NZIFF Announces Feature Films Requested by Popular Demand

The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) today reveals a further five films of the 2018 programme, which will screen in Auckland from 19 July, and in Wellington from 27 July.

The four international feature films and a documentary announced today have all been popular requests into the NZIFF office in the past year. Disobedience starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, Harry Dean Stanton’s final film Lucky, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here starring Joaquin Phoenix, period piece Zama from Argentinian auteur Lucrecia Martel, and a documentary feature on the pioneering women’s rights activist and US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG).

“When we receive multiple requests we take notice and if we can’t deliver, that’s usually because somebody else will. We’ve been hearing requests for Lynne Ramsey’s film since its debut in Cannes a year ago – and the requests for RBG have been thick and fast since the US reviews came out only last week,” says NZIFF director Bill Gosden.

 

Titles for NZIFF 2018:

Disobedience

Rachel Weisz stars as a black sheep drawn back to her London Orthodox Jewish home, rekindling sparks with a childhood friend (Rachel McAdams) in the English-language debut of the director of Gloria and A Fantastic Woman.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/disobedience/

 

Lucky

After an idiosyncratic career of iconic roles for everyone from Wim Wenders to David Lynch, the late Harry Dean Stanton hangs up his hat with this wryly funny, affecting character study.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/lucky/

 

RBG

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. RBG is a revelatory documentary exploring her exceptional life and career.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/rbg/

 

You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay, director of Ratcatcher and We Need to Talk About Kevin, teams with Joaquin Phoenix for a startling, nerve-shredding thriller about a brutal hitman contracted to save an abducted teen.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/you-were-never-really-here/

 

Zama

The brilliant Argentinian auteur Lucrecia Martel returns with a feverish, formally sophisticated period piece about a Spanish officer’s personal hell in colonial South America.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/zama/

 

NZIFF last week announced the first four films for the programme. They are:

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

Alexandra Dean’s debut documentary is a revelatory and entertaining portrait of an adventurous woman and talented inventor better known to the world as the embodiment of Hollywood sex and glamour.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/bombshell-the-hedy-lamarr-story/

 

Leave No Trace

New Zealand actress Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie is mesmerising as 13-year-old Tom living off the grid with her war vet father (Ben Foster) in this haunting new film from the director of Winter’s Bone.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/leave-no-trace/

 

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.

From refugee daughter of a Tamil revolutionary and aspiring filmmaker to pop stardom and controversy magnet: this stimulating documentary about Sri Lankan musician M.I.A. dances to its own idiosyncratic beat.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/matangi-maya-mia/

 

Yellow Is Forbidden

Kiwi director Pietra Brettkelly takes us into the opulent world of show-stopping Chinese designer Guo Pei as she prepares to make her Paris debut and seeks admission into the exclusive club of haute couture.

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/yellow-is-forbidden/

 

NZIFF is run by a charitable trust and encourages lively interactions between films, filmmakers and New Zealand audiences in 13 towns and cities around the country. The full NZIFF programme will be available from Tuesday 26 June for Auckland, Friday 29 June for Wellington, Tuesday 10 July for Christchurch, and Tuesday 17 July for Dunedin. NZIFF starts in Auckland on 19 July, Wellington from 27 July, Christchurch from 2 August, and Dunedin from 9 August in 2018.