This year NZIFF goes pop with seven titles from seven visionary directors. Including work from Studio Ghibli master Takahata Isao, visual magician Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and the king of arts and crafts aesthetic Michel Gondry, these films are sure to inspire, intrigue and take you on a real trip.
Studio Ghibli co-founder Takahata Isao took eight years to finish The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, his first in 14 years, but it has been well worth the wait. The 78-year-old anime master has delivered an ethereal interpretation of an ancient Japanese fable of a bamboo cutter who finds an unearthly princess in a bamboo stalk and takes her into his home. A tale of love, family and magic, Takahata's final film is must-see material.
Waltz with Bashir director Ari Folman returns to NZIFF with The Congress, starring Robin Wright as, well, Robin Wright. Inspired by the sci-fi novel The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem, this beautiful and nightmarish look into the future of Hollywood stardom is "a genius designer on an acid trip" as one character describes it. And to further the head trip experience, they have Michel Gondry's Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? - a hypnotic, hand-drawn accompaniment to a series of conversations the director had with philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky.
At NZIFF you will also find Jean-Pierre Jeunet's beautiful 3D family adventureThe Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet, the Incredibly Strange Why Don't You Play in Hell?, a tale of two worlds in Patema Inverted and Chris Sullivan's labour of twisted love Consuming Spirits.
This mix of hypnotic, hilarious and visionary films already guarantees that NZIFF in 2014 will be a memorable one.