NZIFF Live events unveiled

NZIFF ANNOUNCES TWO LIVE CINEMA EVENTS FOR AUCKLAND

The New Zealand International Film Festival today announced two live cinema events to be held in Auckland.

The Cameraman is a 1928 silent film starring and co-directed by Buster Keaton. The film will be accompanied live by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with music composed by Timothy Brock, leading interpreter and composer of orchestral music for silent cinema. Marc Taddei, Wellington Orchestra’s current Music Director and popular guest conductor throughout Australasia will conduct the performance. Keaton’s most famous short Cops will precede The Cameraman screening on Sunday 4 August at 6.15pm at the Civic.

“Made as the end of the silent era drew near and its artistry peaked, The Cameraman was the first film Keaton made after signing up with MGM Pictures. It was to be his last great achievement, and there are those who consider it his most perfect film. The clothes, the cars, and the camera our hero totes all spell out what it was to be up to date in 1928, but everything that was truly exciting about The Cameraman is ageless and remains fresh to this day,” says NZIFF Director Bill Gosden.

The Crowd, directed by King Vidor, is a silent film set in the machine-age metropolis of 1920’s New York City where an optimistic young man is confident he will succeed without really trying. A new score that pays tribute to the ragtime era has been composed by Johannes Contag (Cloudboy) for The Crowd. The live cinema event will be performed in Auckland on Sunday 28 July 2pm at SkyCity Theatre and in Wellington on Sunday 11 August 4pm at the Paramount.

“The score for this film marks a long-overdue return to Live Cinema for Johannes Contag, last encountered in this realm with his group Cloudboy. Contag has composed a bustling and energetic score for Wellington’s SMP Ensemble, a 12-piece with piano, strings, winds and percussion, conducted by prolific emerging composer Karlo Margetic.” says Gosden.

NZIFF has already announced Italian prog-rock legends Goblin who will play live with Dario Argento’s horror film Suspiria, in Auckland at The Civic on Friday 19 July for one screening only at 9.15pm. Tickets for this special event are $45 (adults) and $40 (concession) plus booking fee. Tickets for all other Festival screenings will go on sale from Friday 28 June.