In Part Two of our World Cinema Showcase 2012 Preview we bring you all the films from the ‘Documentaries’ section of the programme, complete with trailers and our picks…
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CINEMAS
Auckland: March 29 – April 11
Rialto Newmarket, Bridgeway Cinemas, Event Newmarket (click here for full schedule)
Wellington: April 5 – April 22
Paramount, Embassy (click here for full schedule)
Dunedin: April 19 – May 2
Regent Theatre, Rialto Cinemas (click here for full schedule)
Christchurch: April 26 – May 9
Hollywood 3 (click here for full schedule)
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FILMS: DOCUMENTARIES
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HELL AND BACK AGAIN (ADMIT ONE PICK)
USA/UK/AUSTRIA | 2011 | 90 MINUTES
Photojournalist Danfung Dennis spent a month in Afghanistan’s Helmund Province with a US marine company – a month of intense, bloody fighting. He follows Sgt. Nathan Harris home after a bullet wound puts an abrupt end to his third tour.
Director: Danfung Dennis. Featured: Nathan Harris, Ashley Harris, Christian Cabniss, Eric Meador, Edward Hubbard, Terry Roberts.
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TE HONO KI AOTEAROA (ADMIT ONE PICK)
NEW ZEALAND | 2012 | 84 MINUTES
In 2010 the waka Te Hono ki Aotearoa was commissioned for the Museum Volkenkunde in The Netherlands. This documentary follows its creation – by Maori and Dutch – and the dedication of all involved to avoid crashes of the inter-cultural kind.
(No Trailer Available)
Director: Jan Bieringa. Featured: Hekenukumai Busby, Dr Steven Englesman, Robert Gabel, Garry Nicholas, Tamahou Temara, Chapman Harrison, Joe Conrad, Farideh Fekrsanati, Dr Takirirangi Smith, James Moiner, Koos Wabeke, Pieter Roorda, Peerke van der List, James Eruera.
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MENTAL NOTES
NEW ZEALAND | 2012 | 70 MINUTES
The very bad old days of mental health care in New Zealand are recalled with dismay, disbelief and a touch of gallows humour by five survivors in Jim Marbrook’s gently affirmative documentary. All were institutionalised in places that luckier New Zealanders remember just driving past with a contraction of fear and curiosity, scary places that burrowed into national consciousness and individual insecurity for generations.
Director: Jim Marbrook. Featured: Anne Helm, Francis Ruwhiu, John Tovey, Peter Finlay, Roy Brown, Hilary Wooding, Julia Aronui-Faed, David Codyre, Margaret Harraway, Bob Elliot, Warwick Brunton, Helen Bichan.
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PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (ADMIT ONE PICK)
USA | 2011 | 121 MINUTES
The conclusion of the award-winning trilogy that spawned a world-wide movement to free three convicted men – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley – known as The West Memphis 3, tells the complete story of one of the most notorious child murder cases in U.S. history. Provocative and timely, the film chronicles stunning new developments, culminating in the startling and unexpected conclusion just a few months ago, when Echols, who was on death row, and Baldwin and Misskelley, who were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, were finally freed from prison after more than 18 years.
Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky. Featured: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley, John Mark Byers, Terry Gobbs.
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THE TALL MAN
AUSTRALIA | 2011 | 79 MINUTES
Long used by the Queensland government as a dumping ground foe Aboriginal ‘trouble-makers’, Palm Island on the Barrier Reef is well and truly mired in the legacy of white Australia’s historic destruction of indigenous cultures. The cover-up there of a popular local cop’s involvement in the 2004 death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee proved a flashpoint for Aboriginal anger and white recalcitrance.
http://youtu.be/Ft1TbCb0McE
Director: Tony Krawitz. Featured: Tracy Twaddle, Andrew Boe, Elizabeth Doomadgee, Jane Doomadgee, Tony Koch, Clinton Leahy, Erykah Kyle, Marrundoo Yanner, Lisa Watson, Ian Leavers, Chloe Hooper.
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THE TRIANGLE WARS
AUSTRALIA | 2011 | 90 MINUTES
In May 2007, a $300 million retail and entertainment plaza was proposed for the triangle of crown land adjacent to the Palais Theatre on the foreshore of St Kilda, Melbourne. Multifarious elements in the local community soon united to oppose it. Kiwi filmmaker Rosie Jones followed the three-year battle of willpower and wits that ensued.
Director: Rosie Jones. Featured: Serge Thomann, Dick Gross, Steve McMillan.
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URBANIZED (ADMIT ONE PICK)
USA/UK | 2011 | 85 MINUTES
Design commentator Gus Hustwit’s documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. As more and more of the world’s population congregate in cities, what is being done to make the modern metropolis sustainable – let alone liveable?
Director: Gary Hustwit. Featured: Alejandro Aravena, Amanda Burden, Candy Chang, Yung Ho Chang, Mark Covington, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, Oscar Niemeyer, Enrique Penalosa.
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YES MADAM, SIR
AUSTRALIA/INDIA | 2008 | 95 MINUTES
Megan Doneman’s portrait of India’s most controversial woman, Kiran Bedi – the first woman to join the Indian Police Service and her single-handed determination to win justice and effect change.
Director: Megan Doneman. Narrator: Helen Mirren. Featured: Kiran Bedi, Prakash Peshawaria, Saina Bedi, Gautam Kaul.
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View WCS 2012 PREVIEW PART THREE – ARTS AND MUSIC or WCS 2012 PREVIEW PART ONE – FEATURES
