It’s a wondrous time of year for intensive knowledge gathering and world-illuminating mind expansion – the New Zealand International Film Festival is in town!
Once again there are too many great looking films for most of us to catch them all, but to help narrow down the list here are the initial recommendations of one keen documentary enthusiast: (& they’re selling out so it may pay to >>book quick!<<)
THE LOOK OF SILENCE
This is the companion film to ‘The Act of Killing’ and rounds out a pair of truly world-changing documentaries of the highest artistic calibre and political potency. They relate to the anti-communist ‘purge’ in Indonesia in the 60s which killed upwards of 500,000 people and whose perpetrators remain in power today.
This is a must see, including Q&A with the director, Joshua Oppenheimer, who can also be heard discussing the films in this recent RNZ interview:
BELIEF: THE POSSESSION OF JANET MOSES
“This impressive doco disperses the fog of shame and sensationalism to shed light on the tragedy that made international headlines in 2007 when a young Wainuiomata woman died during a mākutu lifting.” >MORE INFO<
THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER
“A Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life by revealing it, amid growing clouds of revolution and war.” > MORE INFO <
THE PRICE OF PEACE
“There’s an enlightening and moving portrait of Tūhoe activist, artist and kaumātua Tame Iti at the heart of Kim Webby’s film about the trial of the ‘Urewera Four’ and its aftermath. She outlines the perils of surveillance in her account of the trial, in which Iti and three others were accused of plotting terrorist activities” > MORE INFO <
RED ARMY
“A sports doc for people who don’t give a damn about sports” – and produced by Werner Herzog, so you know it’s good. > MORE INFO <
GOING CLEAR:
SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF
Scientology exposed! This is gold. > MORE INFO <
CARTEL LAND
“A gripping, nuanced look at two different responses to the ongoing violence and death strewn by the vicious drug cartels plaguing both sides of the Mexican/American border” – Tim Grierson, Paste > MORE INFO <
A recent interview with the director, Matthew Heineman:
This list will grow…
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