The Assassin is a highlight in the line-up for this year's New Zealand International Film Festival to run in Hawke's Bay from next Thursday to Sunday, September 20. Photo / Supplied
The Assassin is a highlight in the line-up for this year's New Zealand International Film Festival to run in Hawke's Bay from next Thursday to Sunday, September 20. Photo / Supplied
The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) will screen 42 movies and two short film collections in Hawke's Bay during this year's programme.
Ranging from award-winning international features and documentaries to new work from Kiwi film-makers, it will roll out at MTG Century Theatre in Napier and Cinema Gold, HavelockNorth.
NZIFF will open next Thursday with a screening of Phoenix from 6pm in Havelock and The Mafia Kills Only in Summer at 6.30pm, Napier. Tickets for both films will include light food and drinks from 30 minutes beforehand.
The centrepiece screening for 2015 is The Assassin, a beautiful foray into historical martial arts territory through the eyes of Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien, which won Best Director at this years Cannes Film Festival. International documentary highlights include Asif Kapadia's Amy - a compelling portrait of singer Amy Winehouse; Jennifer Peedom's Sherpa capturing the 2014 climbing season on Everest from the view of Sherpa Phurba Tashi, including a tragic avalanche; and The Wolfpack that delves into bizarrely sheltered lives of six brothers confined since birth to tiny rooms of their Lower East Side apartment.
Aotearoa's film-makers also deliver some striking additions.
Ever the Land and The Price of Peace are two strong documentaries following the crown settlement with Tuhoe; Crossing Rachmaninoff is a winning tale of Italian-born Auckland concert pianist Flavio Villani and Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses disperses the fog of shame and sensationalism to shed light on a tragedy which made international headlines in 2007 when a young Wainuiomata woman died during a makutu lifting orexorcism.
Cannes 2015 Jury Prize winner The Lobster is a surreal English-language fable set in a world where singles are forced to couple up or be turned into animals, and will close NZIFF on Sunday, September 20.
Keep an eye out for the Festival in Hawke's Bay from September 3 to 20 with programmes available at participating cinemas, libraries and cafes throughout the region or online at nziff.co.nz.
