NZ films to screen at the Beijing International Film Festival

Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement plays Spook in the movie Predicament - which has been selected to screen at the Beijing International Film Festival. Photo / Supplied

Two New Zealand films have been selected to screen at the inaugural Beijing International Film Festival.

Jason Stutter's crime comedy, Predicament, featuring Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement, Heath Franklin and Hayden Frost, and Simone Horrocks' début feature After the Waterfall, starring Outrageous Fortune's Antony Starr and Sally Stockwell will both screen as part of the festival's film panorama programme.

The two films would join a line-up of top films from around the world, including this year's Academy Award winners, New Zealand Film Commission chief executive Graeme Mason said today.

Stutter will travel to Beijing as a guest of the festival, to be held from April 23-28.

"I am honoured to have my film selected for Beijing and to be invited to attend," he said.

"I am a huge fan of Chinese cinema, especially martial art movies, and I'm excited the festival ambassadors are Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger's Ziyi Zhang."

Horrocks, who was unable to attend the festival, said it was a great honour to be invited to the birth of this new film festival, and have the opportunity to share After the Waterfall with Chinese audiences.

- NZPA