NZIFF 2015 Hamilton 19 Aug–13 Sep 2015

Films — by Collection

Staff Picks: Bill Gosden

New films from Cannes that I’ve yet to see promise to deliver the cinematic highlights of the year, and the Visions section is packed with cinephile essentials. So this is a list of a dozen more films I recommend to any festival-goer interested in movies - and how they relate to the world beyond. Playing favourites amongst so many enlivening New Zealand documentaries is a dangerous game, but Kim Webby’s The Price of Peace explores national identity with rare power and emotional intelligence. The ending of this film feels like a homecoming for the entire nation.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Marielle Heller

An amazing gust of fresh air from the 70s! Starring Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård and the phenomenal Bel Powley as 15-year-old Minnie, who, brave, funny and ever true to herself, embarks on an affair with an older man.

Embrace of the Serpent

El abrazo de la serpiente

Ciro Guerra

A lone shaman inducts two European ethnographers into the mysteries of the Amazon in this breathtakingly photographed tale of exploration, vividly reimagined from the indigenous point of view.

Experimenter

Michael Almereyda

Led by an arresting, coolly clinical performance from Peter Sarsgaard, this potent examination of one of the most controversial figures in social psychology is as indelibly stylised as it is intellectually stimulating.

The Price of Peace

Kim Webby

Kim Webby’s background in investigative journalism is put to riveting use in this documentary about Tame Iti and the Urewera Four, taking a criminal case of national interest to explore a greater social issue.

Tangerine

Sean Baker

Shot on iPhone and looking fantastic, Sean Baker’s R-rated comedy storms the streets, doughnut shops, brothels and clubs of West Hollywood as two transgender BFFs hunt down the ‘bitch’ who did them wrong.