The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is coming down to dirty Dunners from the 15th to the 25th of August. This means it’s time to grab your least conspicuous trench-coat (the snacks won’t sneak themselves in) and try to remember something from your year 10 French class (je suis is French, aye?). Only then will you be ready for what the Regent Theatre has to offer over the next two weeks.
The festival’s 2024 programme will screen 86 feature films and 19 shorts, including 12 New Zealand films, as well as a special 30th anniversary screening of Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures. Seems a good enough reason to stop doom-scrolling Netflix and inevitably rewatching the same comfort tv series. The rest of NZIFF’s films for 2024 come from over 20 countries, ranging from Iran, Somalia, Bhutan, France, and Nepal, among many others.
The event opens on Friday August 15th with the New Zealand film We Were Dangerous by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu. Her award-winning film follows a trio of delinquent schoolgirls who are fighting against the colonial system in 1950s New Zealand. Other notable films on the programme include Head South by Christchurch-born director Jonathon Ogilvie, a film that celebrates the post-punk underground music scene.
Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara is a New Zealand music-based film directed by Kent Belcher that covers the band’s rise to fame, as well as its breaking of boundaries in being the first band in the heavy metal genre to sing in te reo Māori. Looking at the programme, Critic reckons French film Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person directed by Ariane Louis-Seize sounds like a wild watch.
The New Zealand International Film Festival follows an early showing of New Zealand-filmed indie movie Bookworm, starring Elijah Wood. Hosted at Reading Cinema last Tuesday, the film featured a Q&A session with director Ant Timpson. Whilst the film undertakes an all-ages father and daughter adventure on the hunt for the infamous and mythical Canterbury Panther, Critic decided to question the directors beliefs on the existence of the Fiordland moose. Ant could neither confirm nor deny their belief in the existence of the Fiordland moose – and that’s that, we’re afraid.
NZIFF has made an effort this year to encourage students to take part in the festival, balancing a deliberate selection catered for the youths alongside a wide range of films for all demographics to enjoy. Tickets are available for purchase via the Regent Theatre box office or online, with individual film tickets priced at $17 for students and 5-trip passes available for $70.