The work of many, many WIFT NZ members will feature among the 12 New Zealand films selected (so far) to screen in Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival in 2021.
Sadly we can’t list you all, but here are the projects with WIFTers at the helm:
Theatrical World Premiere: There Is No I in Threesome (pictured)
Co-writer: Natalie Medlock
Co-producer: Alex Reed
In love, newly engaged and maintaining a long-distance relationship, director Jan Oliver Lucks and his fiancée decide to throw traditional rules out the window by opening up their relationship before they tie the knot. What could go wrong? This is a film about polyamory that isn't quite what it seems.
Theatrical Premiere: A Mild Touch of Cancer
Director, Producer, Screenplay: Annie Goldson
Successful businessperson, comedian and author David Downs had just months to live when he entered a clinical trial of an innovative cancer treatment in the U.S. Within weeks, he was in complete remission, and two years later he is deemed cured. Now, he has dedicated himself to helping New Zealanders around the country face their own cancer journeys. We follow their stories of life and death.
World Premiere: Fiona Clark: Unafraid
Director, Producer: Lula Cucchiarra
Producer: Matt Noonan
Photographer Fiona Clark shocked 1970s New Zealand with her documentary images of Auckland’s burgeoning queer scene. The pictures they tried to ban were just the beginning for one of Aotearoa's photography greats.
World Premiere: Millie Lies Low
Director: Michelle Savill
Producer: Desray Armstrong, Angela Littlejohn
A broke and anxiety-ridden architecture grad misses her flight to New York for a prestigious internship. She decides to fake having made it to New York, while laying low in her hometown, scrounging for another ticket.
Mothers of the Revolution
Director: Briar March
Producer: Leela Menon
Mothers of the Revolution tells the story of one of the longest protests in history. Between 1981 and 2000, thousands of women from around the world came together at Greenham Common to take a committed stand against nuclear proliferation. Minimised by the media, the film reveals the women as the Cold War heroes they were, who persisted in the face of arrests, condemnation, and scorn, took on a superpower, and changed the world.
World Premiere: Rohe Kōreporepo – The Swamp, the Sacred Place
Director: Kathleen Gallagher
Rohe Kōreporepo – The Swamp the Sacred Place, examines the delights of restoring our intimate relationships with rohe kōreporepo/wetland, underscoring the importance of these valuable and diverse ecosystems to our wellbeing and environment. Could restoring our repo hold the key to unlocking our climate crisis and revitalising our health and mana?
World Premiere: Mark Hunt - The Fight Of his Life
Producer: Bettina Hollings
A warts-and-all documentary following one of New Zealand's most successful sportspeople. Mark Hunt remains a global superstar in both kickboxing and mixed martial arts, helping popularise the now phenomenally successful combat sport. Yet, as the documentary makes clear, Hunt has remained a rank outsider for the majority of his sporting career.
World Premiere: Signed, Theo Schoon
Producer: Jan Bieringa
Art historian and filmmaker Luit Bieringa (Ans Westra: Private Journeys/Public Signposts, The Man in the Hat) re-examines the life and career of Dutch immigrant artist Theo Schoon. In the context of New Zealand’s culture in the second half of the 20th century, Schoon rocked our world. For all the noise that has surrounded his legacy, the artist that emerges from this film is one who gave infinitely more than he took.
World Premiere: Whetū Mārama – Bright Star
Co-director, co-producer: Aileen O’Sullivan
Polynesians were the greatest voyagers on earth, sailing the vast Pacific by the stars. However, their ancient art of navigation was lost for 600 years, until the stars realigned and three men from far flung islands – a Hawaiian, a Micronesian and a Māori – met by chance. Together they revived past practices, restoring their people’s place as the greatest navigators on the planet. Whetū Mārama – Bright Star is the story of Sir Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi, aka Hek Busby, and his significance for Māori in rekindling their wayfinding DNA and for all New Zealanders in reclaiming our place as traditional star voyages on the world map.