Yesterday the Auckland and Wellington Film Society seasons kicked off with their first screenings and film lovers around the country shouldn't have much longer to wait.
Remember, WIFT members are eligible for a discount on full AFS membership.
This year's highlight is Pedro Costa's Fontainhas Trilogy, described as "the three films that put him on the map: spare, painterly portraits of battered, largely immigrant lives in the slums of Fontainhas, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. Hypnotic, controlled works, Ossos, In Vanda's Room and Colossal Youth confirm Costa as a provocative new cinematic poet, one who locates beauty in the most unlikely of places." - GreenCine
The celebration of the big screen experience continues with the gloriously cinematic features The New World and Russian Ark, and a showcase of critically acclaimed contemporary films by women directors Lynne Ramsay, Kelly Reichardt and Sarah Watt, all screening in 35mm prints. Award-winning documentaries from Germany and Canada are also on the programme, along with anime from Japan, international classics and early work by the great Ernst Lubitsch.
New Zealand films include the full-length version of the late Merata Mita's powerful anti-Springbok Tour documentary Patu! and a selection of recent NZ shorts. A pair of supremely stylish French films noirs and a retrospective starring the marvellous French actress Isabelle Huppert are among the treats in store.
Film Society brochures are available now at Film Society venues, public libraries and selected outlets around the country. To find your local film society and for full details of the 2011 season, visit www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz