The New Zealand International Film Festival opened last weekend in Auckland. After that, some of the films will travel to 12 other towns in New Zealand. You can check the programme in a town nearest you.
It’s a great opportunity to see films from many countries and in many languages including French, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and Icelandic. They have subtitles in English. A favourite in Auckland was Shoplifters, a Japanese film which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Many other films were first shown at Film Festivals around the world.
Auckland has more than 150 films on the programme. Some are documentaries, some are short films. Forty-nine have a female director. Many films have strong female leads. Nearly all of the films are challenging or different from the usual feature films we see in our movie theatres. Some remain in your memory for a long time afterwards.
This year, there are 11 New Zealand full-length and short films as well.