The wonderful peeps over at New Zealand International Film Festival HQ have cooked up a new and exciting cinematic delight for us this year. The NZIFF Autumn Events programme brings us breathtaking restoration screenings and special New Zealand premieres, as well as a selection of striking documentary and feature film screenings – replacing the World Cinema Showcase.
In the words of NZIFF director Bill Gosden, “We saw that the original purpose of the Showcase was becoming harder to articulate to an audience confronted by a proliferation of smaller, more clearly defined festivals. The NZIFF in July is our flagship event. Rather than continue with a second festival, our newly styled NZIFF Autumn Events seem a more easily understood and seamless extension to the winter extravaganza.”
New digital restorations of Guys and Dolls, Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou, and the 50th anniversary 4k restoration of Lawrence of Arabia headline procedings; along with New Zealand premiere screenings of The ABCs of Death (produced by Ant Timpson) and the Oscar-nominated Norweigian film Kon-Tiki – not to be confused with Contiki, the travel company specialising in ‘socially active’ tours.
NZIFF Autumn Events screens in Auckland at the The Civic, Academy Cinemas and Rialto Cinemas and in Wellington at The Embassy and Paramount Cinema from April 20 – May 19. The full schedule and ticket sales direct from venues will be available tomorrow – Tuesday 12 March. Visit nzff.co.nz for more information.
Christchurch and Dunedin unfortunately miss out this year, as Digital Cinema Package (DCP) negotiations and upgrades take place.
Here’s the full press release:
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The New Zealand International Film Festival will present a series of Autumn Events this April and May, including new digital restorations of Lawrence of Arabia, Guys and Dolls and Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou.
NZ premiere screenings of Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki and a selection of striking new documentaries and features will round out the events in Auckland and Wellington.
The Autumn Events will take place at The Civic, the newly refurbished Academy Cinemas and Rialto Cinemas in Auckland in late April and May. In Wellington NZIFF is planning to host Guys and Dolls and Lawrence of Arabia at the Embassy Theatre from 20 April. Further Autumn screenings will take place at the Paramount, Wellington.
“Two spectacular classics will launch our Autumn Event calendar on April 20: Lawrence of Arabia, in a new 50th anniversary 4K digital restoration acclaimed at Cannes last year; and Guys and Dolls, which sees the unfailingly charismatic Marlon Brando croon it up alongside Frank Sinatra,” says NZIFF Director Bill Gosden.
“NZIFF’s curatorial eye never rests. We never stop hearing about or seeing films that deserve a theatrical platform out of the annual midwinter programme. The opportunity to present some spectacular digital restorations on the giant Civic screen and at the Wellington Embassy was especially irresistible.”
The Autumn Events will screen at a time of year that previously would have seen NZIFF’s World Cinema Showcase screenings taking place in the four main centres.
“We saw that the original purpose of the Showcase was becoming harder to articulate to an audience confronted by a proliferation of smaller, more clearly defined festivals. The NZIFF in July is our flagship event. Rather than continue with a second festival, our newly styled NZIFF Autumn Events seem a more easily understood and seamless extension to the winter extravaganza,” says Gosden.
Christchurch and Dunedin NZIFF venues, which formerly hosted the Showcase, are not currently equipped to screen key Autumn Event films for 2013, but NZIFF is keen to retain an off-season presence in both cities in the future.
“We hope the Regent Dunedin will be funded to equip with DCP technology in time for the NZIFF in August. In Christchurch we hope negotiations will open the way for NZIFF to use the current venue’s DCP equipment for the Festival in August.”
The calendar of NZIFF Autumn Events will be online and tickets on-sale from Tuesday 12 March directly from the cinema venues. A free printed calendar will be available around Auckland and Wellington from the end of March.
The main Festival, NZIFF, will screen in Auckland from 18 July to 4 August and in Wellington from 26 July – 11 August. Full programme updates will be made in late June. For Festival updates visit www.nzff.co.nz and register to receive e-newsletters.
