Classics on offer include the visually spectacular, restored film of Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann from British duo Powell & Pressburger, and the1971 Julie Christie costume drama The Go-Between.
Other titles screening for the first time on NZ screens are Geronimo - a contemporary Romeo & Juliet tale from Tony Gatlif, the French-Romani-Algerian director of Latcho Drom and Gadjo Dilo; steamy French-Austrian co-production Grand Central; and 9x10 Novanta - a compendium of nine short films by rising Italian filmmakers made from historic footage from the Luce Archives.
Three documentaries cover vastly different topics, from Easy Riders, Raging Bulls - an in depth survey of the rule-breaking cinema of the 1970s "New Hollywood" directors; to festival returnees The Chinese Mayor, which shows a close-up and personal battle between history and development in contemporary China, and The Spirit of '45, Ken Loach's uplifting insight into post-war socialist England.
More favourites from recent NZ International Film Festivals, never before screened in Whanganui, include the unconventional love story Weekend, Abderrahmane Sissako's multiple award-winning Timbuktu, and the fabulously stylish Spanish revisioning of Snow White set in 1920s Seville - Blancanieves.
+For more information, including membership, film schedule and reviews.