How exciting to see a number of WIFT members' films in the line up of features selected so far for the 2022 New Zealand International Film Festival. The themes of resilience, survival, and hope run deep in many of the titles. Those with WIFTers at the helm are listed below.
More New Zealand feature films will be announced when the full festival programme is revealed in July.
A Boy Called Piano – The Story of Fa'amoana John Luafutu
Director Nina Nawalowalo, Producer Katherine Wyeth
Adapted from the stage to the screen, A Boy Called Piano is an incredibly moving documentary detailing the remarkable story of Fa’amoana’s time as a state ward in the 1960’s and the intergenerational impacts of these experiences. The film was recently awarded Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal Independent Film Festival. Growing from the long-term collaboration with the Luafutu Aiga, the film blends dramatised sequences and powerful interviews with beautiful aerial and underwater photography, translating Nina Nawalowalo’s celebrated visual storytelling to the screen for the first time.
To read more, click here
Geoff Dixon – Portraits of Us
Co-director/Co-producer Glenis Giles
Making its world premiere at the festival this film is an intimate deep-dive into the world of New Zealand-born Australian-based visual artist Geoff Dixon whose work confronts the fragility of the natural world and seeks to raise awareness of issues of climate change and endangered species.
To read more, click here
Juliet Gerrard: Science in Dark Times
Director Shirley Horrocks
Science in Dark Times follows the work of a remarkable woman, Dame Juliet Gerrard (pictured), Jacinda Ardern's Chief Science Advisor, through three years of dramatic crises, including the Whakaari White Island eruption and the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film is making its Auckland premiere following its world premiere in Wellington as part of NZIFF 2021.
To read more, click here
Kāinga
Directors Asuka Sylvie, Yamin Tun, Julie Zhu
Kāinga follows the success of Waru (NZIFF 2017) and Vai (2019), and completes the trilogy. Eleven Pan-Asian female filmmakers craft unique stories chronicling the diverse, ever-changing experiences of Asians trying to make Aotearoa New Zealand their home. The stories, set in the same house across several decades, explore the historical connection to tangata whenua, feelings of isolation, community support in lieu of family, home precarity, excitement about making home, longing to be 'back home', being 'othered' at home, and finally claiming home.
To read more, click here