Silver screen sorcery _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

Step into the lights, camera, action of Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), where during 10 days in August, movie maniacs and film fanatics can rack focus on over 100 films from near and far.

Taking place across Embassy Theatre, Light House Cinema Cuba and Petone, Massey University National Academy of Screen Arts Cinema, The Tea Gardens Massey University, Roxy Cinema, and The Welsh Dragon Bar between the 14^th and 24^th of August, this year’s action-packed programme promises to electrify, ignite, and uplift audiences whether they’re keen for jump scares and jeebies or tears and tall tales.

Opening the Te Whanganui-a-Tara leg of NZIFF is Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident. Filmed in secret in Iran, this road movie revenge thriller from Jafar Panahi featuring biting black humour, borderline absurd happenings, and vividly shifting viewpoints from a vanload of ex-prisoners looks at bigger questions around morality, justice, unhealed trauma, and the impact of the Iranian regime. The premiere on the 14^th may be sold out, but you can catch its subsequent screenings before it peels out of the capital.

The closing film, screening on the 24^th and 27^th, is another Cannes Film Festival favourite. Directed by acclaimed Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier and starring Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value tells the story of two estranged sisters forced to confront their distant forgotten-filmmaker father who abandoned them as kids.

“This year, the Cannes Film Festival offered an incredibly rich and inspiring selection of works from all over the world,” NZIFF artistic director Paolo Bertolin says. “Films that speak to the hearts and minds of the audience, commenting on the personal and the political. And yet, despite the grim reality of the world, many of these films are bringing hope and light, displaying the healing power of cinema.”

The Aotearoa and Pacific contingent at this year’s NZIFF is equally strong, with gothic psychodrama, romance, sport, horror, and our own signature brand of comedy stepping into the spotlight.

With something for every kind of silver screen savant, this year’s selection has been sorted into several strands. Frames explores and expands the language of documentary filmmaking while Treasures revives hand-picked classics and recently restored films. Māhutonga lights the way to Aotearoa’s storytellers and Fresh features first-time narratives from bold new international voices. Tune into Rhythm for narrative and documentary films centred around music and its forms or Portraits for character-driven narrative and documentary films that draw us into the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Journeys takes audiences on adventures through regions whose stories offer fresh insight into place, identity, and experience while Widescreen offers vivid snapshots from diverse realities from across the globe. Nocturnal is a late-night strand devoted to films that revel in genre, irreverence, and the unexpected and Visions showcases the distinct cinematic style of revered masters and emerging talents.

Packing a punch and perfectly poignant, peruse the NZIFF programme for your particular pleasures.