From feature films to shorts to cutting edge moving image work, Auckland Arts Festival 2011 offers a host of options for film-buffs.
1970 Oscar-nominated documentary, Jack Johnson, directed by boxing promoter William Cayton, was a tribute to the first black heavyweight world boxing champion and flamboyant public figure. Miles Davis provided the score for the film, which has become a jazz classic. For this special screening of the film, jazz maestro Jack DeJohnette, who played on the original sessions, reinterprets the score with a live band while the film screens. From Oscar nominated doco to cult classic, Leon Radojkovic's reinvention of Carnival of Souls takes 'live cinema' to the next level, with live dialogue performed by local actors, live sound effects as well as a rewritten score performed by Dr Colossus. Don't miss the chance to catch this Festival highlight in the wonderful Mercury and Civic Theatres. Also of note for cinephiles is the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's, A Symphonic Odyssey, homage to Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey featuring the epic classical works that provided the basis for the film's score.
Over four evenings, as part of Auckland City's Movies in Parks, the Festival Garden will be home to free screenings of some fantastic local short films, from Academy Award shortlisted, The Six Dollar Fifty Man, or Show Me Shorts 2010 Best Film winner, This is Her, to New Zealand's recent entries into the prestigious Hamburg Animation Awards. Bring a blanket, some popcorn and grab a drink from the Stoneleigh Bar and soak up the Festival Garden atmosphere.
The Festival's visual arts programme showcases the cutting edge of moving image. For local experimental film-makers, visiting video artists Ko Nakajima, one of Japan's most innovative and respected video and performance artists, and his prot�g�, Kentaro Taki, will be a highlight. Based at St PAUL ST Gallery the pair will be giving talks and running a workshop in addition to showing their work. From Africa, Pieter Hugo's remarkable photographic exhibition, Nollywood, provides a striking insight into the world's third largest film industry, based in Nigeria. Ex-pat New Zealander Daniel Crooks' recent work, fresh from the Sydney Biennial, will show at Two Rooms, while Leilani Kake's Ng? Hau e Wh?: The Four Winds an investigation of the cultural taboo of nudity and the politics and histories related to perceptions of the body for M?ori and Pacific women, will show at Fresh Gallery Otara.