Being born into a family of documentary film makers, I like to think I was always destined to be involved in films and what better way than to work at New Zealand’s biggest and best film festival! There is nothing like being awake in the dark watching a new film direct from Cannes at the glorious Embassy and this year there is a cracker of a line up coming! I like to mix my festival experience between rich cinematic storytelling and a journey of discovery of new ideas, people and places. The best films mix all these elements and leave you reeling as you exit the cinema. Documentaries are stacked heavy this year and with good reason, from seasoned veterans to new debuts, there is no shortage of fascinating subjects to encounter and it certainly feels like the genre is moving from strength to strength in the last few years. Without further ado, I present my picks for the festival.
Films — by Collection
- Darren Bevan
- David Larsen
- Films for Teens
- James Croot
- Letterboxd
- Meet the Filmmakers: Auckland
- Meet the Filmmakers: Wellington
- Patricia Watson
- Rebecca McMillan
- Staff Picks: Angela Murphy
- Staff Picks: Bill Gosden
- Staff Picks: Cianna Canning
- Staff Picks: Felicity Drace
- Staff Picks: Hayden Ellis
- Staff Picks: Jenna Udy
- Staff Picks: Kailey Carruthers
- Staff Picks: Kate McArthur
- Staff Picks: Lisa Bomash
- Staff Picks: Lynn Smart
- Staff Picks: Megan Duffy
- Staff Picks: Michael McDonnell
- Staff Picks: Olivia Young
- Staff Picks: Poppy Granger
- Staff Picks: Rachael Deller-Pincott
- Staff Picks: Sandra Reid
- Staff Picks: Sibilla Paparatti
- Staff Picks: Tom Ainge-Roy
- The Lumière Reader
- Tim Wong
- Wellington Film Society's Picks of NZIFF 2015
Staff Picks: Tom Ainge-Roy
’71
This nerve-racking wartime thriller from director Yann Demange and Black Watch writer Gregory Burke stars Jack O’Connell (Starred Up) as a lost British soldier hunted by both sides amid the mayhem of Belfast, 1971.
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The Assassin
Nie Yinniang
Shu Qi plays the eponymous killer in this ravishingly beautiful foray into historical martial arts territory from Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien. Winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Alex Gibney’s documentary sensation, based on Lawrence Wright’s best-selling history of Scientology and its apostates, gets the big screen treatment it deserves.
Meru
A new summit in mountain sports documentary – with characters and a plot to rival many a feature, Meru captures the sheer physical extremity of two attempts to make the first ascent of a precipitous Himalayan peak.
Best of Enemies
Anticipating the punch-counterpunch set-up of today’s TV punditry, but so much more incisive, the 1968 TV debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr resound again in this terrific documentary.