We've had the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and now as winter continues to bite, there's a chance to head to the cinema and catch the best of the international film scene.
The New Zealand International Film Festival launched this week with the unveiling of its annual programme - and this year, the 2009 event is showing around 150 films.
tvnz.co.nz's Darren Bevan caught up with director Bill Gosden about the upcoming programme.
The festival's here for 2009 - it must be quite a relief
to have the programme confirmed and released?
Bill Gosden - " It's a year round process
for the organisers - a lot of work is submitted to us. We had
about 800 submissions this year from which we programmed the films
this year and we called in quite a lot of films. These days there's
a lot of information about what's hot and new in the movie world at
the moment - and generally speaking people are happy to have their
film in the festival so if we ask for a copy of them, they're
usually forthcoming."
But it must be a dream job to watch films - are there
tough criteria for the movies to be admitted to the festival?
Bill Gosden - "There is that - it's quite
arduous sometimes to actually watch films but I know people have
tougher jobs so I won't complain too much - but the real hard work
is all to do with negotiating the films' into place once we know
what we want. We have to keep it fresh rather than topping it
year on year - we respond to the various events around the
world"
So what sets the 2009 programme apart
from previous years?
Bill Gosden - "I think the programme is a
bit lighter on its feet compared to last year - more agile there
are quite a few comedies in the programme which is a response to
the audience which maybe wary to daily headlines at the moment.
There's an intelligence about film-making these days which I find
continually refreshing."
You also use some of the bigger blockbusters
to bring people in and get them to consider other films
they may not normally look at?
Bill Gosden - "We have punched up the
attention to some of the quite challenging films in the programme -
we know there are a lot of people who may not be interested in
taking up the offer of what we may term slower movies but on the
other hand, it's very much part of the festival's role to create an
environment where something like that can be appreciated. There's
nothing in the programme we're screening because we're obliged to
screen it - we do have a great deal of freedom in our choices so
even though there maybe films on the programme that people aren't
going to like I don't think there is any bad quality in the
programme."
So, the inevitable question is what are your highlights
for 2009?
Bill Gosden -"We're certainly very lucky
to be screening Ponyo, the new Miyazaki film - and it's certainly
one of my personal favourites this year - I think The Cove, the
documentary which is almost the exact opposite to Ponyo (which is
based on the Little Mermaid and has a respect for nature) but this
documentary, which is Japanese, it's quite the opposite - it's
about the appalling things some Japanese are doing to dolphins.
It's an activist doco which I think is really going to make a
difference. The more people that see this in the world, the larger
the outcry will be - it's a very aggressive film."
The New Zealand International Film Festival starts off in Auckland on 9th July - it heads nationwide visiting Christchurch (July 30 - August 16), Dunedin (July 24 - Aug 9), Gisborne (November 5 - 18), Greymouth (October 5 - 11), Hamilton (September 2 - 15,) Levin (October 29 - Nov 11) Masterton (October 14 - 28) Napier (August 19 - Sep 6) Nelson (September 10 - 23), New Plymouth (August 13 - 26) Palmerston North (August 6 - 19) Tauranga (August 27 - Sep 9) Wellington (July 17 - Aug 2) before finishing off in Whangarei on November 25.
To book tickets to the films on offer, click here!
