Many of our movie prayers have been answered by the holy lords at the New Zealand International Film Festival who have just announced five very exciting films for the 2017 programme.
In addition to the announcements below, NZIFF also confirmed Kiwi filmmaking legend Gaylene Preston (whose feature My Year with Helen will screen at NZIFF 2017) as the Guest Selector for the 2017 New Zealand’s Best short film competition. (It’s worth going to if you haven’t been to one of these screenings before). Auckland also gets a new movie-watching venue this year at the ASB Waterfront Theatre.
20th Century Women
Oscar nominee Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon) and Greta Gerwig (Mistress America) lead this comedic, ’70s-set, multi-story film about love, family, freedom, and the (sometimes) futile search for meaning. From writer-director Mike Mills (Beginners), who was nominated for an Academy Award this year for his screenplay.
“For all of Mills’s cinematic tricks, he’s emerging as a great realist film-maker.” -The Guardian
Call Me by Your Name
Following 2009’s I Am Love and last year’s A Bigger Splash, writer-director Luca Guadagnino is back with this 1983-set tale of a blooming intimacy between two young people who share the summer together.
“Has a choking emotional intensity that will be apparent to anyone who’s ever dared to reach out to another.” -Time Out New York
My Life as a Courgette
Also known as My Life as a Zucchini, this stop-motion heart-warmer follows a young boy who loses his mother and rebuilds his life at a foster home. Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, contending with Disney juggernauts Moana and Zootopia alongside cult hits The Red Turtle and Kubo and the Two Strings.
“So warm, so alive, that we forget we’re watching cartoon figures. And when they belong to us, they’re no longer orphans.” -Time
I am Not Your Negro
This Oscar-nominated feature portrays writer James Baldwin’s unfinished book about racism in modern America. Eerily relevant today, you’ll want to watch the trailer to hear just how impactful this man’s words are.
“One of the 10 best films of the year.” -New York Times
A Monster Calls
The director of The Impossible adapts the award-winning children’s fantasy novel about a bullied boy with an ill mother who puts his problems into order by talking to a monstrous tree (voiced by Liam Neeson). Stars Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything).
“The fact that not every terrible thing can be remedied or appropriately punished is a tough lesson even for adults to learn, but A Monster Calls helps find the sense in it.” -Hollywood Reporter
