Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun (2024). The film will be screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival.
The show must go on, writes Karl Puschmann, and the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival is set to do just that on July 31. After the complex challenges of recent years, how did they do it?
It was almost curtains for the New Zealand International Film Festival. The financially disastrous Covid years of 2020 and 2021 had washed away its rainy-day fund, leaving the beloved cinematic institution out of cash and facing hard existential questions that had no easy answers.
“At the beginning of 2020, we had $1.2 million in reserves, and by the beginning of 2022, that had gone,” Sally Woodfield, the NZIFF’s executive director, sighs, thinking back. “We were hit with bad timing all around.”
As the nation sat in the lockdown of 2020, the festival had to quickly pivot to online streaming. It was able to return to cinemas the following year but had to do so under strict physical distancing regulations. With 90 per cent of its revenue coming from box office sales, this two-punch combo almost KO’d the festival for good.
“It really hit our box office hard, and had a roll-on effect across all of the financial side of things,” Woodfield says, explaining that the festival’s costs are covered by the revenue made on the preceding year’s event. In this regard, any internal damage is not immediately visible from the outside.
“We knew our audience wanted to forget about 2020 and 2021 and move on, but we were in the post-Covid environment and had to go into 2022 asking, ‘What can we do with what we have?’ We were very much asking ourselves, ‘How do we keep going? How do we keep the doors open, keep the lights on and present a film festival?’.”
The answer was to scale back and present a smaller festival than fans who’d been starved of a ‘proper’ festival for two years, may have been hoping for. The slimmed-down look was only temporary as, following an $850,000 bailout from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2023′s programme was able to beef back up to pre-pandemic levels. The investment gave the festival its first win since the pandemic.
“We got to the end of 2023, and the festival was successful. We did well,” Woodfield says. “But we’re still in a place where we have to be financially responsible while also delivering what our audience wants. Those reserves we had in 2020 were built up over 20 years. One good year is not going to replace that.”
Heading into 2024 there was optimism in the NZIFF’s small Wellington office. Despite its oversized reputation and cultural impact, the festival only has three and a half fulltime, permanent staff. Everyone else who works to make the Festival happen is a contractor.
But that positivity quickly soured as the embattled NZIFF once again found itself under pressure following the dramatic and rapid-fire resignations of several high-profile festival employees and programmers in February.
“It took us by surprise. We weren’t expecting it. It was one after the other and we only knew at the same time that others knew,” Woodfield admits. “We were incredibly sad to say goodbye to those people who had been with the festival for a number of years. It marked the end of an era.
“We still talk to them and hope they’ll be coming to the festival. You know, anyone who works for the festival is part of the festival. It’s in their heart. I want to acknowledge that I know for each of them, it was a difficult decision that they made.”
But, like in all the best movies, the end only ever signals a beginning. Following a complete strategic review of operations last year, it was decided to appoint an artistic director. Veteran festival programmer Paolo Bertolin, whose CV includes various festivals and institutions including Cannes, got the nod. Many of the festival support staff were given the opportunity to be mentored as junior programmers, while new board members offered a refresh and new ideas.
“I’m really positive,” Woodfield enthuses. “We’ve shaken things up and changed things around while keeping with what we’ve always done; presenting the best in global cinema.”
That said, 2024′s initial announcement was greeted with disappointment. Especially from those in the regions who found themselves left on the cutting room floor, victims of the fiscal reality as the NZIFF attempted to rebuild its revenues by not overextending.
“When we announced the four main cities we didn’t ever say we weren’t going anywhere else but that was, I guess, the implication,” Woodfield acknowledges. “But I was so invested in wanting the film festival to go back to the regions. I grew up in the Waikato, in a dairy farming region not even in the city so, personally, I wanted to do absolutely everything I could.”
Woodfield, who describes herself as “a determined person”, rolled up her sleeves, gritted her teeth and headed out to the regions to see what she could do to make it happen. In July, just four months after the festival’s first announcement, a press release was released with the happy news that six more regions, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Masterson and Nelson, would be joining the festival. A triumph of commitment and Woodfield’s steely resolve.
“I want people to be able to experience the film festival. That’s what it’s all about,” she says. “You shouldn’t have to be in a big city. We have a very enthusiastic and engaged audience who feel a real sense of ownership of the film festival. It’s a wonderful thing. I love that we’re able to go to those six regions this year and hopefully, we can expand it further again next year.”
There may not be as many films showing as in previous years, but the 2024 programme boasts an impressively strong line-up. 20 countries are represented and the festival is bringing filmmakers from Nepal, China, Japan and Latvia, amongst others, over to give talks and panel discussions throughout the festival. The number of international speakers coming is one area where the festival has increased.
“There’s been an opportunity to expand the offerings around the films, that aren’t just Q&As but are increased conversations. This is what we really want to do. Spark conversations and spark the idea of film being a medium to gain knowledge and increase understanding.”
Flipping through the programme it’s obvious this philosophy is at the core of this year’s selection. The investment in an art director lending the line-up a cohesivity of thought, theme and focus. One that encourages you to engage with the wonders of our world, to wander off the beaten track and relish the fresh, challenging, views and ideas.
“What the Film Festival brings is, is a connection with the world. It’s a real window into worlds,” Woodfield says. “Now more than ever, we need that. There’s so many different paradigms within the world that people are living through and so many different stories to be told.”
Then she smiles and with utmost sincerity says, “And film is a way that these can be told.”
* Tickets for Auckland screenings are on sale from today at the Civic Theater box office and at nziff.co.nz
Karl Puschmann is an entertainment columnist for the New Zealand Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.
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