Each year I eagerly await the first of the film announcements, which only fuels my anticipation for the full programme for Masterton's New Zealand International Film Festival. This year we are cinematically blessed with over 30 homegrown and international films, which will screen over 15 days at Regent 3 Cinemas. It's an absolute pleasure to compile my 12 ‘Must See’ films. At the top of my music film list is the poetic documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, and also the highly anticipated Amazing Grace, aptly described as the 'Holy Grail' by Mark Rogers of RNZ’s Nashville Babylon. Mark and I will be introducing this film at the Masterton screening on 30 August. It’s a fantastic year for celebrating our homegrown documentary film and filmmakers. This year I will be moderating Film Talks with David Nash for A Seat at the Table, and with Tony Sutorius for Helen Kelly – Together. We are really looking forward to sharing these local stories with our Masterton audiences. Happy NZIFF for 2019! — Jane Ross, Film Talks
Films — by Collection
- Film Talks: Jane Ross
- Flicks.co.nz
- Letterboxd Community
- Letterboxd Crew
- Lumière Cinemas
- Staff Picks: Bradley Pratt
- Staff Picks: Charlotte Underhill
- Staff Picks: Daniel Burger
- Staff Picks: Emma Carter
- Staff Picks: Ina Kinski
- Staff Picks: Jessica Hof
- Staff Picks: Lauren Day
- Staff Picks: Lauri Korpela
- Staff Picks: Lynnaire MacDonald
- Staff Picks: Michael McDonnell
- Staff Picks: Nick Paris
- Staff Picks: Rebecca McMillan
- Staff Picks: Sandra Reid
- Staff Picks: Sharon Byrne
- Staff Picks: Tim Wong
- Wellington Film Society
Film Talks: Jane Ross
A Seat at the Table
Savour 100 minutes of eye-popping camera work, picturesque vineyards and gratuitous grape-fondling shots in this glorious toast to the talent and the stories behind New Zealand’s world-famous wine industry.
Amazing Grace
Rescued from 45 years in legal and technical limbo, this extraordinary music film capturing Aretha Franklin in full flight deserves your respect – and the biggest screen and sound system possible.
Apocalypse Now: Final Cut
Welcome back to the jungle with Brando, Duvall, Fishburne and Hopper for Francis Ford Coppola’s final – and finest – version of the ultimate Vietnam War epic.
Helen Kelly – Together
An intimate, inspirational portrait of Helen Kelly in the last year of her life, Together tells the story of a woman whose advocacy and generosity changed the lives of countless New Zealanders.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The classic, quintessentially British comedy of bad manners returns in a superb digital restoration. With Dennis Price as the most elegantly murderous of social climbers and Alec Guinness as all eight of his victims.
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love
A deep dive into the myth of Leonard Cohen, the singer’s defining relationship with Marianne Ihlen, and prolific documentarian Nick Broomfield’s own personal connection to Cohen’s famous lover and muse.
New Zealand’s Best 2019
Help give the year’s best New Zealand short films the homegrown recognition they deserve by voting for your favourite at this screening.
Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2019
A collection of Māori and Pasifika short films curated by Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), director of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, with guest co-curator Craig Fasi (Niue), director of the Pollywood Film Festival. Curators’ comments on each film appear in italics.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Winner of Best Screenplay and the Queer Palm at Cannes, Céline Sciamma’s striking 18th-century tale of romantic obsession burns bright with female desire and the craft of a masterful filmmaker.
Sorry We Missed You
A most worthy follow-up to I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach’s new social-realist drama zeroes in on life as an average British family at the mercy of the modern day ‘gig economy’.
American Woman
A sweeping character study centred on a teenager’s disappearance – and a mother’s determination to live through the tragedy – in blue collar Pennsylvania. With Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks.
The Whistlers
La Gomera
Breathing new life into the Romanian New Wave, Corneliu Porumboiu crafts a rollicking genre movie set in sun-soaked Spain, where the best laid plans of a bent cop hinge on learning a secret local whistling dialect.