Decent palate cleanser
ALL over the world volunteer organisations like the Wellington Film Society keep the flame of film art alive so that cinephiliacs like me can get a decent palate cleanser every Monday night after a weekend of Hollywood tosh.
I can’t recommend Society membership highly enough. Your membership fee equates to around three bucks a screening (33 Mondays!) and your membership gets you discounts (at the Film Festival and participating cinemas) so that it doesn’t take long to pay for itself.
This year’s programme has many highlights. The French and German seasons (supported by the French Embassy and the Goethe Institute respectively) are always interesting. This year: a tribute to the luminous movie star Isabelle Huppert and a couple of classic crime flicks; three east German documentaries as well as a chance to see two very early German productions by the great Hollywood stylist Ernst Lubitsch (his classic The Shop Around the Corner, which was remade as You’ve Got Mail, also screens).
There are opportunities to see some recent classics on the big screen once again: Terrence Malick’s The New World didn’t even get a cinema release in NZ and has found a reputation only on home video; Sokurov’s spectacular Russian Ark is a must-see; Sotishi’s animated psychodrama Millenium Actress; Barry Barclay’s Ngati - the list goes on.
And of course there are the big screen masterpieces - this year we have Rossellini’s Journey in Italy starring Ingrid Bergman, the Japanese classic Sansho the Bailiff and the irrepressible Singin’ in the Rain - arguably the most joyous 103 minutes ever committed to celluloid.
The first screening is on Monday night - a sneak preview of the new Bill Murray/Robert Duvall comedy Get Low - and henceforward every Monday until November 28 (interrupted only by public holidays and other festivals).
While I’m encouraging you to start organising your diaries it is worth noting that, due to the Rugby World Cup and the accompanying changes to school holidays, this year’s Wellington Film Festival is two weeks later than usual: July 29 to August 14. Book that annual leave now.
I can’t recommend Society membership highly enough. Your membership fee equates to around three bucks a screening (33 Mondays!) and your membership gets you discounts (at the Film Festival and participating cinemas) so that it doesn’t take long to pay for itself.
This year’s programme has many highlights. The French and German seasons (supported by the French Embassy and the Goethe Institute respectively) are always interesting. This year: a tribute to the luminous movie star Isabelle Huppert and a couple of classic crime flicks; three east German documentaries as well as a chance to see two very early German productions by the great Hollywood stylist Ernst Lubitsch (his classic The Shop Around the Corner, which was remade as You’ve Got Mail, also screens).
There are opportunities to see some recent classics on the big screen once again: Terrence Malick’s The New World didn’t even get a cinema release in NZ and has found a reputation only on home video; Sokurov’s spectacular Russian Ark is a must-see; Sotishi’s animated psychodrama Millenium Actress; Barry Barclay’s Ngati - the list goes on.
And of course there are the big screen masterpieces - this year we have Rossellini’s Journey in Italy starring Ingrid Bergman, the Japanese classic Sansho the Bailiff and the irrepressible Singin’ in the Rain - arguably the most joyous 103 minutes ever committed to celluloid.
The first screening is on Monday night - a sneak preview of the new Bill Murray/Robert Duvall comedy Get Low - and henceforward every Monday until November 28 (interrupted only by public holidays and other festivals).
While I’m encouraging you to start organising your diaries it is worth noting that, due to the Rugby World Cup and the accompanying changes to school holidays, this year’s Wellington Film Festival is two weeks later than usual: July 29 to August 14. Book that annual leave now.
Have Your Say
1 Comment
Ramsay & Gillian Corbet at 6:03 p.m. on 2 March said
Another disappointing programme from the Wellington Film Society, showing too much unexciting, mainstream fare which is readily obtainable on DVD. The highlight is the amazing Pedro Costa Fontainhas trilogy (not mentioned by your critic) who has only had one film ever screening here (shame on the big Festival programmers) and the Lubitsch films. If you scrutinise the website you will find that many of the films screening at the less-than-state -of -the -art projection at the Paramount are on DVD. This is a very costly way to watch films that one can easily rent at various city outlets for a third of the price. One only has to cast ones eye at the Melbourne Cinematheque programme this year to see that true cinemaphiliacs are catered for intelligently, with an extraordinary programme of unseen cinema classics. The NZ Federation of Film Societies need to be reminded that conservative regurgitation is starting to wear thin.