2014 New Zealand International Film Festival interview with Bill Gosden
Tickets for the New Zealand International Film Festival are on sale after the launch of the programme in Auckland on Monday and Wellington last night.
As the masses prepare their cinematic scramble, I caught up with Festival Director Bill Gosden to chew the fat, look at parts of the programme and also find out from him which is the one film he believes definitely deserves your time.
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| Bill Gosden at Auckland's Civic Theatre, 2014 |
It seems to be the
strongest line up yet, with a programme that suggests diversity as well as
crowd-pleasing fare, how are you feeling about the line up this year?
I’m still pinching myself to believe it’s all there. We’ve a
total of 139 films and a mere 37 of them were nailed down in the fortnight
between Cannes and the printer’s deadline. But yes, I think the balance of great
idiosyncratic movies, more genre-based fare, not to mention terrific
documentaries, is a very pleasing one this year.
20 titles from Cannes
as well - from award winners like Winter Sleep, Map to The Stars, Leviathan
- how have you managed to secure these
this year and how do you think they will be received?
Of course there’s always advance speculation about what will
make it to Cannes, but there’s little point in our focussing on it before the
official selection is announced. Then it’s a matter of keeping a close eye on
who is handling what – which can change quite quickly - so we know exactly who
to talk to once programmer Sandra Reid has seen the films there and prioritised
our hit list.
The Cannes films I’ve been able to see myself by now are very
exciting. I don’t imagine anyone being
bored by them. And I can’t wait to catch up with the ones I’ve still not seen,
especially Leviathan, Force Majeure,
Maidan and Winter Sleep.
It also feels like an
incredibly strong NZ set of entrants this year is it a vintage year for NZ and
what does opening with The Dark Horse
says?
That it’s a beautiful film – and that NZIFF is perfectly
placed to help it along the way to the success that surely awaits it.
We also have Housebound as well for
the main programme - a suggestion perhaps that there's a wide audience for this
with the buzz eminating from SXSW?
Hell, yes. If audiences don’t want to have this much fun,
then it’s time I headed for a life of simplicity and quiet contemplation.
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| Housebound |
Which other NZ titles
stand out to you?
I think each of them is surprisingly specific in its appeal.
If you’re looking for what else on the New Zealand programme might please the
widest audience, the Ngā Whanaunga Maori
Pasifika Shorts programme this year is terrific.
I'm very interested in the
multi-platform approach for Everything We Loved - how did that come about and do you see this potentially being a way
forward for the festival and other local titles?
Definitely – and for international titles too. We are well
aware that not everyone can get to the handful of screenings we are presenting
on any one film. But we have taken on so much change this year – a new site,
new ticketers in Auckland and Wellington, a condensed tour programme – that VOD
was not something we had the resources to explore more fully in 2014. The Four
Knights team were very keen to take this new path with their film so Everything We Loved provided the perfect
starting point using the new NZ Film Commission VOD platform.
You've also managed to
secure a lot of titles that have had buzz around and are very anticipated
within the community - from Locke to Snowpiercer and Under The Skin - is this a push to get more into the auditorium or to satiate the
film community's appetites?
The buzz is completely justified. We had our hands up for all
three films very early. It has worked out perfectly for us that they all took
their time getting here – and then landed in our laps.
It's also exciting to
see David Michod return after the terrific Animal Kingdom - what can you tell us about The Rover? And a return for Florian Habicht as well
with Pulp... how does it feel to
bring old faves back to the fest?
The Rover feels
like something David Michod might almost have done before Animal Kingdom. It’s brutal and stylish and will certainly keep you
wide awake, but it’s much less impassioned and complex than the earlier film.
The Pulp doco is pure Florian and
pure Pulp too, a marriage made in pop heaven.
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| The Rover |
There seem to be some films
of a similar ilk / themes - Enemy
with Jake Gyllenhaal and Richard Aoyade's The Double as well as Fargo touches for
Kumiko and In Order of
Disappearance - purely coincidence or
deliberate?
Signs of the times to be interpreted as you like. You should
also note that the little dog turned up on our poster before we’d even heard about
Cannes Palm D’og winner The White God
which culminates in a spectacular canine uprising. Pure coincidence? Who can be sure?
What's the one film
you're delighted is on the programme and why? Conversely, what's the one title
you'll be ensuring you've got a seat for as part of the audience / big screen
experience?
Just one? Are you
insane? Here’s a few that absolutely
demand the biggest screens in the nation: Snowpiercer,
Home from Home, Leviathan, 20,000 Days on Earth, Under the Skin, Salt of the
Earth, Wild Tales.
Which titles does your
gut tell you will appeal to the masses?
If I had such a helpful gut, I’d probably not be working at a
film festival. I’ll be perplexed if there aren’t masses of fashionistas charmed
by Dior and I.
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| We Come As Friends |
What's the one title
that you want people to try above all else - and why?
We Come as Friends
is a potently cinematic new film from the director of Darwin’s Nightmare. He built his own plane, created aircrew-style uniforms
for himself and co-pilot/sound man and flew into South Sudan, the world’s
newest nation, on the ‘official business’ of simply filming whatever they found
when they landed. It’s astounding what access this ploy opened up for them –
and what risks they took to capture 21st-century colonialism in sordid action.
What can you tell us
about the guests coming to the festival this year?
Rolf de Heer should be no stranger. His films with David
Gulpilil have been my own favourites amongst the many he’s produced and
directed. Charlie’s Country, the
latest of these, is wonderful. Sophie Hyde also hails from South Australia and
her 52 Tuesdays, a very contemporary
take on coming-of-age, won her the World Cinema Direction award at Sundance
this year.
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| Charlie's Country |
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine are a San Francisco duo whose
documentaries – notably Ballets Russes
– have often featured at NZIFF before. And Kitty Green is a young Australian
who risked life and limb and the hospitality of the KGB to record the
activities of the Ukrainian feminist cadre FEMEN.
The festival has a
good solid travel itinerary this year as well, you must be excited about
heading into some regions that have never seen you or you've not been around
for a while?
Timaru is our one new location this year. It’s great to have
Gore back for a second year. They’ll be opening with Housebound this year, and extending a Mainland welcome to its
Invercargill-born director.
Is the programme
complete - or are you chasing some last minute acquisitions that you're hoping
to secure.....?
That settles it. You definitely are insane.
Full details of all the titles can be found at the New Zealand International Film Festival website - www.nziff.co.nz
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