Author: James Partridge

Eighteen films (yes, eighteen!) from the recent Cannes Film Festival will be screened at our very own New Zealand International Film Festival, beginning in July. Once again God’s Own is one of the first countries, if not the first, to screen these film outside France. Kudos, NZIFF. Films from the “In Competition” section at Cannes include: Heli (which nabbed the Best Director award for Amat Escalante), A Touch of Sin (winner of Best Screenplay), and The Past (Asghar Farhadi‘s follow up to his acclaimed film A Separation). Steven Soderberg‘s Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, will grace our screens – Michael Douglas putting in a star turn as the flamboyant ivory-tickler. And Jury Award winner Like Father, Like Son from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (I Wish) also makes it across. Other notable films fresh from the French Rivera include: The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola‘s true life tale of a celebrity-obsessed teenage crime syndicate, and Ilo Ilo, which won the Camera d’Or (not to be confused with the Palme d’Or) for best film in all of Cannes. Notable absentees are Palme d’Or winner Blue is the Warmest Colour and Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives. However the latter gets a general release on 1 August, so we don’t miss out there. Fingers crossed the former gets a quick release too. Here’s the full list of Cannes flicks coming our way: (Click on the...