NZIFF 2018: More Features to Watch from DEGNZ Members
The full Auckland programme for the New Zealand International Film Festival has been officially unveiled and we are very excited for what’s ahead. Wellington follows suit with a programme launch at 7pm tonight.
In part 1, we spotlighted four features from our members amongst the festival’s Early Announcements. Here, we roundup four more from our talented members to look forward to at NZIFF.
Auckland tickets are on sale from Friday 9am and Wellington from 5 July. For info on other centres around the nation, check out the NZIFF website.
She Shears – Director Jack Nicol
World Premiere
In DEGNZ member Jack Nicol’s documentary, five female sheep shearers take on the competition at the Golden Shears in a sport where men and women compete together. NZIFF writes, “Jack Nicol applies camera poetry to the agility, strength, skill and rhythmic grace of women wielding blades of steel.”
“What we wanted to do was show off the shearing world and the shearing community in a way it’s never been seen before.” — Jack Nicol, interview with The Country.
SHE SHEARS / Photo: Rebecca McMillan
Dog’s Best Friend – Director Eryn Wilson
NZ Premiere
After discovering online the work of Jacob Leezak, Sydney founder of the Canine Behaviour Expert Dog Psychology Centre, thanks to his mum, DEGNZ member Eryn Wilson saw the opportunity he had been looking for to direct his first feature-length documentary. Dog’s Best Friend is a tender film about the troubled dogs taken in at this centre and the couple who have made rehabilitating them their life’s work.
“Between them they’re so empathetic … you imagine a couple of humans that have experienced damage that they’re working through, and here are these damaged dogs. It’s no coincidence that they’ve taken on this kind of work.”
– Eryn Wilson, on The Project.
DOG’S BEST FRIEND / Photo: Irma Calabrese
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen – Consulting Editor Annie Collins
World Premiere
Beginning in the late 70s, editor and DEGNZ board member Annie Collins collaborated with Merita Mita on four documentaries that included The Bridge (1982) and Patu! (1983). Annie contributes to a new documentary on Merata Mita’s life as consulting editor.
Merata Mita, pioneering Māori filmmaker and international champion of women in indigenous film, is celebrated by her son Heperi Mita in this richly personal portrait.
MERATA / Photo: Gil Hanly
Mega Time Squad – Editor Luke Haigh
NZ Premiere
DEGNZ member Luke Haigh (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) has three editing credits – one feature, two shorts – in this year’s NZIFF.
Playing in the Incredibly Strange section, Mega Time Squad (dir. Tim van Dammen) is a high-meets-low mash up of Kiwi humour, sci-fi and mad cap crime thriller about a small-town criminal who stumbles on a mystical artefact with time travelling powers.
MEGA TIME SQUAD / Blur and Sharpen, Candlelit Pictures
Last updated on 4 July 2018
