand — Justin Chang, LA Times A EMB Fri 27 Jul, 9.15 pm time, and the results are sensational: that gradually reveals a pointed B EMB Tue 7 Aug, 3.30 pm a riveting college-boy crime caper that thematic purpose.” — Guy Lodge, speeds along on pure movie-movie Variety

El Ángel

A flamboyant, pop-energised portrait of a serial killer, Luis Ortega’s film landed like the cat amongst the pigeons at Director: Luis Ortega Cannes. Reviewers routinely drew Argentina/Spain 2018 | 120 mins Producers: Hugo Sigman, Sebastián Ortega, favourable comparisons with Scorsese Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, crime sagas, but were quick to call out Matías Mosteirín, Esther García, Letica Crist, Axel Kuschevatzky, Pablo Culell the glamorisation of a sordid true story. Screenplay: Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios, The actual ‘El Ángel’ was a baby- Sergio Olguín Photography: Julián Apezteguía faced Buenos Aires teenager who Editor: Guillermo Gatti confessed to 11 murders in the 1970s. With: Lorenzo Ferro, Chino Darin, Mercedes Morán, Daniel Fanego, Luis Gnecco, Those whose lives he ruined have Cecilia Roth reason to object to a film that omits his Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2018 most vicious crimes, but the follow-on In Spanish with English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc accusation that the film is intended to seduce us with the killer’s pouty, Curlilocks prettiness is a stretch. As played with unnerving intimacy by screen newcomer Lorenzo Ferro, this Carlitos is one rotten egg, a creepy, self- caressing exceptionalist. Acutely averse to human weakness, he objectifies straight guy. There’s no doubt whose his own unrequited hankering for his point of view we are seeing as we “This colourful and riveting straight accomplice with increasing observe Carlitos’ frequent accomplice, portrait of an evil ‘angel’ perversity. It’s not desire, but Carlitos’ the painfully handsome would-be mockery of desire, that give this film its TV star, Ramon (Chino Darín, son of and his acolytes exerts a nasty kick. Argentinian icon Ricardo). Good looks hypnotic sway.” Pedro Almodóvar, himself responsible may be all Ramon has got going for — Richard Mowe, Eye for Film for some memorable portraits of erratic him: in movies, the desiring male gaze male behaviour, was a producer, and rarely falls on another male with quite A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 8.30 pm the film shares his zest for colour and the annihilating power exercised here. A RX Sun 5 Aug, 5.45 pm furnishing. It also trains a seriously A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 8.30 pm B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 4.15 pm bent eye on a not entirely oblivious 52 FRESH

Border Gräns

Based on a short story from Let the Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist, this genre-defying supernatural romantic Director: Ali Abbasi thriller draws us into the mysterious life Sweden/Denmark 2018 | 108 mins Producers: Nina Bisgaard, Piodor Gustaffson, of a gifted outsider. Iranian-born Swedish Petra Jönsson filmmaker Ali Abbasi has adapted and Screenplay: Ali Abbasi, Isabella Eklöf, John Ajvide Lindqvist. Based on the novel by Lindqvist expanded Lindqvist’s cunning tale with Photography: Nadim Carlsen assistance from the author himself and Editors: Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Anders Skov Music: Christoffer Berg, Martin Dirkov Isabella Eklöf, director of sun-soaked With: Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, shocker Holiday (p57). Jörgen Thorsson, Ann Petrén, Sten Ljunggren, Kjell Wilhelmsen, Rakel Wärmländer, Stout and ruddy with a puffed- Andreas Kundler, Matti Boustedt up face and a pronounced overbite, Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2018 customs officer Tina is used to being Un Certain Regard Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2018 In Swedish with English subtitles ignored, but her unique talent for CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc literally sniffing out illegal contraband makes her an invaluable team member at the ferry port she works. She lives with a boyfriend who is more interested in his growling show dogs than spending any time with her. Tina only feels truly at home in the verdant “A gripping drama that rests woods surrounding her home, bonding on the strength of its two leads’ “An exciting, intelligent with the wild animals that live there. performances… Unique, unforgettable mix of romance, Nordic One day a strange man passes and cathartic, Border is an oddball, through the port that sends Tina’s but poignant cult classic in the noir, social realism senses tingling, but a search for making. Abbasi’s sincerity wisely and supernatural horror contraband comes up empty. The man, avoids caricature and mocking his that defies and subverts Vore, shares a similar appearance to marginalized characters and in doing Tina and she soon becomes obsessed so he crafts a surprisingly humanist and genre conventions.” A RX Sun 29 Jul, 5.45 pm with finding more about him, but in artful story of love for the diminished — Alissa Simon, Variety B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 4.00 pm doing so uncovers a dark secret about and dismissed outsiders of the world.” A EMB Thu 9 Aug, 9.15 pm herself. — MM — Jordan Ruimy, The Playlist

Diamantino An Elephant Sitting Still Da xiang xi di er zuo

Directors/Screenplay: Director/Screenplay/ Gabriel Abrantes, Editor: Hu Bo Daniel Schmidt China 2018 | 234 mins Portugal/France/Brazil Photography: Fan Chao 2018 | 92 mins With: Zhang Yu, Peng Yuchang, Wang Yuwen, Liu Congxi With: Carloto Cotta, Cleo Tavares, Festivals: Berlin, New Directors/ Anabela Moreira, Margarida New Films 2018 Moreira Best First Feature, Berlin Film Festivals: Cannes (Critics’ Week) Festival 2018 2018 In Mandarin with English subtitles In Portuguese with English RP16 violence, sexual material, subtitles suicide & offensive language CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

Gleefully trafficking in the ludicrous to genetically engineered to headline their A hot ticket at Berlin this year, this with the school’s dean and the bully’s satirise the toxic vacuity of media- EU exit campaign. Next move: send in impressively crafted and deeply felt gangster older brother arrives seeking manufactured nationalism, Diamantino a female spy disguised as an African super-sized epic has continued to pull retribution. — MM is a heady mix of B-movie thrills, designer boy refugee whom the sweet-natured big audiences at festivals around the “Influenced by European art house kitsch and gender-blind casting. It sails Diamantino promptly adopts and world, the film’s tragically sad backstory icons such as Krzysztof Kieslowśki smoothly through multiple outrageous smothers with love… notwithstanding – first-time director and Béla Tarr – specifically the latter’s implausibilities thanks to the sweet “Glued together with candyfloss Hu Bo committed suicide late last year. Werckmeister Harmonies, in terms of comic ingenuity of Carloto Cotta, the clouds of romantic reverie, it’s a film Elephant is a truly symphonic piece of its fatalistic premise and omnipresent heartthrob-handsome star of Tabu best seen with as little forewarning cinema filled with moody close-ups and tracking shots – Elephant provides (NZIFF12). In a performance modelled, as possible: To go in blind is to be virtuoso tracking shots. proof of Hu’s promise as a thoughtful in appearance at least, on metrosexual carried along by its irrational tumble of The extended runtime passes filmmaker. The movie stands as a football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, he events as blissfully and buoyantly as its quickly as Hu takes us into the lives of memorial to a young talent who plays Diamantino, erstwhile champion empty-headed soccer-star protagonist.” four interconnected characters over burned out too soon.” — Clarence of Portugal’s honour on the soccer field. — Guy Lodge, Variety the course of an event-packed day. Tsui, Hollywood Reporter When sinister forces hack into the Teenager Wei Bu accidentally injures a hero’s hard drive, all that awaits them A ED Mon 30 Jul, 8.15 pm bully defending a friend and goes into A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 2.30 pm is a cache of cute baby animal pics. A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 8.45 pm hiding with the assistance of his elderly B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 11.45 am Bingo! He is their man, a super clean, A ED Sat 4 Aug, 6.45 pm neighbour. Meanwhile, Wei’s female A ED Tue 7 Aug, 6.30 pm sweet-natured blank slate fit to be classmate is engaged in a risky affair FRESH 53

Foxtrot

An unsettling vision of military service pervading everyday Israeli life, Samuel Maoz’s (Lebanon) visceral and startlingly Director/Screenplay: Samuel Maoz unpredicable film centres on a Tel Aviv Israel/Germany/France/Switzerland 2017 | 113 mins couple coping with the death of their Producers: Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, son, a soldier stationed in the middle of Eitan Mansuri, Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, nowhere. Michel Merkt Photography: Giora Bejach “Maoz’s marvelous, harrowing Editors: Arik Lahav Leibovich, Guy Nemesh drama about death and life in Israel Music: Ophir Leibovitch, Amit Poznansky With: Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonatan Shiray, marches boldly through the no-man’s- Shira Haas land between realism and surrealism. Festivals: Venice, Telluride, Toronto, London 2017; Sundance, Rotterdam 2018 It’s a prize collection of paradoxes, Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival 2017 combining an intimate, eviscerating In Hebrew, Arabic and German, with English subtitles depiction of parental grief over a CinemaScope | R13 violence, drug use & sexual serviceman’s death with an empathic, material absurdist rendering of young Israeli Defence Force soldiers manning a remote and otherworldly roadblock… Foxtrot carries the excitement and punch of a fearless writer-director © GIORA BEJACH tackling contemporary material with a — Michael Sragow, Film Comment bracing cocktail of potent traditional “[Foxtrot] contains some of the “Brilliantly constructed drama, wild black comedy, and most striking, memorable imagery of with a visual audacity serrated style. [It all] comes together as the year… It’s a film designed to move a complex plea for honesty, openness, you with its depiction of senseless that serves the subject frankness, and forgiveness. The movie tragedy but also to spark that part rather than the other way is also, incidentally, a spectacularly of your thinking process that only around, this is award- effective antiwar film, focusing on the moviemaking can tap… This multi- randomness and cruelty of life lived on talented filmmaker has taken that winning filmmaking on A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 8.30 pm military roads... Its final image registers darkness and turned it into something a fearless level.” B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 12.00 pm like a blow to the chest. It’s a shot that unforgettable for everyone who sees A ED Thu 9 Aug, 8.15 pm — Jay Weissberg, Variety A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 4.00 pm should be seen around the world.” it.” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

The Green Fog Holiday

Directors: Guy Maddin, Director: Isabella Eklöf Evan Johnson, Denmark/ Galen Johnson The Netherlands/Sweden USA 2017 | 65 mins 2018 | 93 mins Producers: Evan Johnson, Producer: David B. Sørensen Guy Maddin Screenplay: Johanne Algren, Editors: Evan Johnson, Isabella Eklöf Galen Johnson Photography: Nadim Carlsen Music: Jacob Garchik. Performed Editor: Olivia Neergaard-Holm by the Kronos Quartet With: Victoria Carmen Sonne, Festivals: San Francisco 2017; Lai Yde, Thijs Römer Berlin 2018 Festivals: Sundance 2018 Colour and B&W | Censors rating In Danish and English, tbc with English subtitles R18 explicit rape, domestic abuse, violence & drug use © JONAS LODAHL Guy Maddin, contemporary cinema’s subversion of Hitchcock’s powerful In Isabella Eklöf’s debut feature, Sascha, Victoria Carmen Sonne’s portrayal of finest purveyor of the celluloid past, is male gaze, a lusty tone poem on the new young girlfriend of Michael, an ambitious young woman trying to at it again, this time with The Green homoeroticism and sapphic longing, a 40-something Danish gangster, arrives find her place in the world is complex Fog, an ingenious, frequently hilarious and a cheeky, self-reflexive meditation in Bodrum, Turkey, with a suitcase of and deeply felt. Sasha is at turns bored tribute to Vertigo and the city it’s on watching. Full of pregnant pauses cash. She joins Michael’s crime family and curious, passive and bold. Holiday synonymous with. San Francisco plays and arcane juxtapositions, it’s also as they kick back at his mansion. It’s all opens with a dancer illuminated in a itself in the hundreds of clips Maddin a hoot, and the perfect vehicle for water parks and ice creams, tacky resort dark space, her jolting, twisting body and his collaborators Evan and Galen Maddin’s florid sense of humour, with wear, Fanta-vodkas, drugs and blasting expressing a deep rage. Something Johnson have pillaged from movies and such delightful perversions as Rock obnoxious loud music on the beach. is boiling up inside her. Holiday’s TV shows shot on location in the Bay Hudson eyeballing an NSYNC music There are also many acts of disturbing destination could turn out to be the Area, and then stitched together into video and wooden action star Chuck violence. Sascha’s situation becomes most hotly debated ending of this a giddy fantasy version of Hitchcock’s Norris wowing us with a performance even more perilous when she meets a year’s Festival. — Catherine Bisley 1958 masterpiece. for the ages. — Tim Wong real estate agent-turned-sailor, Tomas. Naturally, Maddin’s own feverish The Aegean sparkles, but Eklöf's images obsession with film history insists frame the tourist paradise of Bodrum that this is no literal reconstruction A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 1.00 pm with ominous formality and do not omit A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 8.45 pm of arguably the greatest film about C NT Mon 6 Aug, 12.30 pm the roadside piles of trash. When a B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 4.30 pm obsession ever made. At once playful A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 3.15 pm horrific sexual assault takes place, it is in A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 8.30 pm and experimental, it’s a woozy broad daylight. 54 FRESH

Good Manners As boas maneiras

Working-class Clara is employed by rich young Ana as housekeeper, in anticipation of her role as nanny to Directors/Screenplay: Juliana Rojas, pregnant Ana’s baby-to-be. The taciturn Marco Dutra Brazil/France 2017 | 135 mins Clara finds Ana flighty and irritating, Producers: Sara Silveira, Maria Ionescu, but as her single employer’s neediness Clément Duboin, Frédéric Corvez becomes apparent, Clara reveals Photography: Rui Poças Editor: Caetano Gotardo sympathy for and a wary attraction to Music: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, the other woman. Guilherme Garbato, Gustavo Garbato With: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Ana is afflicted by strange pains and, Cida Moreira, Andrea Marquee we discover, cravings for bloody meat Festivals: Locarno, Fantastic Fest, Vancouver, London 2017; Rotterdam, New Directors/ and nocturnal ramblings that coincide New Films 2018 with the full moon. She tells Clara Special Jury Prize, Locarno Film Festival 2017 In Portuguese with English subtitles about a one-night stand – a mysterious R16 violence, horror & sex scenes stranger, a full moon, a strange creature glimpsed in the night – and we can infer the true nature of what is gestating. These genre ingredients are served up gradually, in artfully moderated © RUI POCAS staging; distant views of São Paulo She’s the heart of this understated seem colourfully heightened and monster movie as it unfolds with a “A lovingly and lyrically otherworldly. The women are portrayed measured, unflinching trajectory. told… fantasy that with compassion and humanity. But — Jonathan King make no mistake, Good Manners “A rapturous, at times freewheeling explores themes of class is playing with some classic mythic tale that mixes social drama, horror, and sexuality, handling elements and it’s going to follow and even a touch of musical… what its tonal shifts with a through with them – in unexpected looks like a faintly moralistic tale of but narratively rigorous ways. two women’s budding love across class deftness as light-footed A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 8.45 pm To say much more would spoil the and racial divides turns into something as its female-centric cast.” B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 3.30 pm surprises ahead. Suffice to say it’s Clara much more complicated, and darkly A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 8.00 pm — Meredith Taylor, Filmuforia we follow as her responsibilities grow. fun.” — Ela Bittencourt, Film Comment

Madeline’s Madeline Milla

Director/Screenplay: Director/Screenplay/ Josephine Decker Editor: Valérie Massadian USA 2018 | 94 mins France 2017 | 128 mins Producers: Krista Parris, Producer: Sophie Erbs Elizabeth Rao Photography: Mel Massadian, Photography: Ashley Connor Robin Fresson Editor: Josephine Decker, Music: Ghost Dance Harrison Atkins With: Severine Jonckeere, Music: Caroline Shaw Luc Chessel, Ethan Jonckeere With: Helena Howard, Festivals: Locarno, Vancouver, Miranda July, Molly Parker, 2017; Rotterdam, New Directors / Okwui Okpokwasili, Sunita Mani, New Films 2018 Felipe Bonilla In French with English subtitles Festivals: Sundance, Berlin 2018 M offensive language Censors rating tbc

Newcomer Helena Howard delivers “By Decker’s own admission, the In Valérie Massadian’s second feature a cheap hotel where Milla works and a star-making turn in this fierce and creative processes depicted on screen (after Nana, NZIFF12), Milla and her grieves. vividly impressionistic tour-de-force closely mirror those of Madeline’s boyfriend Leo live an itinerant existence The ocean is an almost constant from up-and-coming indie director Madeline itself, so it’s laudable to in northern France. They are young, presence, restless and beautifully shot. Josephine Decker. see the emerging auteur grapple so economic outsiders who set up in an The immersive soundscape draws you Sixteen-year-old Madeline is an transparently and self-reflexively with abandoned house and start a tenuous into the film’s painterly frames and the exceptionally talented actress who her own methods. That she does so life together. When Leo vanishes, Milla lives that unfold inside them. First-time has become an integral part of a while delivering a flat-out thrilling rebuilds her happiness around another actor Séverine Jonckeere gives a nuanced prestigious Manhattan theatre group, stream-of-consciousness climax seals kind of love. performance as Milla. In the second but a fractious relationship with her this as something very special indeed Told with spare dialogue and at an half of the film, she acts alongside her overbearing mother (Miranda July) and – a film that is at once intimidatingly unhurried pace that merges naturalism own infant son, Ethan, in an intimate references to past visits to the psych dense and breezily concise… and and lyricism, Milla is largely composed portrayal of single motherhood. Cat ward indicate that home life is less riotously entertaining.” — Paul of incidental moments. Scenes, which lovers can expect to be charmed by a than rosy. When the theatre group’s O’Callaghan, Sight & Sound often last for over a minute in a single rambunctious feline. — Catherine Bisley ambitious director (Molly Parker) frame, are interspersed with surreal decides to evoke Madeline’s troubled A ED Thu 2 Aug, 6.45 pm interventions where time seems to fold A ED Sun 29 Jul, 5.30 pm history in their latest production the B ED Fri 3 Aug, 4.45 pm in on itself: in one instance, a furious B ED Mon 30 Jul, 12.30 pm lines between performance and reality A ED Fri 10 Aug, 6.15 pm and unmoored rendition of the Violent A ED Sat 11 Aug, 4.15 pm start to blur. — MM Femmes’ ‘Add It Up’ is performed at FRESH 55

Rafiki

“Much to the displeasure of its government, the Republic of Kenya is home to a lovely lesbian coming- Director: Wanuri Kahiu out movie. Rafiki, the second film by Kenya/South Africa 2018 | 83 mins Producer: Steven Markovitz Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu, has Screenplay: Wanuri Kahiu, Jenna Bass. been banned in its country of origin... Based on the short story ‘Jambula Tree’ by Monica Arac de Nyeko Perhaps the warm reception Rafiki Photography: Christopher Wessels received in Cannes will make the Editor: Isabelle Dedieu Film Classification Board modify its With: Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva, Jimmi Gathu, Nini Wacera, Dennis Musyoka, decision, although in a country where Patricia Amira, Neville Misati same sex relationships are punishable Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2018 In English and Swahili, with English subtitles by prison sentences of 14 years, and CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc homophobia, as the film shows, is ingrained, that seems doubtful… Rafiki is set in a Nairobi housing estate, where much of daily life – work and recreation – is conducted outdoors, and privacy is next to impossible. The movie opens with Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) circumnavigating on her skateboard a neighborhood that is often enough to make her own cool- much too confining for her hopes and girl posse jealous… “A stunning expression dreams. Tall, rail-thin, and athletic, That Kenya is late to the women of love: its tenderness, Kena is a serious student who claims coming-out film party is a function she wants to study nursing although of its social and political structure; its pains and its ability her grades easily place her on track to it doesn’t lessen the courage and to triumph over even become a doctor. Kena plays soccer freshness of Kahiu’s filmmaking. The the most oppressive with the local boys, and her bestie is actors are vivid, in particular Mugatsia. Blacksta (Neville Misati)… But Kena She makes us want Kena to have a circumstances.” A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 7.00 pm has eyes for no one except Ziki (Sheila great life and to believe that against — Zoe Tamara, The Upcoming A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 6.15 pm Munyiva), she of the pink and blue daunting odds, she definitely has a dreads, whose flirty eyes fix on Kena shot.” — Amy Taubin, Sight & Sound

PRESENTED IN Slut in a Good Way Skate Kitchen ASSOCIATION WITH Charlotte a du fun

Director: Sophie Lorain Director: Crystal Moselle Canada 2018 | 89 mins USA 2018 | 106 mins Producer: Martin Paul-Hus Screenplay: Aslihan Unaldi, Screenplay: Catherine Léger Crystal Moselle, Jennifer Silverman Photography: Alexis Durand-Brault Photography: Shabier Kirchner With: Marguerite Bouchard, Editor: Nico Leunen Romane Denis, Rose Adam, With: Rachelle Vinberg, Alex Godbout, Anthony Therrien Dede Lovelace, Nina Moran, Festivals: Tribeca 2018 Ajani Russell, Kabrina Adams, In French with English subtitles Jaden Smith B&W | Censors rating tbc Festivals: Sundance 2018 M offensive language, sexual references & drug use

After combing through the local sex her new found singledom by sleeping A chance meeting on the New York carving out their own unique space at shop with her cynical, single girlfriends with each of these gorgeous gents, subway between Crystal Moselle (The the park. to find the perfect lingerie to impress except the one she has deeper feelings Wolfpack, NZIFF15) and the titular There is darkness hanging around the her boyfriend, Samuel, Charlotte’s for. When the truth about Charlotte’s female Skate Kitchen crew led to edges of the film, but, while it does owe intimate evening is sidetracked when adventures surfaces, she must face this vibrant film about freedom and Larry Clark’s NYC classic a shoutout, Samuel comes out as gay. Gal pals to the judgement of her co-workers and friendship, in which the real-life skaters this is not Kids. The film’s best scenes, the rescue, they head to the local park closest friends. — Kailey Carruthers play versions of themselves. which resonate proudly with a sense to get high and drown Charlotte’s “The edgy comedy and finely drawn When Camille (Rachelle Vinberg), of community and camaraderie, are sorrows with cheap beer from the characters, both courtesy of Catherine a lonely girl from Long Island, injures when the crew are skating. The camera dépanneur (a true Canadian teen Léger’s razor-sharp script, allow Lorain herself skateboarding, her mum bans moves fluidly with the group as they pastime). Interrupted by the police, to masterfully explore the complexities her from ever skating again. But skating take Manhattan. The irreverent, rowdy the girls make a break for it and take of young love and the double standards is everything to Camille. Seeing that atmosphere is captured by tracks like shelter in the local Toy Depot, where all placed on women of all ages.” — Matt a crew she follows on Instagram are Princess Nokia’s ‘Kitana’ and Khalid’s of Charlotte’s woes melt away with the Barone, Tribeca Film Festival going to be at a Lower East Side skate ‘Young Dumb & Broke’. introduction of a bevy of beautiful boys. park, she is there in a heartbeat, and Heading straight for the applications A RX Mon 30 Jul, 6.15 pm not only proves her ability but quickly B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 4.15 pm counter, they all land jobs alongside B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 4.45 pm fits in with everyone. The diverse, A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 9.15 pm their new crushes. It isn’t long before A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 4.30 pm staunchly independent group skate A LHP Wed 8 Aug, 8.00 pm Charlotte begins taking advantage of together and discuss life, all the while 56 FRESH

Searching

Winner of this year’s Sundance Audience Award, this thriller about a father’s search for his missing daughter Director: Aneesh Chaganty ratchets up astounding tension and USA 2018 | 102 mins Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, don’t-go-there chills without ever taking Adam Sidman, Natalie Qasabian its eyes off computer screens. First-time Screenplay: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian director and former Google commercials Photography: Juan Sebastian Baron Editors: Will Merrick, Nick Johnson creator Aneesh Chaganty proves as Music: Torin Borrowdale savvy about genre filmmaking as he is With: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee, Michelle La, Sara Sohn about our online behaviour – not least Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco 2018 the generational differences that are Audience Award (NEXT), Sundance Film Festival M drug references played out there. Its every screenshot executed in brilliant detail, Searching begins with a moving image gallery of Kim family history, bringing us into the present tense of David (John Cho, Star Trek, Columbus) and his daughter Margot (Michelle La). They interact through frequent messaging, and are perhaps not as close as David imagines. When Will Merrick and Nick Johnson deserve Margot goes missing, David begins a special credit for assembling a complex “Shockingly effective, not frantic search with the help of Detective 3D puzzle that seems to be happening just in creating a sense Vick (Debra Messing), using multiple in real time, creating both urgency and online tools and breaking into Margot’s the illusion that we have an active role in of constant, palpable accounts on the laptop she left behind. solving it… None of this would matter tension, but also in the “Cutting to the emotional core if we didn’t care about the characters, way it pulls off authentic, of what social media says about us, and in Searching Chaganty has found the result is as much a time capsule a new idiom for communicating not effective emotional beats.” B EMB Fri 27 Jul, 4.00 pm of our relationship to (and reliance only the things we share, but also those — Bryan Bishop, The Verge A EMB Sat 28 Jul, 8.45 pm upon) modern technology as it is a we keep hidden from the ones we A RX Thu 2 Aug, 6.15 pm A LHP Fri 10 Aug, 8.00 pm cutting-edge digital thriller… Editors love.” — Peter Debruge, Variety

Thelma Virus Tropical

Director: Joachim Trier Director/Producer: Norway/France 2017 Santiago Caicedo 117 mins Colombia 2017 | 97 mins Producer: Thomas Robsahm Screenplay: Enrique Lozano, Screenplay: Joachim Trier, Powerpaola. Based on the graphic Eskil Vogt novel by Powerpaola Photography: Jakob Ihre Art director: Powerpaola With: Eili Harboe, Kaya Wilkins, Music: Adriana García Galán Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Voices: María Cecilia Sánchez , Rafaelsen, Grethe Eltervåg Martina Toro, Alejandra Borrero Festivals: Toronto, Fantastic Fest, Festivals: Berlin, SXSW 2018 Vancouver, New York, London In Spanish with English subtitles 2017 B&W | R13 drug use, sex scenes In Norwegian with English & offensive language subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

© MOTLYSAS “Brian De Palma’s Carrie echoes through in the tradition of the European art Based on an autobiographical graphic the upheaval in her family. She is this Norwegian psychological thriller, film, but it flirts heavily with the novel by Colombian cartoonist doted on but occasionally dropped which is subtler and more daring than horror genre. It’s also a romance, a Powerpaola (real name Paola Gaviria), by her oldest sister, Claudia, and its model. An insecure college freshman psychological thriller, a liberation story this appealing and affecting animated tormented by jealous middle sister in Oslo (Eili Harboe), adjusting to life and a whodunit (and why). Mostly, film reflects her experiences growing Patty. Paola’s father, a defrocked priest, in the big city without her smothering and most satisfyingly, it plays with up in a family dominated by strong- decides to return to the cloth, leaving parents (Henrik Rafaelsen, Ellen Dorrit the female Gothic, those unnerving willed women. The intricately detailed, Paola’s mother to raise her three Petersen), falls for another coed and tales – churning with desires and doodle-like style of Powerpaola’s black- daughters on her own. begins suffering terrible seizures. Her dread, and quivering with anxiety and-white illustrations is brought to The story flows in a nimble true- doctors rule out epilepsy in favor of a and suspicion – in which women are vivid life by animator Santiago Caicedo. to-life fashion devoid of any whiff of psychogenic illness, but before long at once the victims and agents of From Quito in Ecuador to Cali in screenwriter’s contrivance, delivering an the young woman begins to develop change.” — Manohla Dargis, NY Times Colombia and even to the Galapagos authentic and intimate portrait of life telekinetic powers. Director Joachim Islands, the film follows Paola’s growing up in a family in flux. — MM Trier links supernatural horror to life through the late 20th century, repressed memories, raging hormones, from conception to adulthood. An and fundamentalist zealotry, crafting A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 8.45 pm unexpected ‘gift’ who arrives after her B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 2.15 pm a sexy and unsettling brain-teaser.” A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 6.00 pm mother has had her tubes tied (with A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 7.15 pm — Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 4.00 pm doctors misdiagnosing her pregnancy A RX Mon 6 Aug, 6.15 pm A LHP Sun 5 Aug, 7.45 pm “It’s a coming-of-age story rooted as a ‘virus tropical’), Paola causes quite FRESH 57

TERROR NULLIUS A Political Revenge Fable in Three Acts

TERROR NULLIUS is an incendiary Soda_Jerk meeting of unpopular opinion and popular culture: a wildly irreverent up Directors/Screenplay/Editors: yours to the Australian political status Soda_Jerk Australia 2018 | 55 mins quo. Part collage, part meme, this CinemaScope | R13 violence, offensive language, straight-talking montage film sets out sex scenes & content that may disturb to ‘unwrite’ history as written by the colonial victors, reworking hundreds of Soda_Jerk will introduce their film, movie and TV excerpts into a fierce – followed by a Q+A, at both screenings. and very funny – counter-narrative of the country’s national mythology. A who’s who of screen heroes and villains collide to reveal a deep strain A HWOOD Sun 22 Jul, 1.30 pm of racism, bigotry and cruelty behind A AWT Mon 23 Jul, 8.30 pm B AWT Fri 27 Jul, 4.15 pm the image of laid-back Australia, and, thanks to some creative digital compositing, you may never look at Mad Max and Skippy the Kangaroo in quite the same way again. The film’s wrecking-ball quality, personified by its punk disregard for copyright law, be more Aussie than taking credit for leaves no doubt about its activism, Kiwi talent. — Tim Wong “TERROR NULLIUS is though it is through consistently “Weird, dazzling, kinetic, dizzyingly hilariously insightful, imaginative editing that it goes well ambitious… TERROR NULLIUS is a beyond agitprop, repopulating an fiercely distinctive and interesting politically valuable, official moving image legacy with film… a crazy, punch-drunk, astral- culturally brutal and is heretofore marginalised gays, feminists projecting, bizarro roller-coaster ride more hyper-Aussie than and minorities. New Zealand cinema through Australian cinema, with an also plays a key supporting role in the unnerving ability to observe things that Paul Hogan riding a A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 4.15 pm sample mix. The filmmakers, who have were never said and forge connections crocodile in a river of VB.” A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 8.00 pm been attacked as ‘un-Australian’, are that were never made.” — Luke — Sophia Watson, Filmink the first to point out that nothing could Buckmaster, The Guardian

We the Animals You Were Never Really Here

Director: Jeremiah Zagar USA 2018 | 93 min Screenplay: Dan Kitrosser, Director: Lynne Ramsay Jeremiah Zagar UK/France/USA 2017 Photography: Zak Mulligan Editors: Keiko Deguchi, 89 mins Brian A. Kates Screenplay: Lynne Ramsay. Based Music: Nick Zammuto on the novel by Jonathan Ames With: Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand, Music: Jonny Greenwood Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, With: Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Josiah Gabriel Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov, Festivals: Sundance, Tribeca, Alessandro Nivola Sydney, Edinburgh 2018 Festivals: Cannes (In Competition), Censors rating tbc London 2017; Sundance 2018 Best Actor & Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival 2017 CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

“Shot on 16mm, We the Animals has Ma and Paps. Theirs is a household “Lynne Ramsay’s stark inversion of deeper into the hallucinatory darkness an easy-on-the-eye, dappled glow, where emotions rule, sometimes to the noir thriller is a devastatingly and closer to the truth. well-suited to the idea of looking back the family’s detriment – and they brutal portrayal of one man’s battle Working from Jonathan Ames’ 2013 in time, as Zagar and Daniel Kitrosser also dominate Zagar’s film, which with repression and abuse, anchored novel, Ramsay (who jointly won the adapt Justin Torres’ novel about never follows more than the loosest by a rage-fuelled, Cannes-winning best screenplay award in Cannes) is growing up in a working-class family of narratives. Fluid camerawork from performance from Joaquin Phoenix. more concerned with the psyche of in upstate New York. The story is told Zak Mulligan, interspersed with Joe (Phoenix) is a Gulf War veteran her unhinged protagonist than she is from the point of view of Jonah (Evan elements from Jonah’s diary animated and former FBI agent turned killer- with the action… Her taut, syncopated Rosado), who forms a unit with his two by Mark Samsonovich and magic for-hire, specialising in saving victims cinema is intensified by Jonny brothers Joel and Manny. Often tangled realist imaginings, immerse us both from child sex rings, and living at home Greenwood’s pulsating score, Thomas together on the bed they share, Jonah in the boy's mindset and family life.” with his ailing mother. When Nina, a Townend’s expressive camerawork and is, right from the outset, starting to pull — Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film US Senator’s daughter, is kidnapped, razor-sharp editing from Joe Bini.” away from the other pair, enjoying a he is contracted to dispense with the — Clare Stewart, London Film Festival secret that's all his own, a diary full of perpetrators and save the girl (Ekaterina illustrations that is under the bed. Samsonov is hauntingly good). Having He writes in it at night, once his B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 1.30 pm located Nina in a seedy New York A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 9.15 pm brothers are asleep, an outlet for A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 6.00 pm brothel, Joe’s escape plan suddenly A LHP Mon 30 Jul, 8.15 pm feverish outpourings of emotion that derails, unleashing a maelstrom of B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 4.30 pm A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 9.00 pm he could never share with them or his violence that ultimately takes him 58

Liyana ALL AGES ALL FOR Directors: Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp Swaziland/Qatar/USA 2018 | 77 mins Photography: Aaron Kopp Editors: Aaron Kopp, Davis Coombe Animation: Shofela Coker With: Gcina Mhlophe Festivals: Los Angeles, London 2018 In English and siSwati, with English subtitles Censors rating tbc Recommended for audiences 10+

A group of children living in the Likhaya compelling documentary following the Lemphilo Lensha home for orphans lives of five amazing children from an are led through a workshop process by orphanage in Swaziland. Together with author Gcina Mhlophe. Together they their wonderful storytelling teacher, dive into their collective imaginations these bright and captivating youngsters to create Liyana, a brave heroine transform their difficult experiences who undertakes an epic adventure, through narrative to collectively craft outsmarting many a dangerous animal Liyana’s tale.” — NY Independent and even more dangerous humans Children’s Film Festival along the way. A beautifully crafted, Please note: while sensitively genre-defying exploration of fable as a handled, this film deals with challenging source of creative healing and strength, family histories and the ongoing impact Liyana is an inspiring collaborative of HIV/AIDS in Africa. project where children’s courageous voices are given centre stage. — NM “Liyana is a thrilling, beautifully- A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 10.45 am illustrated fictional tale of a young girl A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 11.00 am on a perilous quest to reunite with her brothers. At the same time, it’s a

Science Fair

Directors: Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster USA 2018 | 90 mins Producers/Screenplay: Jeffrey Plunkett, Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster Photography: Peter Alton Editors: Tom Maroney, Alejandro Valdes-Rochin Festivals: Sundance, SXSW 2018 Festival Favourite, Sundance Film Festival 2018 Recommended for audiences 10+

Two documentaries for the 10+ crowd, “Every year, over 1,700 teenage there are other underlying influences students from 75 countries compete motivating them to pursue their dreams selected by Nic Marshall of Square Eyes Film in the annual International Science of participating in the competition. Foundation, ardent promoters of international and Engineering Fair (ISEF), a highly Featuring interviews with the charming competitive showcase of the world’s young scientists, their parents and cinema to our youngest audiences and their top young scientific minds. Selected mentors, as well as past ISEF winners, movie-going companions. The animated from millions of students who qualified this absorbing film illuminates a group through sanctioned events to reach of amazing young men and women short film programmes are lovingly curated the international competition, these who are on a path to change the world by Nic with a little assistance from our finalists are competing for the coveted through science.” — Sundance Film top prize that, as one previous winner Festival Animation NOW! maestro Malcolm Turner. explains, ‘will change your life in ways you won’t even comprehend.’ See also: Mirai (p11). Science Fair follows one mentor and nine students from around the world A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 12.45 pm as they prepare their projects and team A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 11.00 am for the 2017 ISEF event in Los Angeles. B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 11.45 am Though all are participating for the A LHP Sun 5 Aug, 1.00 pm love of science, we also learn that A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 11.30 am FOR ALL AGES 59

Animation for Kids 4+ 65 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

Once again, we’re thrilled to share an Two Trams Blueberry Hunt Outdoors eclectic and electric line-up of short Russia 2016 | Director: Svetlana Andrianova | 10 mins Czech Republic, 2017 | Directors: Alexandra France 2017 | Directors: Anne Castaldo, Sarah Chalek, animated tales. Carefully selected from Hetmerová, Kater˘ina Karhánková | 7 mins Elsa Nesme, Adrien Rouquié | 7 mins Klick and Tram stick together through all corners of the world, they’re sure thick and thin, to stay bang on time Two bear pals head out to gather An elderly woman tries to find her to amuse and engage our favourite and right on track. blueberries for breakfast dumplings missing pet. A little girl tries to find little audience – and those who attend – but first they must deal with a crazy her missing neighbour. Both find with them. Come and travel from a case of double hiccups. themselves in the middle of a New mysterious dark forest to a bustling I Want to Live in the Zoo York adventure. big city, or dive deep underwater Russia 2017 | Director: Evgenia Golubeva | 6 mins Dark, Dark Woods and dance with an elephant – all Denmark 2017 | Director: Emile Gignoux | 6 mins Sasha decides that she would much without leaving the comfort of your Big Block Singsong: Duck rather live in the zoo than at home Royal life’s not always so grand. One cinema seat. Visit nziff.co.nz for full Canada 2017 | Director: Warren Brown | 2 mins with her parents, but quickly finds little princess trades it all in for a wilder programme details. — NM that animal life is not all she hoped it kind of adventure. It’s a quack attack! You better stand back. Jazzoo would be. Funny Fish Sweden 2016 | Director: Adam Marko-Nord | 9 mins Henriyeti: Sock It To Me France/Switzerland 2018 | Director: Krishna Nair The House Fish behind the wheel, flying hippos 6 mins Czech Republic 2016 | Director: Veronika Zacharová Yeti! 5 mins and dancing elephants – all set to the Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, USA 2016 | Director: Greg Walter | 2 mins super jazzy sounds of the award- a not-so-smart school of fish come to With only one tiny clue to help him winning Oddjob quintet. Henriyeti – a little bit girl, a little bit the rescue of a mysterious creature along the way, a small house journeys Yeti – demonstrates that great matches who suddenly appears in their waters. to the big city in search of those who Boulle go well beyond appearances. left him behind. Russia 2016 | Directors: Elizaveta Monokhina, Polina Manokhina | 4 mins When you have to share a really small space, it’s definitely better to work together.

B PH Sat 28 Jul, 12.00 pm B EMB Sun 29 Jul, 10.45 am B RX Sun 5 Aug, 1.00 pm

I WANT TO LIVE IN THE ZOO FUNNY FISH OUTDOORS

Animation for Kids 8+ 76 mins approx. | Censors rating tbc

Come join us for your annual wintery Odd Is an Egg Awaker Tip-Top fix of all-ages animated magic. From Norway 2016 | Director: Kristin Ulseth | In Norwegian Czech Republic 2017 | Director: Filip Diviak | 9 mins Russia 2016 | Director: Alla Vartanyan | 2 mins slick computer animation to hand- with English subtitles | 12 mins The Awaker leads a mundane life Here’s one way to keep warm while crafted stop motion, filmmakers the Odd is hugely protective of his head. waking people up for a living. One waiting for the bus in the middle of world over have melded exquisite When he meets Gunn, his life is turned day he receives something which winter. technique and brilliant storytelling upside down, freeing him from his transforms his humdrum routine. that’s certain to appeal to discerning anxiety in the most unexpected way. Catmos young and young-at-heart NZIFF Gokuroˉsama Czech Republic 2017 | Director: Katya Miloslavskaya audiences. Chase an elusive selfie, Undiscovered France 2016 | Directors: Clémentine Frère, Aurore Gal, 5 mins take a feline-centric ride through USA 2017 | Director: Sara Litzenberger | 3 mins Yukiko Meignien, Anna Mertz, Robin Migliorelli, Romain A unique cat takes a miraculous ride Salvini | 7 mins space, hang out after hours in a surreal There is no photo evidence of through space and time. shopping mall, and ponder some big Sasquatch – but maybe it’s for a reason A quirky tale of early morning goings- existential questions. Visit nziff.co.nz that may surprise you. on in a surreal mega-mall of the future. for full programme details. — NM Theory of Sunset If You Fall Poles Apart Russia 2016 | Director: Roman Sokolov | 9 mins UK 2017 | Director: Paloma Baeza | 12 mins Humus Canada 2017 | Director: Tisha Deb Pillai | 6 mins In the dead of night, while the world Italy 2017 | Directors: Simone Di Rocco, Simone In a harsh Arctic landscape, a hungry Cirillo, Dario Livietti, Alice Tagliapietra | 7 mins Lila takes on the daunting task of is sleeping, someone has the very learning how to balance on a bike, as and solitary polar bear must decide if a important job of ensuring the start of In a magical laboratory in the woods, a those around her balance family life. naïve Canadian grizzly bear is her food a new day. gardener tries to school his young and or her friend. wayward apprentice about the power of nature. Power USA 2017 | Director: Dana Sink, USA, 2017 | 2 mins Intersecting machinery comes together, inspired by Muybridge.

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HUMUS IF YOU FALL AWAKER 60

The Ancient Woods Sengire˙ REALITY FRAMING Director/Photography: Mindaugas Survila Lithuania/Estonia/ Germany 2017 | 86 mins Producers: Mindaugas Survila, Ginté Žulyte˙, Radvile Šumile Screenplay: Mindaugas Survila, Ginté Žulyte˙ Editor: Danielius Kokanauskis Sound: Mindaugas Survila, Ginté Žulyte˙, Ainis Pivoras Festivals: Amsterdam Documentary 2017; Sydney 2018 Cinemascope

Immerse yourself in the life of an a stork’s nest or the struggles of a ancient Baltic forest, a habitat abundant snowbound spider with equal delight with wildlife little touched as yet by and fascination… Crows predictably human habitation. Lithuanian biologist steal the show, as their desperate turned filmmaker Mindaugas Survila fight for food provokes some impolite spent almost ten years making The but highly entertaining reactions, Ancient Woods, often taking weeks to but Survila also pays attention to the set up and capture the perfect shot. His smallest of [the forest’s] habitants, all patience and unerring eye have resulted the while making some very interesting in an enchanting, meditative experience visual choices, such as looking away – a walk in the woods where every when the violence proves too draining, creature is espied in exquisite close-up, plunging underwater or showing a and no voice of authority is explaining rather frenzied feast in slow motion.” what they are up to. — Marta Bałaga, Cineuropa “Without a clear point to make or a theory to prove, Survila simply comes A LHP Sat 28 Jul, 2.30 pm as close as possible and… observes. B PH Wed 1 Aug, 2.00 pm He doesn’t limit himself to any A PH Sat 4 Aug, 12.00 pm A EMB Sat 11 Aug, 11.15 am particular subject, ending up watching

Bisbee ’17

Director/Screenplay/ Editor: Robert Greene USA 2018 | 118 mins Producers: Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott Photography: Jarred Alterman Music: Keegan DeWitt Festivals: Sundance, Hot Docs 2018 The profusion of excellent documentaries In English and Spanish, submitted to us is staggering. We try to with English subtitles steer a course that favours formal sophistication and complexity, while allowing ourselves on occasion to fall for the most forthright In 1917 Arizona, nearly 2,000 miners sensitively probes the personal stories advocacy or – hey, puppy – blatant appeals belonging to the Industrial Workers of townsfolk, many of whom are to the heartstrings. of the World, a radical labour union related to either the deportees or supporting immigrants and minorities, mining corporates, and then dives You will find more fine examples filling the organised a peaceful strike, only to deeper by restaging the whole incident be violently removed by mobs from with a cast made up of present-day Aotearoa section of the programme and in their homes and exiled to the middle residents. It’s a wilfully contrived yet the sections that follow. Also in our Big Nights, of the barren New Mexico desert. cathartic re-enactment that, in recalling Filmmaker Robert Greene, an expert the method of confrontation in The Act News/Fake News and For All Ages sections. at exploring the spaces between reality, of Killing, offers healing and closure for In other words, documentaries are everywhere recreation and performance, heads to the community, but also a powerful, the small ex-mining border town of lasting double image: of active racial at NZIFF. Bisbee for his latest documentary, a and political fault lines, then and most fascinating contemporary excavation especially now. — Tim Wong of a painful past. Although now part of the A ED Sat 28 Jul, 1.15 pm town’s tourist trade, the infamous B ED Thu 2 Aug, 2.15 pm Bisbee Deportation remains largely A ED Sun 5 Aug, 6.00 pm A ED Sun 12 Aug, 11.30 am unaddressed. Greene’s investigation FRAMING REALITY 61

Brimstone & Glory

For any sufferers of fireworks fatigue, Viktor Jakovleski’s euphoric debut Brimstone & Glory should swiftly restore Director: Viktor Jakovleski a sense of childlike awe. In a lean, USA 2017 | 67 mins Producers: Dan Janvey, Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, loaded 67 minutes, Jakovleski captures Kellen Quinn the week-long celebration of San Juan Photography: Tobias von dem Borne de Dios, a dazzling pyrotechnics festivity Editor: Affonso Gonçalves Music: Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin that consumes the Mexican town of Festivals: San Francisco, Hot Docs, Tultepec yearly. The events are dedicated Fantastic Fest 2017 Best Documentary, Fantastic Fest 2017 to a patron saint who supposedly In Spanish with English subtitles rescued people from a burning hospital without a single scar or burn. Now, as one town kid tells us, to receive such an injury from the explosions is considered a sacred mark from the saint himself. Dispensing with talking heads (and deploying minimal exposition), Jakovleski opts for complete immersion, centering on the two biggest spectacles of the celebration, the Castles of Fire and the Burning of the Bulls. With detonate all around us, often fluid, kinetic camerawork that weaves threatening the revelers who happily “The theater-going us throughout the chaos, Brimstone put themselves in harm’s way to dance experience of the year… Glory is an utterly jaw-dropping blow- among the explosions... I can’t recall out that demands to be seen in a movie that better demonstrated the A film culled from reality a communal setting. — JF thin line between danger and euphoria that makes you question “More a sensory experience than a that’s inherent in such public revelries. whether you’re still structured portrait, Brimstone & Glory Brimstone & Glory is community as contains more primal, enrapturing catharsis, and you can’t stop staring in your theater seat.” A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 11.30 am images than any documentary since in stupefied astonishment.” — Tim — Arlin Golden, Film Inquiry A LHP Thu 2 Aug, 6.15 pm Leviathan. Jakovleski’s cameras take Grierson, Paste Magazine A RX Sun 5 Aug, 2.30 pm A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 6.15 pm us right onto the street as fireworks

Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders

In 1959, in a small town in Kansas, Director: Joe Berlinger farmer Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie USA 2017 | 168 mins and their teenage children, Nancy and Co-directors: Allison Berg, Kahane Cooperman Producers: Allison Berg, Keven McAlester, Kenyon, were savagely murdered. Joe Berlinger, Jon Doran, Justin Wilkes Writer Truman Capote, famous at that Photography: Michael Neumann Editors: Jawad Metni, Seth Skundrick point for Breakfast at Tiffany's, visited Music: Paul Brill the town with his friend, the writer Festivals: Amsterdam Documentary 2017 Harper Lee. Earning the trust of the murderers – Richard ‘Dick’ Hickock and Perry Smith – he rendered them unforgettably in In Cold Blood, which became an international bestseller and is often cited as the first book in the true crime genre. Director Joe Berlinger, renowned for his investigative documentaries about the West Memphis Three, revisits the case. What do the townsfolk and surviving families of both victims and perpetrators have to say about the murders – and about the indelible account provided in as it turned out, didn’t even exist. It’s Capote’s book? a stunning panorama that knows it “I believe that a story “This documentary does what doesn’t need to ‘novelize’ a damn about true crime has to In Cold Blood didn’t or couldn’t do. thing… It presents a genuinely journalistic Respectfully rendered and rich with start with the victims and and very 360-degree look at a detail, this documentary event is a their experience. Why crime that shattered a small town, must for anyone who wants a deeper wouldn’t you begin with gives equal weight to a panoply of look at what happens in the wake of a perspectives, and honors the legacy senseless violent death, especially when the people who were A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 1.15 pm of a family without either glamorizing the victim or victims catch the eyes most affected?” — Joe A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 7.45 pm or dehumanizing the men who shot of the media.” — Amy Glynn, Paste B RCC Thu 9 Aug, 1.30 pm Berlinger, interviewed in Newsweek them for a safe full of money that, Magazine 62 FRAMING REALITY

The Devil We Know

Director: Stephanie Soechtig USA 2018 | 88 mins Producers: Kristin Lazure, Stephanie Soechtig, Joshua Kunau, Carly Palmour Screenplay: Mark Monroe, Stephanie Soechtig Photography: Rod Hassler Editors: James Leche, Dan Reed, Brian Lazarte Music: Brian Tyler Festivals: Sundance 2018

Viewers might handle their non-stick widespread pollution of neighbouring frypans with a tad more trepidation waterways and the irreversible after seeing Stephanie Soechtig’s contamination of workers. Told with blood-boiling corporate exposé. Putting a bracing urgency and a clear-headed the insidious inner workings of mega- empathy for its victims, Soechtig’s film corporation DuPont under fire, The Devil is a damning reminder of the major We Know reveals decades of top-level toll that regular people pay for modern mismanagement and environmental civilisation’s minor conveniences. — JF contamination. The eponymous devil “Soechtig presents an unusually is a chemical compound called C8, engrossing docu for this type of which has been used for years in the subject, with human interest always production of DuPont’s Teflon in the forefront… An expert assembly kitchenware, 3M’s Scotchgard and a that’s sharp in every department.” large range of water-resistant materials. — Dennis Harvey, Variety When C8 was proven to be linked to deformities in newborns and various A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 1.00 pm lethal health conditions, DuPont not B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 2.00 pm only denied the negative effects but A LHP Tue 31 Jul, 8.15 pm A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 11.15 am ramped up production, resulting in the

The Distant Barking of Dogs HHM907 0518 HHM907

Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont Denmark 2017 | 91 mins Producer: Monica Hellström Photography: Simon Lereng Wilmont Editor: Michael Aaglund Music: Uno Helmersson, Erik Enocksson Festivals: Amsterdam Documentary 2017; San Francisco 2018 In Ukrainian with English subtitles

Oleg, a feisty ten-year-old Ukrainian more people leave and his beloved boy, lives near the frontlines of the babushka’s resilience is also severely This is Olivia. war between Russian-led separatists put to the test. The angel-faced boy and Ukrainian forces in Eastern becomes increasingly wary. He surveys Enjoying pre-entertainment Ukraine. This searching and haunting his old playground, checking for refreshments with Verena in documentary immerses us in a year landmines. But play is for kids anyhow. of his existence. An orphan, he lives “We’re men,” he says. “We have to be the hotel lobby. with his loving grandmother, who is able to endure everything.” — SR reluctant to leave Hnutove, despite “The film is about how people deal the rural village’s dwindling number with the cracks in illusion and about of inhabitants. He hangs out with his the human drive we have to survive no younger cousin Yarick, sometimes matter what… That kind of tenacity is accompanied by the older and slightly incredibly beautiful to me.” — Simon alarming Kostya, initially unmindful Lereng Wilmont VISIT WWW.HERITAGEHOTELS.CO.NZ FOR PRE-SHOW DINNERS of danger and revelling in adventures AND ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES OR CALL US ON 0800 368 888 characteristic of country boys their age B ED Fri 27 Jul, 2.30 pm anywhere else in the world. A ED Sun 29 Jul, 1.45 pm As the sound of explosions and A ED Wed 1 Aug, 6.45 pm A ED Mon 6 Aug, 6.30 pm the whistling of shells draw closer, FRAMING REALITY 63

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

Frederick Wiseman, cinema’s peerless documentarian of institutions, finally turns his lens on the cornerstone of Director/Producer/Editor: every self-respecting community: the Frederick Wiseman USA 2017 | 197 mins public library. Focusing on New York Photography: John Davey City’s century-old flagship, Wiseman’s Festivals: Venice, Toronto, New York, London, approach is as always humane and Amsterdam Documentary 2017 FIPRESCI Prize, Venice Film Festival 2017 low-key, with a healthy fixation on the people who fill its spaces and give them meaning. From budget meetings, to enthusiastic archivists and educators, to patient phone operators, to live events with the likes of Patti Smith and Richard Dawkins, the scope of NYPL’s service and its social and cultural value is quietly affirmed through Wiseman’s humble observational practice. There’s no need for talking heads to tell us why any of it matters, although there’s no shortage of conversation around digital © EX LIBRIS FILMS, LLC. WITH THE PERMISSION OF ZIPPORAH FILMS, INC. inclusion and the new public–private have to… It is a soaring, Utopian mission funding era the library now faces, in a doco that builds with intellectual “Lovely, gracious, soul- eloquently argued for by CEO Anthony force and deep emotion as it shows, satisfying… a lively, Marx. Merely watching folks go about again and again, citizens… joining their business, free to think, feel and together to listen to one another and jostling monument to an learn, is the simple ideal at the heart to learn from one another. In Ex Libris, idea that represents the of this edifying and implicitly political democracy is alive and in the hands very best of civilized film, where any questions about the of a forceful advocate and brilliant relevance of libraries in the 21st century filmmaker, which helps make this one society.” — Jessica Kiang, A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 3.15 pm are firmly put to bed. — Tim Wong of the greatest movies of Wiseman’s The Playlist A PH Sun 5 Aug, 2.00 pm “Wiseman never states outright extraordinary career and one of his most B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 11.45 am A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 12.00 pm what the library’s mission is; he doesn’t thrilling.” — Manohla Dargis, NY Times

Dog’s Best Friend Island of the Hungry Ghosts

Director: Eryn Wilson Gabrielle Brady* New Zealand 2017 78 mins Director/Screenplay: Producers: Gareth Wallis, Gabrielle Brady Eryn Wilson Germany/UK/Australia Photography: James Boddy Editor: James Brown 2018 | 98 mins Music: Dean Kerr Photography: Michael Latham With: Jacob Leezak, Editor: Katharina Fiedler Jennah Leezak Music: Aaron Cupples Festivals: Tribeca 2018 Best Documentary, Tribeca Film Festival 2018 In English, Farsi, French and Mandarin, with English subtitles

A canine rehabilitation centre is misunderstood canines and the On Christmas Island, asylum seekers tell Brady’s film takes on a captivating tenderly profiled in Kiwi director Eryn traumatic backgrounds that brought heartbreaking stories to Poh Lin Lee, a form. Shaped around hypnotic music Wilson’s affectionate documentary both him and his fiancée Jennah to this trauma therapist at odds with her role and sound design, there’s something Dog’s Best Friend. Run by ex-soldier line of work. at the Australian territory’s immigration genuinely haunting about Poh Lin’s Jacob Leezak, the Canine Behaviour Over a span of months, we get to detention centre. Against the eerie torment at the centre of it all – an inner Expert Dog Psychology Centre is watch the couple lovingly work with a disquiet of the island’s landscape and conflict between her duty to counsel located on a property in outer Sydney range of pooches, with encounters that ecology, this lyrical documentary reveals the distressed, and her complicity in that houses no fewer than 30 dogs at range from heated to heartwarming a deep-seated malaise – one felt by the the inhumane treatment of already a time – all either abandoned, set to (try not to melt as one pup reaches workers who witness the detainees’ damaged people. It’s as if Brady allows be euthanised or brought in by clients new levels of zen during a massage suffering, and by the Chinese and Poh Lin to not only express her anger unable to handle their pet’s aggressive session). Without ever succumbing to South Asian locals, who perform rituals and frustration, but also act it out side. While Jacob will often allude to soapboxing, this sweet and unassuming for those who have died without a as the film’s protagonist – a kind of the media stigmatisation of particular portrait is essential viewing for dog- proper burial throughout the island’s therapy in itself. — Tim Wong breeds (the film even opens with some lovers and dog-haters alike. — JF raw occupied history. sobering euthanisation stats), Wilson By interweaving between these wisely never centres the story on that C NT Tue 31 Jul, 12.30 pm layers extraordinary footage of red A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 6.30 pm* debate. Instead, he focuses on the C NT Wed 1 Aug, 12.30 pm land crabs, whose migration patterns B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 11.15 am* bond between man and dog, observing parallel the immigration struggles of A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 11.00 am Jacob’s tailored process of rehabilitating the refugees held in limbo, Gabrielle 64 FRAMING REALITY

In the Realm of Perfection L’Empire de la perfection

Portrait docos rarely come as Director/Screenplay/Photography: idiosyncratic as this loose, freewheeling Julien Faraut look at tennis superstar John McEnroe France 2018 | 95 mins in his tantrum-prone prime. McEnroe Producer: William Jéhannin Editor: Andrei Bogdanov recorded a monumental win rate Music: Serge Teyssot-Gay of 96.5% during the 1984 season, Narrator: Mathieu Amalric Festivals: Berlin 2018 culminating at the French Open where In English and French, with English subtitles a French film crew was scrupulously B&W and Colour documenting every stroke and meltdown. Working almost exclusively from a leftover archive of their 16mm rushes, director Julien Faraut reconstructs a compelling portrait of the player from the scraps. With actor Mathieu Amalric as narrator, Faraut interrogates McEnroe’s brilliance and blemishes – from the technical mastery of his movement (observed in hypnotic slo-mo) to the unconventional relationship he had with his rage. It all culminates in McEnroe’s meditation on time, movement and the gripping showdown with Ivan Lendl unique ability of film (and McEnroe) to “An obsessive study of the in the 1984 French Open – still a manipulate both. — JF moves and mood swings suspenseful showstopper to this day. “Less a biopic and more a thesis But for every portraiture convention about human psychology… [McEnroe] of John McEnroe at the Faraut adheres to, there’s an unexpected has arguably never been profiled height of his bad-boy flourish to counter it: animated breaks, so intriguingly as in In the Realm of fame… This is fascinating witty interludes and unexpected Perfection, which draws on archive cinematic references (films excerpted footage, psychology and film theory stuff.” — David Rooney, A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 8.30 pm include Milos Forman’s Amadeus and to present a multi-faceted portrait of Hollywood Reporter A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 6.30 pm Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull). a complex man.” — Nikki Baughan, B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 4.30 pm What results is a wholly distinct Screendaily

Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Minding the Gap Muchos hijos, un mono y un castillo

Director/Producer: Director/Photography: Gustavo Salmerón Bing Liu Spain 2017 | 91 mins USA 2018 | 98 mins Screenplay: Gustavo Salmerón, Producers: Diane Quon, Bing Liu Raúl de Torres, Beatriz Montañez Editors: Joshua Altman, Bing Liu Photography: Gustavo Salmerón Music: Nathan Halpern, Festivals: Karlovy Vary, Toronto, Chris Ruggiero San Sebastián, London, Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco, Amsterdam Documentary 2017 Hot Docs 2018 Best Documentary, Karlovy Vary Special Jury Prize, Sundance 2018 International Film Festival 2017 & Goya Awards 2018 In Spanish with English subtitles

Oddball octogenarian Julita Salmerón with the move. What can possibly First-time director and natural born together, falters tellingly as adult had three wishes as a young newlywed: be thrown out? And where are the cinematographer Bing Liu turns his responsibilities press in. The film’s the kids (six) came naturally enough, two vertebrae, macabre heirlooms, of camera on himself and his two closest deepest tension emerges in anarchic and even the monkey wasn’t too Julita’s grandmother, brutally murdered skateboarding buddies in this riveting ringleader Zack. The self-destructive hard, but the castle was out of reach during the Spanish Civil War? time-lapse portrait of boys becoming bravado that made him so charismatic for a regular, middle-class Spanish Shot in a variety of formats over men. Bing, Zack and Keire bonded in the skate scene is beginning to fester family. Then an inheritance made Julita 14 years by one of Julita’s sons, this over a shared love of skating as kids. ominously within his own family. By the suddenly super rich and she got her entertaining and affectionate portrait Liu showcases his euphorically shot time we reach a confrontation, Minding third wish too, complete with turret, of an indomitable, impossible matriarch boyhood skate sequences throughout, the Gap has bloomed into one of the suits of armour and chandeliers. and her brood captures them coping but only ever as a means of revealing year’s great documentaries, an intensely With so much space at her disposal, with the vagaries of life, and celebrates more of his subjects’ evolving psyches; revealing meditation on masculine self- she never threw anything out from the powerful, eccentric force of their skateboarding is a triumphant respite imaging, escapism and the tortuous that day on. Open any cupboard and family bonds. — SR from the trio’s turbulent home lives, paths to exorcising violence absorbed in a lifetime’s precious detritus may come each of which, it transpires, was childhood. tumbling out. But opened they shall be, dominated by an abusive father figure. for Spain’s financial crisis puts an end B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 12.30 pm Liu watches himself and his friends A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 6.45 pm to the castle life and Julita and husband B PH Tue 31 Jul, 11.45 am grow up to grapple with their pasts. B ED Thu 2 Aug, 4.30 pm Antonio must drastically downsize. A PH Thu 2 Aug, 6.15 pm Their unguarded intimacy, achieved A ED Fri 3 Aug, 6.45 pm A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 11.30 am A ED Sun 5 Aug, 4.00 pm Their children and grandchildren assist through years of reckless abandon FRAMING REALITY 65

Speak Up À voix haute

Every year there’s a breakout film Director: Stéphane de Freitas at NZIFF that reminds us of the France 2017 | 96 mins importance of being seen and heard, Co-director: Ladj Ly Producers: Harry Tordjman, Anna Tordjman not least those of us who belong to Editors: Jessica Menéndez, Pierre Herbourg minority groups. This year, that film is Photography: Ladj Ly, Timothée Hilst Music: Superpoze Speak Up, an inspiring documentary In French with English subtitles that follows a group of French university students as they prepare for a public speaking competition, and, in doing so, tap into the liberating power of finding one’s own voice. The students come from a variety of academic disciplines and socio- economic backgrounds, clearly standing in for the diversity of modern-day France. Some understandably express a fear of public speaking, but all appear determined to make the most of this experience. With a training programme that © INGRID CHABERT borrows equally from creative writing – free speech, outrage culture and workshops and drama classes, the feminism are all addressed in class and “Without sentimentality, students are put through their paces by on the auditorium floor. Speak Up proves how the coaches in rhetoric, debate, slam poetry Although the contest is the film’s and acting techniques. In between endgame, it’s the journey we take art of speech is key to writing prompts, they tumble through with these hopeful orators that leaves universal understanding, physical exercises and trust games the lasting impression. Their tales of social ascension, and designed to help them draw strength homelessness, immigration and cancer B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 11.45 am from their vulnerabilities. The classroom fuel the speeches they deliver with personal revelation.” A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 11.15 am becomes not only their training ground unquestionable passion, but it’s what — New York Film Festival A RCC Wed 8 Aug, 6.30 pm but a forum in which they can debate they do with their past traumas that A PH Thu 9 Aug, 6.15 pm issues that arise from their lessons truly inspires. — Chris Tse A LHP Sat 11 Aug, 6.15 pm

Pick of the Litter

“Meet Patriot, Poppet, Potomac, Directors/Producers: Primrose, and Phil, five impossibly Dana Nachman, Don Hardy adorable Labrador Retriever puppies. USA 2018 | 81 mins We meet them at the moment of Screenplay: Dana Nachman Photography/Editor: Don Hardy their birth when they are enrolled Music: Helen Jane Long into the national Guide Dogs for the Festivals: Slamdance, San Francisco, Hot Docs 2018 Blind (GDB) program based in San Rafael, CA. Soon after, they are placed with temporary trainers, individuals who have volunteered to shepherd the puppies through months of intensive training. Their emotional commitment to the dogs is intense and inspiring, making this documentary an emotional roller coaster once we realize that not all the dogs have what it takes to succeed.” — San Francisco International Film Festival Audio descriptive film screening “With most of the focus on the puppies, cinematic options might A ED Sat 4 Aug, 1.00 pm appear limited, but because there are entertainingly excels at maintaining The screening on Saturday 4 August 1.00 pm is so many people involved in raising the interest and building tension “A thoughtful film about an audio descriptive screening. This session will dogs, Nachman and Hardy readily gain throughout the film’s succinctly the exacting selection have a descriptive audio track broadcast in the access to puppy trainers, [Guide Dogs packaged 81-minute run time. cinema and is designed to enhance the cinema experience for sight-impaired patrons. for the Blind] staff and sight-impaired While Pick of the Litter stands out process for guide dogs, individuals. While there are plenty of for its canine characterizations, it’s and the bonds that form fundamentally a film about the shots featuring gamboling puppies, between the pups and A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 11.00 am the filmmakers also demonstrate the endlessly fascinating, constantly A PH Sun 29 Jul, 12.00 pm training process, with detailed scenes evolving relationship between dogs and the people.” — Norman Wilner, A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 11.00 am showing how the dogs are instructed. humans, cultivated over millennia of Now B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 12.00 pm Juggling more than a half-dozen advantageous interaction.” — Justin A LHP Thu 9 Aug, 6.15 pm storylines, Hardy’s editorial work Lowe, Hollywood Reporter A RX Sat 11 Aug, 1.00 pm 66 FRAMING REALITY

Samouni Road La strada di Samouni

The human reality of Israel’s siege of Gaza is given rare and timely airing in Stefano Savona’s captivating Samouni Director/Photography/Sound: Road. It centres on one extended family Stefano Savona Italy/France 2018 | 126 mins in a village on the outskirts of Gaza Producers: Penelope Bortoluzzi, Marco Alessi, City – a community ravaged by Israel Cécile Lestrade in early 2009 as part of an assault Screenplay: Stefano Savona, Léa Mysius, Penelope Bortoluzzi remembered in Israel as Operation Cast Animation director: Simone Massi Lead and in the Arab world as the Gaza Editor: Luc Forveille Music: Giulia Tagliavia Massacre. Twenty-nine civilians – men, Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2018 women, children – lost their lives, most In Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles Censors rating tbc killed by Israeli forces as they took refuge in a house. At the heart of it all is a child. “I don’t know how to tell a story,” Amal says, but she reveals eloquence far beyond her years. Her father, brothers and cousins were killed, and she was given up for dead, too, but miraculously hauled by aid workers from rubble several days on. Still fire on a group despite being told there struggling with pain from shrapnel in are children among them. For all that “The accolades sure to her head, Amal walks us to the site the film shows political and militant accrue will drown out where the agrarian village’s totem, a groups’ efforts to use the tragedy 150-year-old sycamore tree, once stood to promote their cause, it resists any the few but noisy voices – now destroyed like everything else by propagandising of its own, drawing from all sides... Destined bombs, bullets and bulldozers. on testimony from the family, from to become a touchstone The raid itself is recounted with the Red Cross and UN and from the evocative scratchboard animation and Israeli army’s own internal reports. In in the cinematic B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 11.45 am chillingly recreated drone footage, the words of the director, “all that we representation of the A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 1.00 pm including an exchange in which a see and hear comes from cross-checked Strip.” — Jay Weissberg, Variety commander instructs a soldier to open sources.” — Toby Manhire

A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot

Director/Screenplay: Sinéad O’Shea Ireland 2017 | 84 mins Producers: Ailish Bracken, Sinéad O’Shea, Figs Jackman Executive Producer: Joshua Oppenheimer Photography: Richard Kendrick, Ross McDonnell, Enda O’Dowd, Sinéad O’Shea, Paddy Stevenson Editor: Enda O’Dowd Music: George Brennan Festivals: London 2017 M violence, offensive language, drug references & suicide references

Be warned: the title of journalist Sinéad of Majella’s decision) as the emotional O’Shea’s jolting new documentary is in core of the film, this shocking headline - BELOVED BY LIV TYLER - no way figurative. Majella O’Donnell, is only a jumping-off point for a a citizen in Northern Ireland, really did broader exploration of the festering SIR JON TRIMMER - GAYLENE PRESTON deliver her son to local gang members wounds of contemporary Ireland – Margaret Hema was born in Wellington in 1946. to be shot in the back of both legs, where suicide and unemployment after they demanded retribution for rates are rampant, gang violence is Her skin is a living testament to her oils. his drug dealing in their community (it common and political unrest from IRA She has nine diplomas in skincare, aromatherapy, was either that or his execution). As sympathisers seems to be back on the beauty therapy & in Aestheticienne. O’Shea’s engrossing exposé reveals, boil. This wallop of a film is executive In 1988, well qualified and with a purpose, she this brutal form of punishment, known produced by Joshua Oppenheimer (The opened the door to her Wellington salon. She is as kneecapping, is not exceptional in Act of Killing), whose own work should Derry, an impoverished community in give viewers some indication of the grit known for her signature facial & hand-blended oils. which outlawed gangs of Republican to expect. — JF Margaret's son Quentin Hema created & drew the dissidents have taken power, exercising distinctive logo. vigilante justice upon residents who B ED Fri 27 Jul, 4.30 pm step out of line. A ED Sun 29 Jul, 8.00 pm www.hemaproducts.co.nz While O’Shea positions the A ED Sat 11 Aug, 6.45 pm O’Donnell family (and the repercussions FRAMING REALITY 67

Three Identical Strangers

In 1980 a 19-year-old college freshman Director: Tim Wardle named Bobby arrives at his new UK/USA 2018 | 96 mins campus for the first time, only to be Producers: Grace Hughes-Hallett, Becky Read Photography: Tim Cragg immediately recognised as someone Editor: Michael Harte else – an ex-student named Eddy. Music: Paul Saunderson With: Bobby Shafran, David Kellman, Within 24 hours, Bobby and Eddy Lawrence Wright are standing face-to-face: two identical Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco, Hot Docs, twins, given to separate adoptive Sydney 2018 families at birth, each completely unaware of the other’s existence. Their heartwarming discovery makes the front page of the paper, only to catch the attention of David, another 19-year-old who bears a similarly striking resemblance. Before they have even adjusted to their finding, the two long- lost brothers are welcoming in a third. In Tim Wardle’s utterly riveting docu- thriller, it would seem that truth really is stranger than fiction. The craziest part of the story is that the aforementioned nurture underpinning every breathless triplet reunion isn’t even the craziest twist and turn. In a film of relentless “Mind-boggling… As this part of the story. Bobby, Eddy and revelations, it’s the truths left dangling movie goes on, and the David’s surprise encounter is only that truly linger. — JF the jumping-off point for a string of “What begins as a light and fluffy, narrative unfolds, you are bombshells that just don’t stop coming; too-weird-to-be-fiction story goes likely to be saying to to reveal any more here would be a unimaginably deeper, stranger, darker. yourself, ‘Oh my God’, serious disservice to the viewer. But It’s best to go in as cold as possible, to A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 5.00 pm what elevates Wardle’s film are the try (and likely fail) to guess what comes every 10 minutes or so.” B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 4.00 pm genuinely meaty questions that linger next… Prepare for a wild, twisting — Dan Callahan, The Wrap A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 6.30 pm beneath its sensational headline, a non-fiction ride.” — Brent McKnight, A RX Sat 11 Aug, 3.00 pm slippery debate between nature and Seattle Times A LHP Sun 12 Aug, 7.15 pm

PRESENTED IN RBG United Skates ASSOCIATION WITH

Directors/Producers: Dyana Winkler Betsy West, Julie Cohen Tina Brown USA 2018 | 98 mins Directors/Producers: Photography: Claudia Raschke Dyana Winkler, Editor: Carla Gutierrez Tina Brown Music: Miriam Cutler | Festivals: Sundance, San Francisco USA 2018 89 mins 2018 Photography: Matthew Peterson, Tina Brown, Dyana Winkler Editor: Katharine Garrison Music: Jongnic Bontemps, Jim Winkler Festivals: Tribeca 2018 Audience Award, Tribeca Film Festival 2018

© CHRISTOPHER VANDERWALL ‘Witch’, ‘Anti-American’, ‘The Notorious law and elevating women from second- “Off the radar of mainstream American It’s to this present reality that directors RBG’: US Supreme Court Justice Ruth class citizenship. “It was like teaching culture, the African-American roller-rink Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown turn Bader Ginsburg has been called it all. kindergarten,” Ginsburg muses, recalling community has thrived for decades their cameras. United Skates visits black Before she became an internet her experience trying to open the eyes in cities across the country, fostering rink owners and observes skaters from sensation, Ginsburg was laying the of male lawmakers to the glaring community, hosting performances Los Angeles, Chicago, North Carolina, foundation for a fairer and more just inequalities faced by women and by ground-breaking hip-hop artists and beyond as they travel across the America by fighting against gender minorities. In contrast to the hard, including N.W.A. and Queen Latifah, US, introduce their kids to the art, discrimination and blazing a highway of heartless image her dissenters would and serving as the incubator for a muse on its past and future, and, most progress one step at a time. Following like you to believe, Betsy West and Julie radical blend of skating and dance importantly, skate. This electrifying her graduation from Columbia Law Cohen’s doco presents a full picture of that stands is its own unique art form, work is at once a cultural history lesson, School, the Women’s Liberation Ginsburg, introducing us to a pioneering complete with regional variations. an investigation into racial politics, and movement of the 1970s allowed the women’s rights activist, grandmother Despite this remarkable history, a beautifully shot performance film.” reserved yet powerful Ginsburg to and fighter. — Kailey Carruthers skating is in a precarious state; re-zoning — Brian Gordon, Tribeca Film Festival utilise her legal prowess to push the policies have led to rinks closing down, revolution forward with the ACLU. B PH Fri 27 Jul, 2.15 pm and the long-standing, still-present Working on sex discrimination cases A PH Sat 28 Jul, 1.30 pm practice of admission policies has A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 6.15 pm for both men and women, her A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 11.45 am restricted attendance to racially-coded B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 11.00 am professional life was focused on A EMB Sat 4 Aug, 11.00 am ‘Adult Nights’ and even discouraged or providing equal protection under the B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 1.45 pm barred black patrons entirely. 68

The Cleaners FAKE NEWS FAKE / NEWS Directors: Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck Germany/Brazil 2018 89 mins Photography: Axel Schneppat, Max Preiss Editors: Philipp Gromov, Hansjörg Weißbrich, Markus CM Schmidt Music: John Gürtler, Jan Miserre, Lars Voges Festivals: Sundance, Rotterdam, Hot Docs 2018 In English and Tagalog, with English subtitles Censors rating tbc

© GEBRUEDER BEETZ FILMPRODUKTION Ever wondered who polices Facebook? the cultural disparities that complicate This rattling documentary should the work, an issue which artist Illma make for illuminating viewing. The Gore’s banned portrait of Trump (with Cleaners introduces us to five content his iconic micro-penis) deftly illustrates. moderators, all based in the Philippines, There are myriad implications here, but whose services are contracted to crucially the filmmakers follow through social media giants like Facebook, on them, broadening their portrait into Twitter and Google. Every day, these an urgent exploration of the perils of ‘cleaners’ scan through thousands the digital age. The results will both of images and videos that have been absorb and disturb. — JF flagged as ‘objectionable’. There’s an “Frankenstein’s monster has been obvious toll to sweeping our feeds created and is now out of control… A for sinister material. As the subjects timely film, capable of sparking vigorous present us with their harrowing debate.” — Allan Hunter, Screendaily testimony, it quickly becomes clear how psychologically ill-equipped A ED Sat 28 Jul, 11.30 am anyone would be for the violence and B ED Mon 30 Jul, 4.45 pm pornography they wade through daily. A ED Thu 9 Aug, 6.30 pm That’s not even taking into account

Eldorado

Director/Screenplay: Markus Imhoof Switzerland 2018 92 mins Producers: Pierre-Alain Meier, Thomas Kufus, Markus Imhoof Photography: Peter Indergand Editors: Beatrice Babin, Thomas Bachmann Music: Peter Scherer Festivals: Berlin 2018 In German and English, with English subtitles

A blistering feature from Sergei Loznitsa Deep inside the European asylum Eldorado is affecting and upsetting, system, Markus Imhoof’s uniquely but particularly so because of the eviscerates a ground zero of modern ideological personal documentary takes a long, hard historical first-hand experience it relates warfare, while two documentaries take very look at the human flotsam off the coast the current crisis to. We hear about of Italy. Aboard a giant vessel designed Imhoof’s childhood in Switzerland, different approaches to confronting the to intercept overcrowded dinghies and the young Italian refugee his mediators. Eldorado and The Trial inspect political of asylum seekers, he captures the family took in with open arms, only for exhaustion and desperation of African global politics to tear them apart. This realities often grossly misrepresented or poorly and Middle Eastern refugees oblivious personal dimension, threaded ruefully understood away from the scenes of action. to the hellish non-existence that awaits throughout the film, speaks sincerely them on dry land. There, dispassionate of the pain of forced migration – officials – servants of a country and angrily at how unwanted those politically riven by the humanitarian fleeing war and oppression today have burden – toe the line, while the film’s become. — Tim Wong observation states implicitly that wealth and resources, poured into making Italy A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 6.45 pm an efficient gateway to the continent, B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 11.30 am have done little to facilitate points of A ED Sun 12 Aug, 2.00 pm exit into the rest of Europe. NEWS / FAKE NEWS 69

Donbass

The conflict in eastern Ukraine is evoked as an anarchic and deeply cynical horror show in Ukrainian writer/director Sergei Director/Producer/Screenplay: Loznitsa’s potent dramatised report Sergei Loznitsa Ukraine/Germany 2018 | 121 mins from the theatre of war. Photography: Oleg Mutu “Donbass abandons allegory [see A Editor: Danielius Kokanauskis Gentle Creature, NZIFF17] for a bracing Sound: Vladimir Golovnitski With: Tamara Yatsenko, Liudmila Smorodina, commitment to the present in a film Olesya Zhurakovskaya, Boris Kamorzin, that has such topical urgency one Sergei Russkin, Petro Panchuk, Irina Plesnyaeva, Zhanna Lubgane wonders why (or whether) it is fiction Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2018 at all. Its story is a daisy-chain loosely Best Screenplay (Un Certain Regard), Cannes Film Festival 2018 connecting anecdotes of corruption, In Ukrainian and Russian, with English subtitles coercion, fear, and cynicism in the CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc Donbass region of the country, which is currently occupied by the pro-Russian separatists who have proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic. Opening with a scene of actors preparing to film what we soon shockingly learn is a fake news report of Ukrainian nationalist terrorism, and going on from there… contradiction between Loznitsa’s Donbass is a grave, sometimes blackly, bracingly of-the-moment ‘reporting’ “In ways that could absurdly comic transmission from a and his film’s tone of resigned not be better timed to region roiling in intimate bloodshed weariness. A film at once electric and and hatred… morose, Donbass serves as a guide to our Orwellian present, Just how much of the basis of this the malignant darkness shrouding over Loznitsa continually conflict is fictive, Donbass asks, not just the eastern part of the Ukraine: fiction reveals the contours in details of fake news but in a greater filmmaking with combative intent sense of people playing roles to obtain and a powerful sense of necessity.” of a war driven by A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 8.45 pm and maintain power? This suggestion, — Daniel Kasman, Mubi.com propaganda.” B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 3.45 pm and the film itself, comes as if from the — Justin Chang, LA Times front lines, which creates an ambivalent

Our New President The Trial O processo

Director: Director/Producer/ Maxim Pozdorovkin Screenplay: Russia/USA 2018 Maria Augusta Ramos 78 mins Brazil/Germany/ Producers: Joe Bender, Maxim The Netherlands 2018 Pozdorovkin, Charlotte Cook 139 mins Editors: Maxim Pozdorovkin, Matvey Kulakov Photography: Alan Schvarsberg Music: Ivan Markovsky Editor: Karen Akerman Festivals: Sundance 2018 With: Gleisi Hoffmann, José In Russian and English, with Eduardo Cardozo, English subtitles Janaína Paschoal, Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer, Hélio Bicudo Festivals: Berlin, Hot Docs 2018 In Portuguese with English subtitles

Donald Trump rendered the term ‘fake Eschewing any voiceover or armchair While global headlines about Brazil Trial is searing and damning but never news’ redundant as soon as he started analysis, Maxim Pozdorovkin, director in 2016 focused mostly on its race didactic. The title is no accident: at one shouting the words at anything he of Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (NZIFF13), to be ready for the Olympic Games, point Rousseff’s role in proceedings didn’t like. But there’s no doubt he has set himself the task of making “a the country itself was being torn is sardonically compared to Kafka’s been one of the great beneficiaries film that uses the news to tell a story apart by an altogether more serious ambushed protagonist, Josef K. of media misinformation in the 21st without a single true statement.” If story: the push to impeach President The crescendo arrives in an century. Nor that he has enjoyed there is a true statement, however, it Dilma Rousseff. The gripping The Trial extraordinary debate in the snake pit a powerful benefactor in Russia, arrives early on, with stolen images of draws from 450 hours of footage to of the senate. Rouseff’s impeachment wellspring of so much of the bluster, Dmitry Kiselyov, boss of the ubiquitous, chronicle the heated, byzantine lead-up – or coup d’état – saw her replaced big-noting and bullshit that came to global news channel Russia Today. to an impeachment vote demanded by her deputy, Michel Temer. Today, characterise the 2016 US campaign. Addressing editorial staff, he says: “The by politicians set upon unseating in a country that remains bedevilled Our New President – our being Russia’s, time of detached, unbiased journalism the left-wing leader over charges of by corruption and rancour, he faces the president being Trump – splices is over… Editorial policy will be based breaking budget laws – a motivation ongoing calls for his own impeachment together clips from mass-audience on love of Russia.” — Toby Manhire Rousseff’s advocates dismiss as cover on bribery allegations. — Toby Manhire Russian news television and cultish for emphatically less virtuous purposes. YouTube home videos in a kind of B ED Mon 30 Jul, 3.00 pm Aided by exceptional access to A ED Sat 28 Jul, 3.30 pm Kremlin-friendly fake-news supercut. A ED Tue 31 Jul, 8.15 pm the defence team, whom we follow B ED Wed 1 Aug, 1.30 pm Clinton is comically demonised, Trump A ED Mon 6 Aug, 8.30 pm through the dazzling corridors of A ED Sun 5 Aug, 11.15 am A ED Wed 8 Aug, 8.15 pm lionised, and infantilised, too. Brasilia as protesters mass outside, The 70

Chulas Fronteras & DANCE & MUSIC MUSIC

Director/Photography/ Editor: Les Blank USA 1976 | 58 mins Producer: Chris Strachwitz Assistant editor: Maureen Gosling With: Flaco Jiménez, Lydia Mendoza, Los Alegres de Terán, Narciso Martínez, Los Pingüinos del Norte, Don Santiago Jimenez, Sr. Festivals: Auckland 1980 In English and Spanish, with English subtitles

LYDIA MENDOZA Is there another filmmaker who has eye is invariably drawn to animals, illustrated more warmly or vividly dancers, children – and to Mexican the connections between song and food you will want to eat. This music is community than Les Blank (1935–2013)? also a soundtrack to a hard life. There Shot in the late 1970s – and restored are tales of brutal fieldwork, migrant now by his son Harrod – Chulas Fronteras exploitation and heartbreaking incidents and its companion piece Del mero of racism. The songs interweave with corazón offer a rousing introduction to these stories and Blank’s beautiful the music of the Mexican–American images, offering narratives of their own. border. The films celebrate pioneering — Nick Bollinger figures like Narciso Martínez and Lydia Mendoza as well as then-current FEATURE PRECEDED BY Del mero corazón performers like Flaco Jiménez and Los Pingüinos del Norte. The simple, moving Norteña love songs shot at the same time as Chulas Fronteras. 1979/29 mins. poetry of the Spanish lyrics is spelled out in the subtitles. A ED Sun 29 Jul, 12.00 pm We see the music performed in A ED Mon 30 Jul, 6.30 pm dance halls, at weddings, barbecues, B ED Tue 31 Jul, 2.00 pm cockfights, in horse paddocks. Blank’s A ED Wed 8 Aug, 6.30 pm

Gurrumul

The cornucopia overflows beyond this already Director/Screenplay: Paul Damien Williams marvellous section. For more dance see: Australia 2017 | 96 mins Photography: Dan Maxwell, Climax (p81) Katie Milwright, Matt Toll, Gavin Head Girl (p23) Editors: Shannon Swan, Ken Sallows The Heart Dances (p16) Music: Michael Hohnen, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Liquid Sky (p12) Erkki Veltheim Festivals: Melbourne 2017; Berlin 2018 United Skates (p67). In English and Yolngu Matha, with English subtitles For more music, there’s: Cinemascope

I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story (p72) “A profound and transporting and passed away last year at age 46, Juliet, Naked (p38) songline… Paul Damien Williams’ released his first solo album in 2008. poignant film captures the singular He sang mostly in the Indigenous Looking for Oum Kulthum (p27). qualities – both as an artist and a man languages of the Gumatj, Galpu and – of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, the Djambarrpuyngu people, and attracted For music and dance and possibly also a widely celebrated aboriginal Australian immense global acclaim, including being broken heart there’s the glorious Cold War (p9). musician known for soulful tenor vocals hailed by Rolling Stone as ‘Australia’s that blended his traditional cultural most important voice’… For Gurrumul heritage and Yolngu language with fans, the film is obviously a must-see. Western folk, gospel and classical For those unfamiliar, or vaguely familiar elements. Approaching its reclusive with his work, it’s an even greater treat: subject with unerring respect, the they will be entertained, enthralled, elegantly composed doc mirrors the perhaps in some small way changed.” gentle power and ethereal hush of — Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian Gurrumul’s singing.” — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 2.30 pm “Formerly a member of Yothu Yindi A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 6.30 pm and Saltwater Band, Geoffrey Gurrumul A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 12.45 pm Yunupingu, who was blind from birth MUSIC & DANCE 71

Le Grand Bal

Our one hesitation about programming this lovely account of the annual summer folk-dance festival at Director/Screenplay: Laetitia Carton Gennetines in central France is fear France 2018 | 99 mins Producer: Jean-Marie Gigon of a mass exodus in that direction Photography: Karine Aulnette, Prisca Bourgoin, during NZIFF19. Every year hundreds Laetitia Carton, Laurent Coltelloni of dancers of all ages, and musicians Editor: Rodolphe Molla Sound: Nicolas Joly, François Waledisch from across Europe converge and camp Festivals: Cannes (Cinéma de la Plage) 2018 out on a gigantic leafy estate. Eight In French and English, with English subtitles CinemaScope wooden dance floors are installed under marquees. Workshops run all day from 10am – then the dances run all night. “Remember 9am is very early for some of our visitors, and 9pm is very late for others,” new arrivals are warned. The most seasoned dancers may never see daylight. Different bands play 90-minute sets, incorporating numerous styles of traditional dance: mazurkas, waltzes, the bourrée, the schottische, Gennetines, women often partner partner dances mainly, but also, women so it’s not as if they don’t “We wanted to show in some of the film’s most moving know how. How do people feel about how different it is when sequences, elaborately stepped dancing with less experienced partners? communal line dances. Or being turned down by really good people finally dare to Writer-director Laetitia Carton speaks ones? The questions gently probe the touch, when they truly in voiceover about her own long intimacy of their experience, observing live in harmony and life personal relationship with traditional that the salving pleasure of touch and dance and interviews participants connection promised by balmy nights in pulsates.” — Laetitia Carton A PH Sun 29 Jul, 3.45 pm about theirs. How do the women feel Gennetines does not come without risk. A EMB Sat 4 Aug, 1.30 pm about men who want them to lead? It’s one this film might entice the most B EMB Mon 6 Aug, 10.30 am Though there’s no deficit of men at bashful would-be dancer to chance.

Leto

The bonding power of musicianship is fondly explored in this immersive ode to Leningrad’s 1980s rock scene, centred Director: Kirill Serebrennikov on the friendly rivalry – in love and Russia/France 2018 | 126 mins Producers: Ilya Stewart, Murad Osmann, music – of two real-life artists, Viktor Pavel Buria, Mikhail Finogenov Tsoi (German Korean Teo Yoo) and Screenplay: Mikhail Idov, Lily Idova, Kirill Serebrennikov. Based on the memoirs of Mike Naumenko (Russian rocker Roma Natalya Naumenko Zver). Naumenko is partying on the Photography: Vladislav Opelyants Editor: Yuriy Karikh beach with his band and band family Music: Ilya Demutskiy when Tsoi and his partner wander up, With: Roma Zver, Irina Starshenbaum, Teo Yoo, Philipp Avdeev, Evgeniy Serzin, introduce themselves and perform. Aleksandr Gorchilin, Vasily Mikhailov, Their plaintive, incantatory acoustic Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Nikita Yefremov duo is a party-stopper. In the Star is Festivals: Cannes (In Competition) 2018 In Russian and English, with English subtitles Born moment, the seasoned muso and Colour and B&W | CinemaScope | Censors rating his devoted, eminently sane wife (Irina tbc Starshenbaum) take the gifted younger man under their wings, like it or not. In splendid black-and-white, the film manoeuvres us through low-key jam sessions, obsessive talk about western musicians, and performances at the An altercation with sour old geezers state-sanctioned Leningrad Rock Club. on a train bursts into a driving rendition “A helium-light work Just as monitors ensure audiences sit of Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’, about scruffy young still and listen quietly, the bands must decorated with manic scratch graphics. clear their lyrics with Party officials, a Serebrennikov is currently Soviets in 1980 making thing they manage with an adroit mix under house arrest on charges of music, partying, flirting of bullshit and charm. embezzlement from the Moscow and quietly defying the Director Kirill Serebrennikov peppers theatre company he directs. Yeah, the action with visions of freedom right. The exploration of freedom state, roughly in that A EMB Mon 30 Jul, 8.45 pm his protagonists may have felt but did under restraint conjured in his deeply order.” — Leslie Felperin, A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 8.00 pm not live to experience. Suddenly the affectionate portrait of the artist is B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 1.30 pm Hollywood Reporter Rock Club audience actually rocks. complicated, timely and moving. 72 MUSIC & DANCE

The King I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story

Director/Screenplay: Director: Jessica Leski Eugene Jarecki Australia 2018 | 96 mins USA 2017 | 117 mins Producers: Jessica Leski, Music: Robert Miller, Antony Rita Walsh Glenn, Martin Slattery Photography: Jason Joseffer, With: Greil Marcus, James Carville, Simon Koloadin, Eric Laplante, Chuck D, Alec Baldwin, Cesar Salmeron Rosanne Cash, Ethan Hawke, Editor: Johanna Scott Emmylou Harris, Van Jones, Music: Jed Palmer Ashton Kutcher, Mike Myers, Festivals: Hot Docs, Sydney 2018 Dan Rather, Luc Sante, David Simon, Linda Thompson Festivals: Cannes (Special Screenings) 2017; Sundance 2018 CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

The premise of Eugene Jarecki’s road Fools’. Riding shotgun, Greil Marcus, “What was life like before One music idols, and how deep love for trip doco (formerly known as Promised Luc Sante, Emmylou Harris and Scotty Direction?” Jessica Leski’s opening these groups has helped them through Land) is as simple as his movie is wildly Moore may be the familiar experts, but question to 1D superfan Elif jump-starts pivotal life experiences. ambitious. Having landed Elvis Presley’s their Elvis stories often cut deep. Chuck a vigorous investigation of the sacrifices Like a glitter cannon of boyband 1963 Rolls-Royce Phantom V, he outfits D reiterates his legendary diss (“Elvis and sweet experiences of boyband adoration, the film is bursting with the notably un-American vehicle as a never meant shit to me”). Others, like fandom. Losing friends, frustrating your colour, music and its manifesto for travelling recording studio and drives Mike Myers, David Simon, Lana Del parents and hiding a closeted obsession music lovers of any age or gender: let it across the US. Retracing the King’s Rey, Ethan Hawke and Ashton Kutcher, from co-workers is par for the course, your freak flag fly proud. Release the rise and fall from Tupelo to Las Vegas may seem picked at random, but who but not all is lost for the fangirls screams and the sing-alongs and feel and beyond, he sounds out America’s can be surprised that Jarecki’s project documented in I Used to Be Normal. the music you love unashamedly. As parallel decline into bloated, white- has them riffing with insight and Leski profiles the lives and loves Dara puts it in the closing moments, spangled-jumpsuit torpor. feeling on celebrity, Elvis, Trump and of Elif, Sadia, Dara and Susan, four “What’s life without a big major Laying down tracks in the back seat the ghastly spectre formerly known as women aged 16 –64 who are self- chorus?” — Kailey Carruthers are musicians as attuned to the road as the American Dream? confessed boyband fangirls. From John Hiatt, M. Ward and EmiSunshine Beatlemania, through Take That and the Rain – who let rip with some A LHP Sat 4 Aug, 1.30 pm and the Backstreet Boys to 1D, the A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 12.30 pm fine blues licks – while the Stax Music B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 11.15 am documentary celebrates and explores B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 2.30 pm Academy Singers offer an a cappella B RX Fri 10 Aug, 1.00 pm women’s stories of coming of age (and A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 6.45 pm A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 3.45 pm A RX Sun 12 Aug, 1.00 pm rendition of Aretha Franklin's ‘Chain of coming out) through their beloved MUSIC & DANCE 73

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH Blaze The Ice King

Director: Ethan Hawke Director/Screenplay: USA 2018 | 127 mins James Erskine Producers: Jake Seal, Ethan Hawke, UK 2018 | 89 mins John Sloss, Ryan Hawke Producer: Victoria Gregory Screenplay: Ethan Hawke, Photography: Paul Williams Sybil Rosen Editor: Stephen Parkinson Photography: Steve Cosens Music: Stuart Hancock, Bratislava Editor: Jason Gourson Symphony Orchestra Music: Blaze Foley, Townes Van Narrator: Freddie Fox Zandt With: Ben Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Josh Hamilton, Charlie Sexton Festivals: Sundance, SXSW 2018 Censors rating tbc

© CHRISTIE JENKINS It’s official: Ethan Hawke owns NZIFF18. Merle Haggard, John Prine, Lyle Trailblazing Olympic figure skater John turned his attention to his first love, Here he steps behind the camera to Lovett and others have recorded Foley’s Curry sought to change the world dance, forming a company and taking direct a fittingly unconventional biopic songs, and Lucinda Williams wrote of ice skating. Often hailed as the ballet on ice to some of the world’s of singer-songwriter Blaze Foley, who a great one about him. But when he greatest skater of all time, Curry drew grandest venues. It’s here that the film went from living in a Georgia treehouse died of a gunshot wound in 1989, acclaim for his balance of artistry and takes flight with rare footage of legendary to befriending Townes Van Zandt and you wouldn’t have been able to find athleticism, bridging the divide between performances, including breathtaking solo becoming the insider legend of the any of his music in stores… Foley’s dance and skating. When his coaches pieces that showcase his incredible grace. Outlaw Country Music movement. cult may never grow as big as his most told him he was ‘too soft’ and needed The first ‘out’ Olympian, Curry became “A belated but heartfelt eulogy for a ardent fans would like. But Hawke and to skate like a man, Curry carved his another young talent lost to AIDS. His songwriter who didn’t live long enough Sybil Rosen [Foley’s longtime partner own indelible path and, in doing so, legacy lives on in skaters like Adam to drink himself to death like his most and biographer] and Dickey have challenged what ice skating could be. Rippon who challenge the performative famous friend, Ethan Hawke’s Blaze will given the man something better than The Ice King is a compassionately masculinity that still exists in competitive be the first introduction most viewers posthumous record sales.” — John constructed film that explores the figure skating today. — Chris Tse have to Blaze Foley… Hawke goes in DeFore, Hollywood Reporter pressures that Curry fought against search of his tender side and finds it and placed on himself. Critics and A PH Mon 30 Jul, 6.15 pm in a big way, thanks in large part to A RX Fri 10 Aug, 8.00 pm fans adored him, but his struggle B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 1.45 pm a charismatic lead performance by A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 9.15 pm with loneliness and depression often B PH Thu 2 Aug, 2.00 pm musician Ben Dickey, a first-timer who A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 6.45 pm threatened to bring it all down. A RCC Sat 11 Aug, 1.30 pm doesn’t look it. After retiring from competing, Curry A LHP Sun 12 Aug, 3.15 pm

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH If I Leave Here Tomorrow: Monterey Pop A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd

Director: Stephen Kijak Director: D.A. Pennebaker USA 2018 | 95 mins USA 1968 | 79 mins Producer: John Battsek, With: The Mamas & the Papas, Diane Becker Canned Heat, Simon & Garfunkel, Photography: Derek Wiesehahn Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Editor: Claire Didier Airplane, Janis Joplin, Big Brother Music: Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Holding Company, With: Ronnie Van Zant, The Animals, The Who, Country Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Joe and the Fish, Otis Redding, Bob Burns, Leon Wilkeson, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Billy Powell, Ed King, Artimus Pyle, Ravi Shankar Steve Gaines & The Honkettes Festivals: Auckland 2003 Festivals: SXSW 2018 4K DCP | G cert

The story of Lynyrd Skynyrd is an epic guitar rock anthems such as ‘Free Bird’. Two years before Woodstock, the rock Shankar while a star-studded audience one, populated with extravagant There are Spinal Tap moments, festival was born and immediately hit sit enthralled. The revelatory brilliance characters and framed by dramatic particularly where perpetually its zenith in Monterey, California. John of the occasion shines clearer than events. No wonder fellow Southern disoriented drummer Bob Burns is Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas was ever in Criterion’s 50th anniversary rockers Drive-By Truckers once wrote an involved. There is political incorrectness: on the organising committee: his band 4K restoration, demanding this opera about them. But is it a tragedy or Skynyrd were famous for their and Simon & Garfunkel were seen as workout on a cinema sound system a comedy? confederate flags, substance abuse and the festival’s headliners, but it was the near you. Our return screening is We know from the start of this film ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, a riposte to mind-boggling array of wilder, breaking designed to obliterate all memories of how it will end, the night the band’s Neil Young and his stance on Southern talent that cemented this extraordinary a sorry moment in our own glorious plane plunges into a Mississippi swamp, racism that became an anthem. Yet by moment in musical history captured in history – a NZIFF03 Pennebaker tribute killing founder and lead singer Ronnie the end of this astonishing, shattering D.A. Pennebaker’s film. screening cancelled when the courier Van Zant and two other musicians, story I found I cared about Lynyrd The line-up was as eclectic as the lost the tape. leaving the remainder of the band Skynyrd a whole lot more than I ever dress code, including Jimi Hendrix, broken and bereft. And yet there is expected. — Nick Bollinger Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The also farce, as this bunch of blue-collar Who and – astounding a largely white Southern stoners make their improbable B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 2.15 pm audience who’d likely never seen a soul A EMB Sat 28 Jul, 3.45 pm way from a rehearsal barn in an A LHP Tue 31 Jul, 6.15 pm act before – Otis Redding. It’s a variety alligator-infested Florida swamp to the A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 1.00 pm show for the ages, culminating in a A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 6.45 pm rock arenas of the world, blaring triple- mesmerising sitar performance by Ravi 74 MUSIC & DANCE

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda

There is a musical biography embedded Director: Stephen Nomura Schible in this beautiful lyrical portrait of Japan/USA 2017 | 102 mins Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Producers: Eric Nyari, Hashimoto Yoshiko Photography: Neo Sora, Tom Richmond best known for his theme from Merry Editor: Kushida Hisayo Christmas, Mr Lawrence. There are Festivals: Venice, Amsterdam Documentary 2017 flashbacks to his 70s synth-pop days In Japanese and English, with English subtitles with Yellow Magic Orchestra, along with recent scenes of him in the studio, recording the orchestral score for 2015’s The Revenant. But for the most part it is a study of the composer at work. The meditative pace and contemplative detail gives us a sense of the intensity of Sakamoto’s relationship with sound, and the beauty he finds there. We follow him as he gathers his sonic materials from all kinds of sources – from the Arctic Circle, where he records snow melting (“the purest sound I ever heard”) to the contamination zone around the resonance. — Nick Bollinger Fukushima nuclear plant – and observe “The task of documenting a sensitive “This is a documentary as he begins to assemble these into creative person cursed and blessed that rejects every behind- compositions. with the unshakable need to address Yet the sound source he keeps the tragedies and joys of the human the-scenes cliché around, returning to is the piano. Early in the condition, even into old age, is heavy and stands as an film we see him testing an instrument enough to fuel multiple feature films. immensely moving and recovered from the tsunami of 2012. Schible, using a minimum of elements, Eerily out of tune, he says it feels makes deceptively light work of it, but inspiring piece of cinema A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 1.45 pm like “playing the corpse of a piano.” Coda’s impact lingers hours, even days in its own right.” A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 6.30 pm Later, speaking frankly about his own after the credits roll.” — Emily Yoshida, B RCC Mon 6 Aug, 2.15 pm — Robbie Collin, The Telegraph A LHP Tue 7 Aug, 8.15 pm mortality, these words take on a deeper Vulture

PRESENTED IN Ryuichi Sakamoto: Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. ASSOCIATION WITH async at the Park Avenue Armory

Director: Stephen Nomura Schible USA/Japan 2018 Director: Steve Loveridge 65 mins USA/UK/Sri Lanka 2018 Producers: Eric Nyari, 97 mins Stephen Nomura Schible, Photography: Graham Boonzaaier, Yoshiko Hashimoto Catherine Goldschmidt, Photography: Tom Richmond Matt Wainwright Editor: Hisayo Kushida Editors: Marina Katz, Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto Gabriel Rhodes With: Ryuichi Sakamoto Festivals: Sundance, Berlin 2018 Festivals: Berlin 2018 Special Jury Award, Sundance 2018 Blu-ray In English and Tamil, with English subtitles M violence, offensive language & content that may disturb

After seeing Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, hushed, reverential audience, Sakamoto An unconventional biography of a who was trained in a London art school we couldn’t get enough Sakamoto. We alternates between grand piano, defiantly unconventional pop star, this and steeped in US hip-hop. Her early were delighted to discover that director vintage synthesizer keyboard and laptop doco delivers a rousing and multifaceted aspiration of becoming a documentary Stephen Nomura Schible felt the computer. His professorial appearance portrait of Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. filmmaker means Loveridge has a same way and had followed through is as formal and impeccably tailored Her exceptional path from stardom – trove of electrifying pre- and post- immediately with this superb concert as the music; his expression furrowed, propelled by her megahit ‘Paper Planes’ fame footage to work with, which he movie. his silver swoop of hair swishing gently – to media pariah is charted by first- uses for a smart, lively investigation of “In April 2017, Ryuichi Sakamoto as he bows in concentration. This is a time documentarian Steve Loveridge, M.I.A.’s own vital themes: the lives of gave a live US premiere performance concert movie, but unusually intimate who attended art school with her in the immigrants worldwide, the plight of of his first new non-soundtrack album and intense, with ultra-sharp high-end 1990s. — MM the Sri Lankan people, and the question in eight years at the Veterans Room acoustics to capture every textural glitch “Loveridge’s movie is a fantastic of whether pop stars can make of the Park Avenue Armory in New and microtonal quiver in Sakamoto’s and kinetic fulfillment of Maya effective political activists.” — Spencer York City… async at the Park Avenue deluxe minimalist sound paintings.” Arulpragasam’s desire to be heard as Kornhaber, The Atlantic Armory is a straight audiovisual record — Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter more than an entertainer. Starting of the concert, low on frills but shot with her 2004 debut, M.I.A. beat A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 6.45 pm with the kind of forensically crisp C NT Mon 30 Jul, 12.30 pm an aesthetically game-changing and A ED Sat 28 Jul, 8.15 pm production polish that this absorbing, C NT Thu 2 Aug, 12.30 pm controversy-strewn path across pop A ED Sun 5 Aug, 2.00 pm immersive, intricate music deserves… C NT Fri 3 Aug, 12.30 pm culture, broadcasting her backstory as a B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 2.45 pm C NT Fri 10 Aug, 12.30 pm Playing solo in front of a select, Tamil revolutionary’s refugee daughter A LHP Sat 11 Aug, 8.15 pm MUSIC & DANCE 75

The Song Keepers

In Australia’s Central Desert, west Director/Screenplay: Naina Sen of Alice Springs, a 140-year musical Australia 2017 | 88 mins legacy of ancient Aboriginal languages Producers: Rachel Clements, Naina Sen, Trisha Morton-Thomas and German Baroque chorales is Photography: Chris Phillips, Naina Sen, being preserved by four generations Raoul Amaar Abbas Editors: Bergen O’Brien, Naina Sen of women who form the Central Music: Erkki Veltheim Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir. Festivals: Melbourne 2017 In English, Western Arrernte and Pitjantjatjara, The Lutheran hymns they sing were with English subtitles brought by missionaries who translated them into the local Arrarnta and PROUDLY SPONSORED BY Pitjantjatjara tongues. The rich choral harmonics of these 16th-century hymns feel innately sacred a world away from their origins, and no lover of the repertoire will want to miss this movie. The men in the communities have, for the most part, long defected from the missionary legacy which, several of the women here attest, disrupted traditional culture to protect women and children. Though it’s the arrival of Central Australia, her camera follows of a charismatic male conductor from the women to the small Lutheran “Naina Sen’s joyful, outside that galvanises the choir into churches of Germany, where they sing compassionate film about taking a tour of Germany, filmmaker to amazed German congregations. and installation artist Naina Sen’s film The choir’s joy is palpable (and the an Aboriginal women’s feels like privileged admission into an fun they have on the road is infectious). choir shows the complex, enclave of indigenous women. There's no simple takeaway from unexpected consequences B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 2.15 pm Sen spent three years alongside the this cross-cultural exchange, but its A PH Sat 4 Aug, 2.00 pm Women’s Choir where, she reports, complexity is underscored by the most of colonisation.” A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 6.00 pm “nothing happens without long-term uplifting language of all: human song. — Jack Latimore, The Guardian B PH Mon 6 Aug, 2.15 pm thought and consensus.” Earthed in B RX Wed 8 Aug, 1.00 pm the colourful landscapes and traditions A LHP Sun 12 Aug, 1.30 pm

Nico, 1988 Shut Up and Play the Piano

Director/Screenplay: Director/Screenplay: Susanna Nicchiarelli Philipp Jedicke Italy/Belgium 2017 Germany/France/UK 93 mins 2018 | 82 mins Photography: Crystel Fournier Photography: Marcus Winterbauer, Editor: Stefano Cravero Marcel Kolvenbach Music: Gatto Ciliegia contro il Editors: Henk Drees, Grande Freddo Carina Mergens With: Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Music: Chilly Gonzales Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, With: Chilly Gonzales, Peaches, Sandor Funtek Leslie Feist, Sibylle Berg, Festivals: Venice 2017; Jarvis Cocker Rotterdam, Tribeca 2018 Festivals: Berlin 2018 In English, German and Czech, In English, French and German, with English subtitles with English subtitles Censors rating tbc

“Approaching 50, singer-songwriter biopic of a singular figure in popular Chilly Gonzalez, punk, rapper, pianist, contradictions but are symbiotic parts Nico leads a solitary, low-key existence culture.” — Sydney Film Festival iconoclast, has worked with many of the same beast. He’s a punk but in Manchester, far from her glam days “In exploring the German singer’s zeitgeist artists, including Daft Punk, he appreciates infrastructure. He’s in the 1960s as a Warhol superstar life after her 1960s fame had waned, Peaches, Feist and Jarvis Cocker. He insincere yet his work is heartfelt. He’s and celebrated vocalist for The Velvet writer/director Susanna Nicchiarelli and is known for his piano albums full of a hack and a virtuoso. He is profound Underground. Unconcerned about her star Trine Dyrholm craft a late-career atmospheric vignettes where a man yet he frequently undercuts himself (the career, Nico is urged on by her new biopic that acts not only as a portrait who has so much to say lets his piano last line of the film is ‘Who touched manager to embark on a tour of Europe. of a complex figure, but recognises do the talking. These albums are my ass?’) Dependent on heroin, and usually in the considerable toll of daring not works of spare, shimmering beauty, This is everything you could want in a an unforgiving mood, Nico uses the to conform… Aesthetically and but beauty is not what interests Chilly film about an artist. It’s in your face and tour to try to re-establish a connection emotionally immersive… the movie Gonzalez; he has a higher (or is it uncompromising, profound and inane, with her son, from whom she’s long proves as accessible to newcomers as lower?) goal in mind. bitter and hilarious. Whether or not been separated. Nico is still a fearless it is to seasoned fans.” — Sarah Ward, In his own words: “An entertainer is you’re already a fan, this is a must-see. and extraordinary performer, and the Screendaily trying to make love to you, whereas an — Duncan Sarkies film captures both the missteps and the artist is more of a masturbator, because moments of glory. With what Variety B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 12.00 pm he wants to please himself.” Gonzalez A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 6.15 pm describes as a ‘zombie-pitch-­perfect’ A ED Sat 4 Aug, 2.45 pm claims to be the former but he is both. A RX Sun 5 Aug, 4.00 pm performance by Dyrholm (who sings A RCC Thu 9 Aug, 8.30 pm This duality is shown throughout the B RCC Thu 9 Aug, 4.45 pm herself), Nico, 1988 is an uncompromising film, full of what at first seem like 76

PRESENTED IN PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH Bombshell: ASSOCIATION WITH The Hedy Lamarr Story AN ARTIST AN OF PORTRAIT Director: Alexandra Dean USA 2017 | 90 mins Producers: Adam Haggiag, Alexandra Dean, Katherine Drew Photography: Buddy Squires Editors: Alexandra Dean, Penelope Falk, Lindy Jankura Music: Keegan Dewitt, Jeremy Bullock Voices: Susan Sarandon, Diane Kruger With: Mia Farrow, Mel Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Osborne Festivals: Tribeca, Vancouver 2017 Colour and B&W

In the heyday of the Hollywood studios Czech film Ecstasy. She was 19. In her the popular joke about Hedy Lamarr was later years her plastic surgery provided that she was so gorgeous that she need further fodder for tabloid gossip. not concern herself with acting. Though Alexandra Dean’s timely documentary the young Austrian émigré successfully draws extensively on a previously parlayed her looks into Hollywood star unpublished audio interview from power, she came to see her beauty 1990 to highlight Hedwig Eva Maria as a ‘curse’, something that blinded Kiesler’s multiple lives and unsung onlookers to a far more vital attribute: a accomplishments. This fully rounded brilliant mind for mechanics. Who knew portrait challenges the reductive notions that she had invented a ‘frequency about beauty vs brains that she, like so hopping’ system to conceal Allied many other shimmering screen sirens, torpedoes from Nazi locater systems? have been forced to endure. — SR (The science anticipated the technology that underlies WiFi and Bluetooth.) A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 6.15 pm Her international career began in B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 2.00 pm scandal: she performed naked and was A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 12.45 pm directed in such a way as to appear B PH Tue 7 Aug, 2.00 pm to be experiencing an orgasm in the A PH Sun 12 Aug, 1.00 pm

Filmworker

Director/Photography/ Editor: Tony Zierra USA 2017 | 94 mins Producer: Elizabeth Yoffe With: Leon Vitali, Stanley Kubrick, Ryan O’Neal, Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Danny Lloyd, Stellan Skarsgård, Brian Jamieson, Ned Price, Nick Redman, Vera Vitali, Warren Lieberfarb Festivals: Cannes (Cannes Classics), London, Amsterdam Documentary 2017

© LEON VITALI This portrait of Leon Vitali, who quit stepson of Ryan O’Neal’s eponymous acting to become all-purpose right- rogue in Barry Lyndon… But less hand man to Stanley Kubrick, doubles common knowledge is what became as a fascinating account of both men: of the pretty, soft-faced young man… the notoriously fastidious director and That’s the story that Filmworker tells, the utterly smitten, immensely able somewhat shaggily but with a great See also Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy (p18). facilitator who contributed crucially deal of infectious affection, and it builds to enacting his vision. to a deeply moving portrait of Vitali’s “Many words have been written, own gift: his genius for the kind of and doubtless many more will be, unquestioning dedication and steadfast about the filmmaking genius of Stanley graft that is seldom recognized in Kubrick. But if, as Thomas Edison the annals of cinema’s Great Men.” said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% — Jessica Kiang, The Playlist perspiration, Tony Zierra’s Filmworker is dedicated to the far less familiar name who contributed a great deal B RCC Fri 27 Jul, 2.45 pm of that sweat. A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 2.30 pm Leon Vitali is known to Kubrick A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 6.15 pm fans as Lord Bullingdon, the petulant PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST 77

Kusama – Infinity

Escaping a traumatic family upbringing Director/Screenplay: Heather Lenz in Japan, a young female artist hit USA 2018 | 83 mins 1960s New York determined to succeed. Producers: Karen Johnson, David Koh, Dan Braun, Heather Lenz Propelled by a psychological need to Photography: Hart Perry, Itaya Hideaki, make art for her own survival, Yayoi Ken Kobland, Takeda Shinpei Editors: Ideno Keita, Takeda Shinpei, Kusama’s extraordinary career has Carl Pfirman, Heather Lenz, Sam Karp, traversed highs and deep lows. Widely John Northrup, Nora Tennessen Music: Allyson Newman known for her polka dot covered With: Yayoi Kusama realities, she also staged public political Festivals: Sundance 2018 happenings as well as gate-crashing In English and Japanese, with English subtitles the Venice Biennale with an uninvited outdoor work. Routinely copied by male contemporaries such as Andy Warhol, she faced enormous hurdles of racism and sexism in the post-World War II American art world. Yet her relentless pursuit of recognition, and her ground- breaking use of participatory installation, eventually led her to the fame she © TOKYO LEE PRODUCTIONS INC. deserves. receives today. That’s the bittersweet Kusama literally transforms the world story of Yayoi Kusama, the 89-year-old “I hope that the power around her into colourful, boundary-less Japanese painter and sculptor whose of art can make the infinities. Now living, age 89, in a mental social-media-friendly mirror rooms have institution in Toyko, she continues to made her the most-viewed female world more peaceful.” output work which sells for millions. artist of all time. It’s vindication for a — Yayoi Kusama This is a riveting and comprehensive unique artistic vision that… created portrait of the world’s most successful soft sculptures before Claes Oldenburg, living female artist. — Jo Randerson multiples as wallpaper before Andy A EMB Sat 28 Jul, 11.00 am “Imagine if the unhappy Vincent van Warhol and mirrored rooms before B PH Thu 2 Aug, 12.15 pm Gogh had finally, in late middle age, Lucas Samaras.” — Kate Taylor, Globe A PH Sat 4 Aug, 6.30 pm A LHP Fri 10 Aug, 6.15 pm witnessed the acclaim that his work and Mail

Garry Winogrand: Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible All Things Are Photographable

Director/Producer/Editor: Director/Screenplay: Sasha Waters Freyer Axel Grigor USA 2018 | 90 mins Australia 2017 Photography: Eddie Marritz 81 mins Music: Ethan Winogrand Producers: Axel Grigor, Faramarz Festivals: SXSW, San Francisco K-Rahber 2018 Photography: Faramarz K-Rahber Editors: Axel Grigor, Scott Walton With: Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann, Shekhar Kapur, Rachel Griffiths, Philip Noyce Festivals: Adelaide 2017 M violence & content that may disturb

COURTESY OF SFFILM This sharp, critical biography of the generation, but doesn’t shy away from You may not know Jill Bilcock by name, to join Fred Schepisi's Film House in great American photographer presents the thornier aspects of his life and but you will undoubtedly have been Melbourne, a key player in the 1970s’ a gratifying array of his work, and career.” — San Francisco International moved her work on the big screen. rebirth of the Australian cinema is enriched with his own recorded, Film Festival One of the most sought-after editors industry. Knowing the measure of big, matter-of-fact observations. “This is a film primarily about in the world, Bilcock has been a crucial brash and brightly coloured scenes has “Garry Winogrand (1928–84) photography, one that explores Garry creative force behind such iconic films become her trademark, while breaking may be the foremost chronicler Winogrand’s tremendous contributions as Muriel's Wedding and Elizabeth, and tradition and working without rules is of post-World War II America. His to the art form and his lasting influence an indispensable influence since Strictly what has made her the go-to editor photographs – from the streets of on how we think of the medium Ballroom in shaping the aesthetic of for some of the boldest filmmakers in New York to the expanses of Texas today. But it is also a film that, I hope, Baz Luhrmann. Her bracing editing popular cinema. and the heart of Hollywood – provide explores and explodes the cliché of the style and uncompromising passion for A celebration of an unsung a rich and complex portrait of a nation undomesticated, self-destructive genius on-screen excitement have had a huge cinematic icon, Dancing the Invisible in transition. Sasha Waters Freyer’s – one who is fundamentally unsuited to impact on cinema. places Jill Bilcock in the spotlight she so gorgeous and lively look at the man family life.” — Sasha Waters Freyer Starting out at a small, experimental rightly deserves. — Kailey Carruthers and his work uses still images, home film programme at Swinburne movie footage, and revelatory recently A ED Sun 29 Jul, 3.45 pm University in the 1960s, Bilcock A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 6.45 pm discovered audio recordings to illustrate A ED Tue 31 Jul, 6.30 pm discovered a passion for cutting film. B RCC Fri 3 Aug, 4.45 pm why many consider Winogrand to B ED Fri 3 Aug, 1.15 pm Defying expectations as more than a A RCC Sat 4 Aug, 11.15 am A ED Sat 4 Aug, 11.15 am be the central photographer of his `pretty, blonde sheila', she was invited 78 PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST

McQueen

An astonishingly moving film, perfectly Directors: Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui attuned to its brilliant, troubled subject, UK 2018 | 111 mins McQueen relates the rags-to-riches- Producers: Nick Taussig, Paul Van Carter, Andee Ryder to-self-destruction trajectory of British Screenplay: Peter Ettedgui designer Alexander McQueen to the Photography: Will Pugh Editor: Cinzia Baldessari work itself with piercing acumen. Music: Michael Nyman Framing and sound design enhance the Festivals: Tribeca, Hot Docs 2018 ‘savage beauty’ of five legendary shows, Censors rating tbc their inherently cinematic nature now unleashed on the giant screen. “[Filmmakers] Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui are blessed with intimate, candid interviews with many of the people who worked closest with McQueen, as well as archival interviews with his late muse and booster Isabella Blow and his beloved mother Joyce… The shows are still the centerpieces of the film, but they take on new dimension as narrated by those who knew the designer best… His creativity fuelled a commercially What McQueen reminds those successful brand… But it also injected “Exceptionally moving… obsessives and laypeople alike is that an entire industry with possibility and a staggering visual feast.” fashion is an incredibly emotional art inspiration, and was cathartic like a form, and McQueen’s work was some great film or pop song, the operatic — Eve MacSweeney, Vogue of the most moving there was or ever awe of it all accessible to those who will be. His shows were more like will never so much as touch one of his works of modern dance or theater than haute couture creations. Bonhôte and B EMB Fri 27 Jul, 1.30 pm commercial exhibitions, in which the Ettedgui make it even more accessible… A PH Sat 28 Jul, 6.00 pm only choreography was the incredibly convincingly making the argument for B PH Tue 31 Jul, 4.00 pm heavy, deceptively expressive act of fashion as not just art, but great art.” A EMB Fri 3 Aug, 6.30 pm walking… — Emily Yoshida, Vulture A RX Tue 7 Aug, 6.15 pm

Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect McKellen: Playing the Part

Director: Mark Noonan Director: Joe Stephenson Ireland/France/Spain/ UK 2017 | 96 mins USA 2017 | 82 mins Producers: Joe Stephenson, Producer: John Flahive Mark Birmingham, Lene Bausager, Photography: Kate McCullough Sophia Gibber Editor: Jordan Montminy Photography: Eben Bolter Music: David Geraghty Editors: Joe Stephenson, With: Kevin Roche Harry Yendell Music: Peter Gabriel With: Sir Ian McKellen, Scott Chambers, Milo Parker, Luke Evans, Frances Barber, Adam Brown, Edward Petherbridge

Filmmaker Mark Noonan profiles a anybody’s ego. He’s described by Throughout this autobiographical mostly from a 14-hour interview with contemporary icon in this lovely, life- his peers as a consummate problem documentary, we are presented with McKellen, supplementing it with black- affirming portrait of Kevin Roche, one solver, a relentlessly dedicated worker a number of Sir Ian McKellens, and-white dramatisations and archival of the great architects of the modern (at 94 years old he has no plans for including the actor, the gay rights material of a younger McKellen treading era. An Irish immigrant who moved to retirement) and a humble thinker activist, and the ‘concerned older gent’. the boards across the UK. For those the United States in 1949, Roche has who’s always seen life and work as Speaking with the gravitas that only who have only ever known McKellen presided over some of the country’s inextricable. The effect of this warm, hindsight can provide, McKellen recalls as James Whale, Magneto or Gandalf, most beloved architectural touchstones: graceful film is similar to that of last the pivotal moments in his life through watching this archival footage is both the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the year’s NZIFF highlight Columbus, a love to his career as the leading classical an illumination and a confirmation Oakland Museum, the Ford Foundation letter to architecture that doubles as a actor of his generation, working with – he’s one of those rare actors who and many more. Noonan’s film meditation on the human condition. the likes of Maggie Smith, Albert seemingly emerged fully formed, alternates between lovingly-lensed, sun- Incidentally, most of the key buildings Finney and Laurence Olivier. McKellen capable of taking on the meatiest roles dappled tours of his career highlights featured in that film were designed by recounts his longstanding fascination in the theatrical canon. — Chris Tse and interviews that delve into his Roche and his firm. — JF with the idea of performance and process, philosophy and work ethic. how it finds its way into the everyday, Roche’s work is renowned for being B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 12.30 pm from market stall holders hawking A RCC Fri 27 Jul, 6.30 pm human-oriented, creating buildings and B PH Wed 1 Aug, 12.15 pm their wares to the fake accent he put B RCC Mon 30 Jul, 11.45 am environments that serve the people A RCC Mon 6 Aug, 6.30 pm on to help him fit in at school. A PH Mon 6 Aug, 6.15 pm A PH Tue 7 Aug, 8.30 pm B PH Wed 8 Aug, 1.45 pm who inhabit them before serving Filmmaker Joe Stephenson draws PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST 79

The Price of Everything

An eye-opening and highly entertaining Director: Nathaniel Kahn ride through the excesses of the USA 2018 | 105 mins contemporary art market, The Price of Producers: Jennifer Blei Stockman, Debi Wisch, Carla Solomon Everything loosely tracks the lead-up Photography: Bob Richman to a major Sotheby's auction in New Editor: Sabine Krayenbühl Music: Jeff Beal York City. This is a world in which visual With: Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter, Njideka Akunyili art “has become a luxury brand,” an Crosby, Larry Poons acceptable, if not essential part of any Festivals: Sundance 2018 self-respecting super-wealthy investor’s PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH portfolio. Works are traded like stocks. There is even a futures market. Oscar-nominated director Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) has won extraordinary access to this strange and at times intoxicating bazaar. Conceptual artist Jeff Koons guides us through the workshop where, under his instructions, technicians knock out artefacts that will sell for tens of millions despite his barely having touched them. As Zen as a comic- make beautiful things – keep it floating,” book supervillain, Koons has mastered he chuckles. At the film’s heart is Larry “A brilliant and captivating the marketplace. Some artists, not so Poons, the abstract painter who enjoyed documentary about much; they watch their works being a burst of stardom in the 60s before onsold between collectors without disappearing from view. After decades how the art world got getting so much as a sliver of kickback. of artist exile in upstate New York, converted into a money Among the other characters we meet Poons has put a new collection together; market.” — Owen Gleiberman, along the way are the auction house’s a dealer is enthusiastically arranging a B RX Fri 27 Jul, 1.00 pm encyclopaedic art expert, who disdains comeback show in Manhattan for an Variety A EMB Sun 5 Aug, 1.00 pm sales to public galleries and lives for underappreciated talent. Or, to put it B RCC Fri 10 Aug, 11.15 am “the chase and the deal,” and an another way, for an undervalued stock. A PH Sat 11 Aug, 11.00 am amiable, ancient collector. “Bubbles — Toby Manhire A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 1.30 pm

PRESENTED IN A Sculptor’s Journey Westwood: ASSOCIATION WITH Punk, Icon, Activist

Director: Lorna Tucker Jeff McDonald* UK 2018 | 78 mins Director/Producer: Producers: Eleanor Emptage, Jeff McDonald Shirine Best, Nicole Stott, John Battsek New Zealand 2018 Editor: Paul Carlin 52 mins Music: Dan Jones Photography: Jeff McDonald, Festivals: Sundance, Sydney 2018 Steve Unwin, Hans Weston Editor: Bridget Lyons With: Sabin Howard, Richard Taylor, James Doyle, Traci L. Slatton, Joe Weishaar

American sculptor Sabin Howard has work in such a short amount of time. Dame Vivienne Westwood, Britain’s most Using great archival footage with been commissioned to contribute a This is where Wellington’s own wizards iconic and iconoclastic fashion designer, commentary from friends and family, massive sculpture for the National WWI of effects, Weta Workshop, come in. emerged from the punk movement in curators, back of house staff, models, Memorial planned for Pershing Park With their technical nous and state- the 1970s but has always drawn deeply Teutonic husband/design partner in Washington, DC. The move into of-the-art model making techniques, from historical sources in her collections. Andreas Kronthaler and above all a the intensive, collaborative nature of Sir Richard Taylor and the Weta crew Those most familiar with Westwood’s blunt and caustic Westwood herself, creating a lasting piece of public art become crucial participants in helping well-documented punk back-story Tucker has managed to craft an is a challenging one for Howard, who Howard to achieve his epic vision. might be surprised to find the engaging rags to riches to rags to riches is more used to creating his classically Filmmaker Jeff McDonald follows the septuagenarian subject is too bored story that is as much about the nuts influenced figurative sculptures in his process as Howard comes to Wellington with it to repeat the familiar stories and bolts of the business of fashion as Bronx studio. to prepare the maquette, but with to director Lorna Tucker. But Tucker it is about Westwood’s own inimitable Howard conceptualises an immense approval needed from four different has deftly turned potential chaos – a sense of style. — Angela Lassig relief sculpture for the site that follows government agencies, will it be enough reluctant interviewee squirming in her the journey of a soldier throughout to convince the gatekeepers? — MM chair – into the anchor for her portrait: the war. He needs to create a maquette a compelling insight into what it is B PH Fri 3 Aug, 12.00 pm – a preliminary model on a smaller A RX Sat 4 Aug, 3.15 pm* to be the aging head of a major, and A PH Sun 5 Aug, 5.45 pm scale – of his vision in order to receive C NT Tue 7 Aug, 1.30 pm fiercely independent, fashion house that B EMB Tue 7 Aug, 11.15 am final approval, but Howard knows he C NT Wed 8 Aug, 12.15 pm continues to grow, perhaps faster than A RX Fri 10 Aug, 6.15 pm willl need help to create such a huge she can handle. A EMB Sun 12 Aug, 11.15 am 80

Blue My Mind STRANGE INCREDIBLY Director/Screenplay: Lisa Brühlmann Switzerland 2017 97 mins Photography: Gabriel Lobos Editor: Noëmi Preiswerk Music: Thomas Kuratli With: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, Regula Grauwiller, Georg Scharegg, Lou Haltinner, Yaël Meier Festivals: San Sebastián, Fantastic Fest 2017; Rotterdam 2018 In German with English subtitles CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc

This sensual and visceral coming-of- explores with wild abandon the usual age tale began as a thesis project youth cocktail of sex, drugs and crime. and has since transformed into an The queen of the clique, Gianna, begins award-winning exploration of teenage to crush on Mia just as she spirals out rebellion and body horror. It’s one of and begins a transformation. Mia is those less-said-the-better deals, so we’ll completely unaware that inside of her is keep it simple. Directing with care and a genetic time-bomb about to explode. conviction, the talented Lisa Brühlmann Life will never be the same again. draws from the classic sexual awakening A beautiful balancing act that of De Palma’s Carrie and meshes it effortlessly skips between tones, Blue with the angst of femme-centric ‘beast My Mind makes for a singular, shocking, inside’ films like Ginger Snaps, all the raucous, poignant and heartbreaking while evoking the stark realism of look at one’s unavoidable destiny. — AT Andrea Arnold (American Honey). Mia is the new kid in high school, alienated from classmates and at odds A ED Sat 28 Jul, 6.15 pm with her frustrated parents. Eventually A RCC Thu 2 Aug, 8.15 pm her toughness wins favour with a trio A ED Fri 10 Aug, 8.15 pm of neighbourhood ‘Heathers’ as she

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn

Director: Jim Hosking UK/USA 2018 | 108 mins Producers: Sam Bisbee, Theodora Dunlap, Oliver Roskill, Emily Leo, Lucan Toh, Andrew Starke Screenplay: Jim Hosking, David Wike Photography: Nanu Segal Editors: Mark Burnett, Nick Emerson Music: Andrew Hung With: Aubrey Plaza, Emile Hirsch, Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry, Craig Robinson Festivals: Sundance 2018 Censors rating tbc

Films selected to keep you wide awake “Three Stooges meets David Lynch… scheme to bail them out of financial Jim Hosking’s [The Greasy Strangler, troubles with a ludicrous robbery, and save NZIFF from respectability by NZIFF16] sophomore effort… [is] a and an inexplicably awkward [Kiwi] Ant Timpson, founder of the legendary playful and often charming blend of hitman named Colin (Jemaine Clement) outré humor and genuine emotion that emerges to get it back. Incredibly Strange Film Festival. makes him one of the most distinctive Clement refines his deadpan stylings new voices in current cinema. to create a touching loner trapped in The evening in question provides a world that treasures mean-spirited the climax for a series of oddball gags, while Plaza’s Lulu endows the circumstances… Shane Danger (Emile movie with a soulful yearning that Hirsch), the cafe owner in a rural town, bolsters its goofiness with purpose… learns that he must cut back on his This otherworldly realm of a movie… staff to make ends meet. So he cans adheres to a logic of total absurdity.” his wife, Lulu Danger (Aubrey Plaza)… — Eric Kohn, Indiewire Late at night, she sees a TV commercial for the eponymous event, and instantly A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 8.45 pm recognizes Beverly (Craig Robinson) as B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 4.15 pm a mysterious figure from her past… A RX Fri 3 Aug, 6.15 pm [Meanwhile], Shane concocts a lunatic INCREDIBLY STRANGE 81

Climax

When Argentinian-born, French director Gaspar Noé (Irréversible, Enter the Void) stages a techno dance musical, you’d Director/Screenplay: Gaspar Noé be naive not to be expecting LSD in the France 2018 | 96 mins Producers: Edouard Weil, Vincent Maraval, sangria. Noé’s new film, acclaimed at Brahim Chioua Cannes, is a brilliantly staged descent Photography: Benoît Debie Editors: Denis Bedlow, Gaspar Noé from dancefloor nirvana (captured in With: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, one enthralling single take) to paranoid Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile, Claude Ajan Maull, Giselle Palmer, inferno. The film, with its diverse cast Taylor Kastle, Thea Carla Schøtt, Sharleen Temple, of virtuoso dancers joined by Sofia Lea Vlamos, Alaia Alsafir, Kendall Mugler Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), Boutella, was choreographed and shot Sydney 2018 in a remarkable 15 days. Revelling in In French and English, with English subtitles sex, drugs, dance and dread, Climax CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc offers the year’s most visceral big screen PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH experience. “Noé may actually have a critical darling on his hands. And for good reason, as Climax is more brilliantly deranged, in its microscopic vision of society in collapse, than anything the director has ever inflicted on Climax isn’t just 90-some minutes of us. It is a party movie gone epically sustained sex, violence, and panic – a “A blazingly original, awry, a claustrophobic zombie- rollercoaster ride of very bad vibrations. extremely disturbing apocalypse potboiler in abstract, even In the hedonistic, mass-hysteric a kind of ecstatically Satanic dancehall implosion of the film’s surrogate family film… a psychotropic musical. And it finds, for once, the – a wide cross section of ethnicities and street dance movie that perfect application of Noé’s abrasive, sexual orientations – one can see the turns into an orgiastic showboating, hallucinatory style, portrait of a multicultural Europe tearing locking the audience itself into the itself apart from the inside… He’s made horror trip.” — Jonathan A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 9.15 pm world’s worst collective freak-out, a a horror movie of uncommon topicality Romney, Screendaily B EMB Fri 10 Aug, 4.00 pm drug-trip straight to the inner circles and resonance: a danceable nightmare A EMB Sat 11 Aug, 9.30 pm A RX Sun 12 Aug, 8.30 pm of hell… for our now.” — A. A. Dowd, AV Club

The Field Guide to Evil Let the Corpses Tan

Directors: Veronika Hélène Cattet Franz, Severin Fiala, Bruno Forzani Can Evrenol, Agnieszka Directors: Hélène Cattet, Smoczyn’ska, Calvin Bruno Forzani Reeder, Ashim Ahluwalia, Belgium/France 2017 Yannis Veslemes, Katrin 93 mins Gebbe, Peter Strickland Screenplay: Hélène Cattet, New Zealand/USA 2018 With: Elina Löwensohn, Stéphane Ferrara, Bernie Bonvoisin 117 mins Festivals: Locarno, Toronto, Festivals: SXSW, Sydney 2018 Fantastic Fest, London 2017; In English, German, Turkish, Polish Rotterdam 2018 and Greek, with English subtitles In French with English subtitles R16 violence, horror, offensive CinemaScope | R16 violence & sex language & sexual themes scenes

From the sick and twisted minds that delivers a dose of campy fun with his Belgian duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Mediterranean home. Before you brought us the cult horror anthology, outrageous American ‘folktale’ about Forzani are genre exhibitionists who pay can say ‘gimme a pastis’, leather- The ABCs of Death (including Incredibly a mob of cannibalistic Melonheads homage to the films they are possessed clad gendarmes turn up, along with Strange’s own devious maestro Ant and, if Guy Maddin were a closet by, constructing an obsessive body of Bernier’s young wife, his son and the Timpson), comes this new omnibus gorehound, he might have made a film work devoted to painstakingly fetishistic hot nanny. collection of short, but terrifying tales like Peter Strickland’s stylish Hungarian tableaux of exploitation artifice. Once all the psychodrama is laid out, from around the globe. Ant and his pantomime about two brothers vying Fans of The Love Witch know the Cattet and Forzani flip the archetypal cohorts have corralled nine of the most for the heart of a beautiful princess. drill. The directors previously tackled Euro-crime switch and deliver a feast talented genre filmmakers working Also featured is Lovecraftian terror giallo with the visceral and psychedelic of solarised visuals, excessive nudity, today and tasked them with reinventing in the swamps of India, baby snatching Amer, and with their latest they are surrealist flashbacks and hyper-manic a classic folktale from their homeland. spirits from Turkey, a tormented goblin submerging themselves in the violent shoot-outs. This is going to either be Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala from the pits of hell (via Greece) and a European crime thrillers of the 1970s. your favourite new film or a stimulus channel the softcore delights of 1970s spooky mouse demon from Germany. Based on the cult novel by Jean-Patrick overload so severe your synapses won’t eurotrash auteur Walerian Borowcyzk, — MM Manchette and Jean-Pierre Bastid, fully recover. — AT with their tale of forbidden love and Let the Corpses Tan tells the story of horrifying guilt set in medieval Austria, A RCC Sun 5 Aug, 8.45 pm eccentric booze-addled writer Bernier A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 8.15 pm while Agnieszka Smoczynska presents A RCC Thu 9 Aug, 9.15 pm and various assorted flotsam – the B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 3.45 pm a grotesque tale of bloody-minded latest being a carload of robbers with ambition from Poland. Calvin Reeder a stash of gold who invade his idyllic 82 INCREDIBLY STRANGE

Mandy

It was labelled the ‘midnight-iest’ of Director: Panos Cosmatos midnight films at this year’s Sundance USA 2018 | 121 mins Film Festival. It promised Nicolas Cage Producers: Adrian Politowski, Martin Metz, Nate Bolotin, Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, in full beast mode surrounded by Elijah Wood dream fugues, animation, psychedelia Screenplay: Panos Cosmatos, Aaron Stewart-Ahn Photography: Benjamin Loeb and demonic symbolism. And it Editor: Brett W. Bachman delivered on those promises and more. Music: Jóhann Jóhannsson With: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Now it’s your turn – to turn up, tune in Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, and wig the f-out. Bill Duke, Richard Brake Festivals: Sundance, Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) Director Panos Cosmatos’ debut 2018 feature, the surreal and atmospheric CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc Beyond the Black Rainbow, was a real PROUDLY SPONSORED BY eye-opener, but now he’s back to rip your eyes out. Things begin quietly and soothingly enough in his sophomore effort as we meet lumberjack Red (Cage), who lives with his beloved Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) in a remote cabin – an enviable idyllic co-existence that involves lazing under blankets beneath moonlight and acid wasp-sting ritual before posing the whispering sweet nothings. Before long, terrifying question, “Do you like The “Were scientists to into this Prozaced wilderness rom-com Carpenters?” Eventually Red breaks engineer an uncut, comes The Children of the New Dawn loose (just before all hell does) as the – a cult run by Jeremiah (Linus Roache), narrative dissolves like strong lysergic 100-proof cult sensation, who has eyes for Mandy and demands acid and begins invoking the aesthetic it would probably look, “Get me that girl!” to his followers. of fantasy novels and heavy metal sound, and kick like this.” After suiting up in their Frank imagery. As Red, Cage is gloriously and Frazetta-inspired heavy metal armour, ferociously over-the-top, taking us along — A.A. Dowd, AV Club B ED Wed 1 Aug, 4.15 pm the cult descends on the couple’s on one hell of a vengeance-seeking, A ED Thu 2 Aug, 8.45 pm tranquil abode, overpowering Red, tripping-balls-to-the-max path of A EMB Sat 4 Aug, 9.15 pm A RX Thu 9 Aug, 8.15 pm kidnapping Mandy and performing an bloodlust and spiritual salvation. — AT

IT JUST TASTES Piercing

BIGGER Director: Nicolas Pesce USA 2018 | 81 mins Producers: Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Schuyler Weiss, Jacob Wasserman Screenplay: Nicolas Pesce. Based on the novel by Murakami Ryu Photography: Zachary Galler Editor: Sofía Subercaseaux With: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Marin Ireland, Maria Dizzia, Wendell Pierce Festivals: Sundance, Rotterdam, Sydney, Edinburgh 2018 Censors rating tbc

Gorgeously adapted from Murakami (Mia Wasikowska), turns out to be Ryu’s cult novel, Piercing centres on much more of a willing participant handsome Reed (Christopher Abbott), in his sadistic fetishism than he ever a husband and father afflicted by a bargained for. troubling preoccupation to impale his Pesce dresses the luridness in a baby with an ice pick… showy style, replete with reality- Okay, stop right there. I realise that smashing miniatures, aural and visual many may want to skip ahead, but retro-aestheticism, and the starkly please don’t. This is a very black, very erotic interior design of euro-thrillers. grisly comedy with a brilliantly sustained It’s all executed with a deep knowledge provocation that lasts right up until its of cinema, an idiosyncratic vision and sumptuous blood-drenched climax. an outstanding collection of icepicks, Nicolas Pesce’s (The Eyes of My bondage gear, ropes, razorblades and Mother) psycho-sexual two-hander flesh-eating beetles. — AT begins with Reed miming his dark impulses – a funny scene of rehearsal A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 9.00 pm where he acts out every meticulous A ED Fri 3 Aug, 8.45 pm movement in a planned murder. B RCC Tue 7 Aug, 4.45 pm www.epicbeer.com However, his target, call girl Jackie

00226-epic-film-fest-ad-01.indd 2 1/06/10 8:50 AM INCREDIBLY STRANGE 83

Mega Time Squad

Tim van Dammen made his name as an Tim van Dammen award-winning music video director in the UK and New Zealand, but it was his Director/Screenplay: Tim van Dammen feature debut, Romeo and Juliet: A Love New Zealand 2018 | 79 mins Producer: Anna Duckworth Song, that garnered major attention. Photography: Tim Flower He’s now back with an utterly bonkers Editor: Luke Haigh time-shifting crime caper set in the Music: Mike Newport With: Anton Tennet, Jonny Brugh, Milo Cawthorne, thriving metropolis of… Thames. Hetty Gaskall-Haan, Josh McKenzie, Arlo Gibson, Anton Tennet is John, a small-town Jaya Beach-Robertson, Tian Tan, Mick Innes CinemaScope | Censors rating tbc criminal with a heart of gold and a mind like melted hokey pokey. John dreams of getting enough money to move to bustling Paeroa with Kelly, his boss Shelton’s sister. Sent by Shelton to rob the local triad, John snags an ancient Chinese bracelet with mysterious powers. Absconding with the stolen cash, he uses the bracelet’s time-travelling properties to escape his enraged boss, only to discover that when you start altering timelines, nothing will hopeful veneer that could only come ever quite be the same again. from a filmmaker who once worked “This is Parawai, Terry, This laconic action comedy features at Pak‘nSave Thames. — AT not America. We're not a fully committed cast, and an inspired “Mega Time Squad celebrates performance from genre stalwart Jonny Kiwi-ness, particularly the way Kiwis made-a guns.” — Shelton Brugh. Wearing its cinematic influences speak. The film is speckled with a like a badge of honour – from the fair few four-letter words, but if you goofy mysticism and inspired action chill out and listen to the rhythm, it’s sequences of Hong Kong cinema, to like relaxing profane music. I just hope A RCC Thu 9 Aug, 9.00 pm the rapid-fire repartee of contemporary people can leave their worries at B RCC Fri 10 Aug, 4.15 pm crime comedies – Mega Time Squad the door, come in and have a laugh.” is not only a blast, but is wrapped in a — Tim van Dammen

Terrified What Keeps You Alive Aterrados

Director/Screenplay/ Director/Screenplay/ Music: Demián Rugna Editor: Colin Minihan Argentina 2017 | 87 mins Canada 2018 | 99 mins Producer: Fernando Díaz Producers: Kurtis David Harder, Photography: Mariano Suárez Chris Ball, Ben Knechtel, Editor: Lionel Cornistein Colin Minihan With: Maxi Ghione, Elvira Onetto, Photography: David Schuurman Norberto Gonzalo, George Lewis, Music: Brittany Allen Demián Salomón, Agustín Rittano, With: Hannah Emily Anderson, Julieta Vallina, Natalia Señorales Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac, In Spanish with English subtitles Joey Klein Censors rating tbc Festivals: SXSW, Sydney 2018 Censors rating tbc

Audiences were besieged with spooky death by a weary cop (near retirement, They say love is blind, but they fail to between them, right? But when an tales in a tsunami of creepiness of course) and his cohorts. The cop is mention the blood, guns, knives and old friend comes knocking, we get the following the J-horror boom, a wave baffled at first, but when paranormal murder that can come with it. Luckily uneasy feeling that Jackie is keeping an of scary movies propelled by the likes activity starts getting its spook on, it Colin Minihan’s twisting thriller is here even bigger secret. As Jules’ suspicion of The Ring, The Grudge and their US is time to call in the experts – three to remind us that love comes in all grows and other characters rear their remakes. Most of their imitators stank senior citizens who know a thing or shades and spatters. heads, cracks start appearing, and and it took the Insidious and Conjuring two about bumps in the night; only A slow-burn affair that takes time bones start cracking. films to re-energise old haunts. For this time things aren’t quite what they setting the scene before abruptly One half of cult filmmaking duo the those who can’t get enough of these seem. This is one insane south-of-the- veering into a high-stakes Grand Vicious Brothers (Grave Encounters), freak-outs, you’re going to love this border poltergeist empanada, chock- Guignol, What Keeps You Alive Minihan’s intimate understanding of the batshit-bonkers exercise in terror that full of meaty frights and helmed by a centres on Jackie and Jules, a couple genre allows him to turn it inside out revels in delivering a ridiculously high possibly unhinged director with a highly celebrating their one-year anniversary on a dime. In this fun, satisfying and ratio of scares per sequence throughout developed imagination and flair for the with a romantic getaway at a family surprising thrill-ride, he knows all the its taut running time. freaky. — AT lake house. Two women, alone, in beats and how to subvert them. — AT From the first minute, Argentinian love and in the wilderness – what horror Terrified cranks the terror A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 9.15 pm could possibly go wrong? At first, just A RCC Fri 3 Aug, 8.30 pm dial to 11, opening with a brilliantly A RCC Fri 10 Aug, 8.45 pm tiny things, like Jules finding out that A RCC Sun 12 Aug, 8.15 pm bloody sequence that draws us into Jackie’s name was originally Megan. No an ongoing investigation of a strange biggie – all couples have a few secrets 84

Meet the Filmmakers As we go to print, the following international guests have confirmed their attendance at NZIFF in Wellington. These filmmakers will introduce their films and answer questions following the screening of the sessions indicated. Debra Granik Hélène Cattet Benjamin Gilmour A EMB Sun 29 Jul, 6.00 pm Bruno Forzani A RCC Sat 28 Jul, 8.30 pm B EMB Mon 30 Jul, 12.45 pm A RCC Mon 30 Jul, 8.15 pm A RX Sun 29 Jul, 1.00 pm B RCC Tue 31 Jul, 3.45 pm Debra Granik is the director Benjamin Gilmour is an and co-writer of Winter’s Hélène Cattet and Bruno Australian filmmaker, author Bone. Nominated for four Forzani are a married and paramedic, based in Oscars, including Best Picture, filmmaking couple from Northern NSW. He was a guest it featured John Hawkes Brussels, Belgium. From their of NZIFF in 2009 with his debut and Jennifer Lawrence in early short film collaborations feature film, Son of a Lion. her breakthrough role. Granik and co-writer Anne through to their feature debut and beyond, they Jirga (p22), shot secretly in Afghanistan with hardly Rosellini were also Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted have co-directed all of their films. Amer (2009) any money or resources, reunites Gilmour with the Screenplay. Her first film, Down to the Bone, won and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013) Pashtun people he worked closely with on Son of Granik the Best Director prize at Sundance 2004. introduced the couple’s distinctive postmodern vision, a Lion. Fighting against the prevailing stereotype of Based on Peter Rock’s novel My Abandonment – a one inspired by the Italian giallo genre and vintage Afghans as extremists, the film portrays the lives of fictionised version of the true story of a Portland girl exploitation cinema, to film festival audiences and art- ordinary Afghan Muslims, seen through the eyes of and her father who were discovered to have been horror fans alike. Their first feature, Amer, screened an Australian solider (Sam Smith) seeking forgiveness living for years in the nature preserve bordering the as part of NZIFF’s Incredibly Strange programme in for a civilian he accidentally killed during the war. city – Leave No Trace (p7) is Granik’s fourth feature. 2010, while they also contributed a segment (‘O is Gilmour’s paramedic work led him to the film The film, which premiered at Sundance 2018 and for Orgasm’) to the Ant Timpson-produced The ABCs industry, originally working as an on-set nurse. He is screened as part of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, of Death horror anthology in 2012. also a published author, with titles including Warrior stars Ben Foster and New Zealand actress Thomasin Cattet and Forzani’s new feature, Let the Corpses Poets: Guns, Movie-making and the Wild West of Harcourt McKenzie. Tan (p81), expands their range of influences to Pakistan, Paramedico – Around the World include spaghetti Westerns and Italian crime films by Ambulance and children’s book The Travel Bug. Soda_Jerk of the 1960s and ’70s. Based on the cult novel by A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 4.15 pm French crime novelists Jean-Patrick Manchette and Sari Braithwaite A RCC Sun 29 Jul, 8.00 pm Jean-Pierre Bastid, the screen adaptation has been A RCC Tue 7 Aug, 6.30 pm B RCC Wed 8 Aug, 11.30 am Soda_Jerk, formed by more than ten years in the making. sisters Dan and Dominique Sari Braithwaite is a Angeloro in Sydney 2002, is a Tina Brown filmmaker who works across two-person art collective. Dyana Winkler the disciplines of history and Working at the intersection A RCC Wed 1 Aug, 6.15 pm film. Her documentary films B RCC Thu 2 Aug, 11.00 am of documentary and have played at the Melbourne, speculative fiction, Soda_Jerk is fundamentally As co-directors, United Skates Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra interested in the politics of images: how they (p67) is Tina Brown and Dyana and Antenna Film Festivals, and at the BFI in circulate, whom they benefit and how they can be Winkler’s first feature-length London. She was a recipient of the 2015 AFTRS undone. Their sample-based practice takes the form documentary. Delving into Creative Fellowship to create her first feature length of films, video installations, cut-up texts and lecture the endangered future of experimental work [CENSORED] (p50). performances. TERROR NULLIUS (p57) is a collage film an American pastime – the In creating [CENSORED], Braithwaite spent months assembled from hundreds of excepts from movies roller-skating rink – their film surveying the thousands of ‘celluloid scraps’ excised and TV shows. The artists describe the work as “part is also a vibrant chronicle of by censors between 1958–1971 and stored in the political satire, eco-horror and road movie,” taking the importance of these social National Archives of Australia. She describes the place in “a world in which minorities and animals venues to African-American resulting film as about “the female gaze, but more conspire, and not-so-nice white guys finish last.” communities and hip-hop accurately, it looks to exploit and expose the male Based in New York since 2012, they have exhibited culture. gaze from a female perspective. [CENSORED] exposes in museums, galleries, cinemas and torrent sites. Tina Brown is a Vietnamese- the problems of our spectatorship, with the hope that Australian filmmaker. Based in in questioning the screen, and questioning ourselves, New York for more than 20 years, she has worked in we can be more active spectators.” media and entertainment through various roles, from Shorts with Features film publicist to producer, and now filmmaker. In Gabrielle Brady As we go to print the following shorts have 2009, she co-founded 2300 Films with her husband, A RCC Tue 31 Jul, 6.30 pm been scheduled to precede features. multi Emmy-award winning Director of Photography B RCC Wed 1 Aug, 11.15 am Matt Peterson, who also served as United Skates’ Gabrielle Brady is an The Heart of Spring cinematographer. She also co-produced the Australian filmmaker who China/New Zealand 2017 | Director: Chen Chen | 10 mins award-winning documentary Dear Mandela, which specialises in documentary was supported by the Sundance Institute and was A woman searches for traces of her mother who and hybrid films. She studied nominated for an African Academy Award. disappeared during the Cultural Revolution. Screening documentary direction at Dyana Winkler is a filmmaker based in Los with The Seen and Unseen (p34). the Cuban International Angeles. For nearly a decade she worked full-time Film School (EICTV), and for the past ten years has I Will Not Write Unless I Am supporting filmmakers at the Sundance Institute lived between Cuba, Mongolia, Indonesia, the Swaddled in Furs Documentary Film Program and later the Tribeca Australian central desert and Europe. Her short film Film Institute Feature Film Program. She has also Island (2017), which focused on Christmas Island’s New Zealand 2017 | Director: Wade Shotter | 6 mins programmed for the Sundance and Outfest Film refugee detention centre and the surrounding eco- A fussy writer battles his large ego and high expectations Festivals. Her most recent narrative screenplay, system, was commissioned as part of The Guardian to create a work of art. Screening with Juliet, Naked (p38). Bell, was awarded the 2016 Sundance Sloan documentary series and expanded into her first Commissioning and 2017 SFFILM Science in Film feature, Island of the Hungry Ghosts (p63). Mum Jeans Grants, and was part of the 2017 Sundance New Zealand 2018 | Director: Anna Duckworth | 8 mins Screenwriter’s Lab. Straddling the worlds of both A new mum struggles to find a balance between fiction and documentary, Winkler is a firm believer individualism and motherhood. Screening with that filmmaking is less about the genre, and more Loveling (p25). about the ability listen and tell a good story. 85

Without Whom

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Ceneciarelli, Carmen Accaputo, Cineteca di Bologna, Morris, Dan Slevin, Radio New Zealand; Jo Brajkovich, Kumeu River Wines; Quinton Hita, Karen Bologna; Jitka Procházková, Czech Televsion, Prague; IN MELBOURNE Randerson; Kirstie Ross; Tim Clarke, Philippa Te O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble, Kura Productions Ltd; Anne-Marie Kürstein, Thomas C. Christensen, Whitelaw, Russell McVeagh; Duncan Sarkies; Debbie Fox, Lanyards Only; Ilai Amar, Leopold Wave; Kristy Mathieson, ACMI; Tony Ianiro, Backlot Studios; Marianne Jerris, Lizette Gram, Madeleine Schlawitz, Michelle Savill; Tim Prebble, Soundbite; Chris Tse; Jim Rendell and the team, Nicholson Print Solutions, Lizzette Atkins; Sari Braithwaite; Sue Maslin, Film Art Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen; Christina Liapi, Graeme Tuckett; Douglas Easterley, School of Andrew Cozens, Luke Murray, Jonno Young, Media; Simon Killen, Dan O’Malley, Hi Gloss Heretic Outreach, Athens, Greece; Tessa Hoffe, Design, Victoria University of Wellington; Felicity Madman Entertainment; Jake Mahaffy; Shaun Entertainment; Eddie Tamir, Tamar Simons, Erin Salford, UK; Christof Wehmeier, Icelandic Film Rosenberg, Jewish International Film Festival; Tait Birch, Tracy Morrah, Luke Tobin, Wellington City Buffett, Amy Frecklington, Shanlea Hibbs, Keeley Centre, Helsinki; Dovile˙ Butnoriu¯te˙, Lithuanian Brady, Label Distribution; Fergus Grady, Limelight Council; Kate Hiatt, Wellington Community Trust ; Sander Ma¯ori Television; Christine Massey; Veronica Film Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; Sergi Steegmann, Distribution; Zoe Dahlenburg, Paul Tonta, Paul Caroline Garratt, Chris Hormann, Rose Miller, McLaughlin; Graeme Hill, Sarah Nickson-Clark, The Match Factory GmbH, Cologne; Sophie de Mac Wiegard, Madman Entertainment; Michelle Carey, Wellington Film Society. Daniel Peek, Claudia Sykes, Mediaworks Radio; Mahon, Mercury Films, Madrid; Igor Sulimov, Lauren Dyke, Michelle Petry, Susannah Walker, Al Cossar, Kate Fitzptrick, David Thomas, Melbourne Mosfilm, Moscow, Russia; Clémence Michalon, At Embassy Theatre: Caleb Button, the Metro Magazine; Eleonora Mignacca; Hayley International Film Festival; Richard Moore; Mark Jour2fête, Paris; Mindaugas Survila, Vaida Surviliene, management team and staff. Alderman, Network Visuals; Kate Rodger, Dan Spratt, Potential Films; Kylie Pascoe, Red Thread NGO “Sengire”, Lithuania; Johan Ericsson, Petter At Light House Cinema: Simon Werry, Blair Collie Rutledge, Newshub; Jack Nicol; Amanda Cox, Studios; Jose Ortiz, José Ortiz, Roadshow Films; Bec Mattson, Sara Ruster, Swedish Film Institute, and staff. Joanna Hunkin, Karl Puschmann, Chris Schulz, Brown, Natalie Miller, Katharine Thornton, Sharmill Stockholm. At Ngaˉ Taonga Sound & Vision: Rebecca Elvy, Simon Wilson, NZ Herald; Laura Haden, Monique Films; Danielle Bertozzo, Ari Harrison, Dov Kornits, ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD Jackie Hay and staff. Reid, Russell Baillie, Peter Calder, James Robins, NZ Umbrella Entertainment. Listener; Rob Dawson, Our Auckland; Doug Sebastien Chesneau, Cercamon Films, Dubai; Tan At Penthouse Cinema: Sandra Kisby, Iain Macleod IN PARIS Dillaman, Jacob Powell, Rosabel Tan, Pantograph Yanrong, China Film Archive, Beijing; Leeya Mor, and staff. Juliette Bechu, Natsuki Lambert, Bac Films; Maëlle Punch; Tony Bald, Paramount Pictures NZ; Jamey Philippa Kowarsky, Cinephil, Tel Aviv; Kwon Yura, Guenegues, Cat & Docs; Nicolas Rebeschini, At Reading Cinemas Courtenay: Barry Morrison, Holloway, Ben Stonyer, Phantom Billstickers; Shirley Jeon Yejin, Kim Hawon, Finecut, Seoul; Fernando Alexandra Reveyrand-de Menthon, Charades; Théo Hadyn Bell-Norris, the management team and staff. Horrocks, Point of View Productions; Craig Fasi, Díaz, Machaco Films, Buenos Aires; Maria Augusta Lionel, Doc & Film International; Nora Sami, Marie Pollywood Film Festival; Lauren Porteus; Chelsie Ramos, NoCo Filmes, Brazil; Xu Jing, Rediance. At The Roxy Cinema: Phil Jack and staff. Tarascon, The Festival Agency; Pascale Ramonda, Preston Crayford; Lyn Chung, Stephanie Ireland, Our thanks to all who have advertised in this Venue Managers: Cathy Burke, Janna Festival Strategies; Sanam Madjedi, Joris Boyer, Primesite Properties; Will Rooke, QMS Media; Robyn brochure. Holbrooke-Roach, Paul Johanson, Michelle Films Distribution; Christophe Calmels, Films sans Paterson, Rabbit Films; Karen Warman, Resene O’Donnell, Anna Sheffield, Lesley Simpson. Frontières; Valerie Massadian, Gaijin; Samuel Farkas, NZIFF ANIMATION SCORE Paints; Kelly Rogers, Kevin Gordon, Nicole van I Mediate Servicing; Anne-Laure Barbarit, MK2; Composer: Tim Prebble Projectionists: David Goldthorpe, Oscar Halberg, Heerden, Rialto Distribution; Dita de Boni, Wallace Luminitsa Cotruta, MPM Film; Ilaria Gomarasca, Jesse Hansen, Cam Lett, Sara Pattison, Darryl Burnand. Chapman, Denise Montgomery, Jesse Mulligan, Orchestrator & Conductor: Ewan Clark Pyramide Films; Lison Hervé, Stray Dogs; Pierre Performers: Aroha Quartet, The Tudor Consort Cashiers: Laura Baverstock, Ben Bro, Úna Conlon, Radio New Zealand; Eldon Booth, Run Charlie Films; Menahem, Still Moving, Paris; Laurence Berbon, Mixed at: Park Road Post Production Jillian Davey, Lauren Day, Luke Finnigan, Jo Maslin, Nicola Valk, Russell McVeagh; Peter Scholes; Tamasa Films Distribution; Un Zero Films; Esther Special thanks to: Catherine Fitzgerald, Sapeer Mayron, Amanda Newth, Donna Schwass, Andrew Scott; Esther Cahill-Chiaroni, Script to Devos, Alice Gay, Wild Bunch. Tusi Tamasese, Ian Powell Joel Smollett, Jodie Stack, Tiana Wakefield. Screen;, Asuka Sylvie; Susan Buonocore, Jacinda Ryan, Justine Purdie, Sony Pictures; Toby Manhire, IN SYDNEY Ushers: Rebecca Goodbehere, Stephen Hay, Leslie Catherine McGregor, The Spinoff; Nigel Forsyth, Chloe Brugale, Arena Media, Sydney; Warwick Johnson, Rachel Lynch, Jane Penney. Priscena Major, StudioCanal; Sarah Watt, Rebecca Burton; John Maynard, Felix Media; Bridget Ikin, IN AUCKLAND Tansley; Alex and Amber Campbell, GoodBuzz Hibiscus Films, Sydney; Paige Diamond, Nic Whatson, Neil Lambert, 20th Century Fox New Zealand; Sam Beverage; Bianca Talaic, Rebecca Lawson, Trilogy; Palace Films; Nashen Moodley, Jenny Neighbour, Davis, Jogai Bhatt, Sarah Thomson, Mikey Havoc, Tom Dorman, Tom & Luke; Mark Chamberlain, Amy Andrew Perkin, Sydney Film Festival; Matt Soulos, 95bFM; Ashley McGregor, ABE’S BAGELS; Tennessee Dalziell, L’affare; Huw Morgan, Bonnie Goods; Transmission Films; Amelia Rowe, Universal Pictures; Mansford, Amanda Millar and Company; Gordon Transmission Films; Adria Buckton & staff, Trigger Nick Hayes, Nane McLean, Icon Film Distribution; Moller, Auckland Theatre Company, Hamkala Nath, Marketing; Peter Rees, Unitec; Josh Saussey, The Amelia Rowe, Universal Pictures (Australasia) Pty Ltd. 86

Tour Guide

Actors Chulas Fronteras + Del mero corazón 70 Slut in a Good Way 60 Found Footage Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 Djon África 34 Thelma 56 [CENSORED] 50 Madeline’s Madeline 54 Le Grand Bal 71 Virus Tropical 56 The Green Fog 53 McKellen: Playing the Part 78 Jirga 22 We the Animals 57 The Image Book 27 The Seen and Unseen 34 Wildlife 49 Activism Our New President 69 The Song Keepers 75 Courtroom TERROR NULLIUS 57 The Devil We Know 62 Stray 17 Capharnaüm 7 Gangsters Ex Libris: The New York Public Library 63 The Wild Pear Tree 36 Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 79 Custody 26 Ash Is Purest White 24 Autism Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 The Insult 33 Birds of Passage 7 the Screen Keep the Change 41 RBG 67 Dogman 31 RBG 67 Based on Books The Third Murder 33 Holiday 53 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 The Trial 69 Border 52 Horror Woman at War 30 Breath 23 Environment Blue My Mind 80 Americana Burning 9 Ága 25 The Field Guide to Evil 81 Bisbee ’17 60 Cold Blooded: 61 The Ancient Woods 60 Good Manners 54 The Clutter Family Murders Blaze 73 The Devil We Know 62 Piercing 82 Desert Hearts 12 Chulas Fronteras + Del mero corazón 70 Island of the Hungry Ghosts 63 Terrified 83 Disobedience 43 Cold Blooded: 61 Leave No Trace 10 Thelma 56 The Clutter Family Murders Juliet, Naked 38 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 74 Desert Hearts 12 Lean on Pete 37 Human Rights Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 Garry Winogrand: 77 Leave No Trace 10 And Breathe Normally 29 Woman at War 30 All Things Are Photographable The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 Bisbee ’17 60 If I Leave Here Tomorrow: 73 Orlando 13 Fashion Capharnaüm 7 A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd Piercing 82 Liquid Sky 12 Celia 15 The King 72 Rafiki 55 McQueen 78 Chulas Fronteras + Del mero corazón 70 Lean on Pete 37 Transit 28 The Price of Everything 79 The Cleaners 68 Leave No Trace 10 Virus Tropical 56 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 The Distant Barking of Dogs 62 Little Woods 41 Wildlife 49 Yellow is Forbidden 15 The Insult 33 Lucky 47 You Were Never Really Here 57 Island of the Hungry Ghosts 63 Monterey Pop 73 Feminism Zama 22 Little Woods 41 The Rider 47 Angels Wear White 24 Liyana 58 Blindness United Skates 67 [CENSORED] 50 Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 74 Wildlife 49 Gurrumul 70 Disobedience 43 Milla 54 Pick of the Litter 65 Animals Garry Winogrand: 77 A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot 66 All Things Are Photographable Rafiki 55 The Ancient Woods 60 Cannes Competition 2018 RBG 67 RBG 67 Dog’s Best Friend 63 3 Faces 30 Speak Up 65 Samouni Road 66 Lean on Pete 37 Ash Is Purest White 24 TERROR NULLIUS 57 Speak Up 65 Pick of the Litter 65 Burning 9 United Skates 67 The Rider 47 Capharnaüm 7 Classics Animation Cold War 9 Chulas Fronteras + Del mero corazón 70 Indigenous Dogman 31 Desert Hearts 12 See also Ma¯ori/Pacific Animation for Kids 4+ 59 El Ángel 51 Liquid Sky 12 Ága 25 Animation for Kids 8+ 59 Happy As Lazzaro 31 Orlando 13 Birds of Passage 7 Animation NOW! 2018 49 The Image Book 27 Wings of Desire 13 Djon África 34 Liyana 58 Leto 71 Gurrumul 70 Mirai 11 Films About Films Shoplifters 10 The Rider 47 Samouni Road 66 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 The Wild Pear Tree 36 The Seen and Unseen 34 Virus Tropical 56 [CENSORED] 50 Coming of Age The Song Keepers 75 Architecture Cold Blooded: 61 Ava 29 The Clutter Family Murders Immigration Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect 78 Blue My Mind 80 Filmworker 76 And Breathe Normally 29 The Trial 69 Breath 23 The Green Fog 53 Bisbee ’17 60 Armchair Travel Girl 23 In the Realm of Perfection 64 Chulas Fronteras + Del mero corazón 70 3 Faces 30 The Harvesters 35 Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible 77 Djon África 34 Ága 25 Lean on Pete 37 McKellen: Playing the Part 78 Eldorado 68 The Ancient Woods 60 Madeline’s Madeline 54 Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 I Used to Be Normal: 72 Arctic 29 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 the Screen A Boyband Fangirl Story Brimstone & Glory 28 Rafiki 55 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 74 Island of the Hungry Ghosts 63 87

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 74 The Cleaners 68 Poetry A Kid Like Jake 39 Speak Up 65 Cold Blooded: 61 The Kindergarten Teacher 41 Orlando 13 The Clutter Family Murders Transit 28 Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy 18 True Crime Wajib – The Wedding Invitation 39 Ex Libris: The New York Public Library 63 Speak Up 65 American Animals 51 Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 74 Jewish Wings of Desire 13 Cold Blooded: 61 Our New President 69 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 Punk The Clutter Family Murders Disobedience 43 Mental Health El Ángel 51 Leto 71 Foxtrot 53 A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot 66 Angie 15 Liquid Sky 12 Keep the Change 41 Three Identical Strangers 67 Ma¯ui’s Hook 16 McQueen 78 Lesbian McQueen 78 Virus Tropical 56 War Zones And Breathe Normally 29 Minding the Gap 64 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 Beirut 38 Three Identical Strangers 67 Desert Hearts 12 Social History The Distant Barking of Dogs 62 Disobedience 43 Noir Donbass 69 Bisbee ’17 60 Good Manners 54 Foxtrot 53 Angels Wear White 24 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 The Heiresses 34 Jirga 22 First Reformed 39 Cold Blooded: 61 Juliet, Naked 38 Samouni Road 66 The Green Fog 53 The Clutter Family Murders A Kid Like Jake 39 Transit 28 Garry Winogrand: 77 Women Make Features The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 All Things Are Photographable You Were Never Really Here 57 And Breathe Normally 29 Rafiki 55 I Used to Be Normal: 72 Angels Wear White 24 Skate Kitchen 55 Online A Boyband Fangirl Story Ava 29 Thelma 56 The Cleaners 68 United Skates 67 Birds of Passage (co-director) 7 What Keeps You Alive 83 Juliet, Naked 38 Sports & Fitness Blue My Mind 80 Searching 56 LGBTQI+ Bludgeon 14 Capharnaüm 7 See also Lesbian and Trans Parenting Breath 23 Desert Hearts 12 Diamantino 52 And Breathe Normally 29 In the Realm of Perfection 64 Djon África (co-director) 34 El Ángel 51 Apostasy 50 Style Good Manners (co-director) 54 Girl 23 Custody 26 Happy As Lazzaro 31 The Harvesters 35 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 Girl 23 Holiday 53 The Ice King 73 Cold War 9 Good Manners 54 Keep the Change 41 Liquid Sky 12 Liquid Sky 12 The Harvesters 35 The Kindergarten Teacher 41 McKellen: Playing the Part 78 Looking for Oum Kulthum 27 A Kid Like Jake 39 Leave No Trace 10 McQueen 78 Kusama – Infinity 77 The Kindergarten Teacher 41 Let the Corpses Tan (co-director) 81 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 79 Last Child 35 Little Woods 41 TERROR NULLIUS 57 McQueen 78 Leave No Trace 10 Looking for Oum Kulthum 27 We the Animals 57 Orlando 13 Madeline’s Madeline 54 Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle 64 The Price of Everything 79 Love Stories Milla 54 Loveling 25 Rafiki 55 Border 52 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 Burning 9 the Screen Nico, 1988 75 Yellow is Forbidden 15 Cold War 9 Milla 54 Orlando 13 Thrillers Desert Hearts 12 Mirai 11 Rafiki 55 Disobedience 43 A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot 66 American Animals 51 The Rider 47 In the Aisles 28 Searching 56 Beirut 38 The Seen and Unseen 34 Juliet, Naked 38 Shoplifters 10 Birds of Passage 7 Skate Kitchen 55 Keep the Change 41 Three Identical Strangers 67 Border 52 Slut in a Good Way 60 Milla 54 Virus Tropical 56 Dogman 31 TERROR NULLIUS 57 Rafiki 55 First Reformed 39 Wajib – The Wedding Invitation 39 Wajib – The Wedding Invitation 39 The Reports on Sarah and Saleem 32 The Guilty 26 You Were Never Really Here 57 Wildlife 49 Ma¯ori/Pacific Holiday 53 Zama 22 Period Drama Let the Corpses Tan 81 Bludgeon 14 WTF? Happy As Lazzaro 31 Little Woods 41 The Heart Dances – the journey 16 Border 52 of The Piano: the ballet Orlando 13 Searching 56 Climax 81 Wildlife 49 What Keeps You Alive 83 Ma¯ui’s Hook 16 An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn 80 Zama 22 Woman at War 30 Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 The Green Fog 53 the Screen You Were Never Really Here 57 Philosophy Liquid Sk 12 Media & Censorship The Image Book 27 Trans Mandy 86 [CENSORED] 50 In the Realm of Perfection 64 Girl 23 88

World View

Argentina Looking for Oum Kulthum 27 Nga¯ Whanaunga Ma¯ori 19 Orlando 13 Shut Up and Play the Piano 75 Pasifika Shorts 2018 Three Identical Strangers 67 El Ángel 51 Transit 28 Oko na Roki 18 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 Terrified 83 Wings of Desire 13 A Sculptor’s Journey 79 You Were Never Really Here 57 Zama 22 She Shears 14 Australia Iceland Stray 17 Ukraine And Breathe Normally 29 Yellow is Forbidden 11 Donbass 69 [CENSORED] 50 Woman at War 30 Breath 23 Norway USA Gurrumul 70 Indonesia Thelma 56 American Animals 51 I Used to Be Normal: 72 The Seen and Unseen 34 Arctic 29 A Boyband Fangirl Story Palestine Beirut 38 Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible 77 Iran The Reports on Sarah and Saleem 32 Bisbee ’17 60 Jirga 22 3 Faces 30 Wajib – The Wedding Invitation 37 Blaze 73 The Song Keepers 75 Ava 29 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 TERROR NULLIUS 57 Paraguay Brimstone & Glory 61 Ireland The Heiresses 34 Belgium Chulas Fronteras 70 Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect 78 Girl 23 Poland Cold Blooded: 61 A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot 66 The Clutter Family Murders Cold War 9 Brazil Israel Desert Hearts 12 Portugal The Devil We Know 62 Good Manners 54 Foxtrot 53 Loveling 25 Diamantino 52 Ex Libris: The New York Public Library 63 The Trial 69 Italy Djon África 34 Filmworker 76 Dogman 31 First Reformed 39 Bulgaria Russia Happy As Lazzaro 31 Garry Winogrand: 77 Leto 71 All Things Are Photographable Ága 25 Nico, 1988 75 Our New President 69 The Green Fog 53 Canada Samouni Road 66 If I Leave Here Tomorrow: 73 South Africa Slut in a Good Way 60 Japan A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd The Harvesters 35 What Keeps You Alive 83 Mirai 11 Juliet, Naked 38 Keep the Change 41 China Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 74 South Korea Shoplifters 10 A Kid Like Jake 39 Angels Wear White 24 Burning 9 The Third Murder 33 The Kindergarten Teacher 41 Last Child 35 Ash Is Purest White 24 The King 72 An Elephant Sitting Still 52 Kenya Spain Kusama – Infinity 77 Rafiki 55 Leave No Trace 10 Colombia Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle 64 Liquid Sky 12 Birds of Passage 7 Lebanon Petra 35 Little Woods 41 Virus Tropical 56 Capharnaüm 7 Swaziland Lucky 47 Denmark The Insult 33 Liyana 58 Madeline’s Madeline 54 Mandy 82 The Distant Barking of Dogs 62 Lithuania Sweden Minding the Gap 64 Holiday 53 The Ancient Woods 60 Border 52 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 The Guilty 26 New Zealand Switzerland Monterey Pop 73 France Pick of the Litter 65 Angie 15 Blue My Mind 80 Climax 81 Piercing 82 Bludgeon 14 Eldorado 68 The Price of Everything 79 Custody 26 Celia 15 Puzzle 48 Le Grand Bal 71 Dog’s Best Friend 63 Turkey RBG 67 The Image Book 27 Eight Uneasy Pieces 21 The Wild Pear Tree 36 The Rider 47 In the Realm of Perfection 64 The Field Guide to Evil 81 UK Ryuichi Sakamoto: async at the Park… 74 Let the Corpses Tan 81 Foreign Correspondents 21 Science Fair 58 Milla 54 The Heart Dances – the journey of 16 Apostasy 50 Speak Up 65 The Piano: the ballet Disobedience 37 Searching 56 The World Is Yours 27 Ma¯ui’s Hook 21 An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn 80 Skate Kitchen 55 Mega Time Squad 83 The Ice King 73 United Skates 67 Germany Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 Lean on Pete 37 We the Animals 57 The Cleaners 68 the Screen Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 74 Wildlife 49 In the Aisles 28 Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy 18 McKellen: Playing the Part 78 Island of the Hungry Ghosts 63 New Zealand’s Best 2018 19 McQueen 78 89

Features from A to Z

3 Faces 30 Eight Uneasy Pieces 21 L The Reports on Sarah and Saleem 32 El Ángel 51 The Rider 47 A Last Child 35 Eldorado 68 Lean on Pete 37 Ryuichi Sakamoto: 74 Ága 25 async at the Park Avenue Armory An Elephant Sitting Still 52 Leave No Trace 10 American Animals 51 An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn 80 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda 74 Le Grand Bal 71 The Ancient Woods 60 Ex Libris: The New York Public Library 63 Leto 71 And Breathe Normally 29 S Let the Corpses Tan 81 Angels Wear White 24 F Samouni Road 66 Liquid Sky 12 Angie 15 The Field Guide to Evil 81 Science Fair 58 Little Woods 41 Animation for Kids 4+ 59 Filmworker 76 A Sculptor’s Journey 79 Liyana 58 Animation for Kids 8+ 59 First Reformed 39 Searching 56 Looking for Oum Kulthum 27 Animation NOW! 2018 49 Foreign Correspondents 21 The Seen and Unseen 34 Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle 64 Apostasy 50 Foxtrot 53 She Shears 14 Loveling 25 Arctic 29 Shoplifters 10 G Lucky 47 Ash Is Purest White 24 Shut Up and Play the Piano 75 Garry Winogrand: 77 Ava 29 M Skate Kitchen 55 All Things Are Photographable Slut in a Good Way 55 B Girl 23 Madeline’s Madeline 54 The Song Keepers 75 Good Manners 54 Mandy 82 Beirut 38 Speak Up 65 The Green Fog 53 Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. 74 Birds of Passage 7 Stray 17 The Guilty 26 Ma¯ui’s Hook 16 Bisbee ’17 60 Gurrumul 70 McKellen: Playing the Part 78 Blaze 73 T McQueen 78 Bludgeon 14 Terrified 83 H Mega Time Squad 83 Blue My Mind 80 TERROR NULLIUS 57 Happy As Lazzaro 31 Merata: How Mum Decolonised 17 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 76 Thelma 56 The Harvesters 35 the Screen Border 52 The Third Murder 33 The Heart Dances – the journey of the 16 Michael Smither: Of Crimson Joy 18 Breath 23 The Piano: the ballet Milla 54 Three Identical Strangers 67 Brimstone & Glory 61 The Heiresses 34 Minding the Gap 64 Transit 28 Burning 9 Holiday 53 Mirai 11 The Trial 69 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 47 C I U Monterey Pop 73 Capharnaüm 7 United Skates 67 The Ice King 73 A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot 66 Celia 15 If I Leave Here Tomorrow: 73 V [CENSORED] 50 A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd N Virus Tropical 56 Chulas Fronteras 70 The Image Book 27 New Zealand’s Best 2018 19 The Cleaners 68 The Insult 33 Nga¯ Whanaunga Ma¯ori 19 W Climax 81 In the Aisles 28 Pasifika Shorts 2018 Wajib – The Wedding Invitation 32 Cold Blooded: 61 In the Realm of Perfection 64 Nico, 1988 75 Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist 79 The Clutter Family Murders Island of the Hungry Ghosts 63 O We the Animals 57 Cold War 9 I Used to Be Normal: 72 Custody 26 A Boyband Fangirl Story Oko na Roki 18 What Keeps You Alive 83 Orlando 13 Wildlife 49 J D Our New President 69 The Wild Pear Tree 36 Desert Hearts 12 Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible 77 Wings of Desire 13 P The Devil We Know 62 Jirga 22 Woman at War 30 Diamantino 52 Juliet, Naked 38 Petra 35 The World is Yours 27 Disobedience 37 Pick of the Litter 65 K Y The Distant Barking of Dogs 62 Piercing 82 Keep the Change 41 Djon Africa 34 The Price of Everything 79 Yellow is Forbidden 11 Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect 78 Dogman 31 Puzzle 48 You Were Never Really Here 57 A Kid Like Jake 39 Dog’s Best Friend 63 The Kindergarten Teacher 41 R Z Donbass 69 The King 72 Rafiki 55 Zama 22 E Kusama – Infinity 77 RBG 67

Notes in this brochure are written and compiled by the programmers, Bill Gosden (unsigned), Michael McDonnell (MM), Ant Timpson (AT), Sandra Reid (SR), Nic Marshall (NM) and Malcolm Turner (MT). Judah Finnigan (JF), Tim Wong, Kailey Carruthers, Toby Manhire, Nick Bollinger, Clare Stewart, Chris Tse, Catherine Bisley, Jo Randerson, Duncan Sarkies, Angela Lassig, Jonathan King and Chris Kirk also contributed notes. The brochure was edited, drawing on a wide array of writers we like, by Bill Gosden, cribbing the occasional perfect adjective from said writers. It was managed by Tim Wong with the assistance of a squadron of ace proofreaders who labour beyond the call of duty. Views expressed in the brochure do not necessarily represent the views of the staff or trustees of the New Zealand Film Festival Trust. You saw them here first. Now enjoy In My Father’s Den Utu Redux them all over again.

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