New Zealand Film Festival 2007 @ UP Diliman

NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVAL 2007
FEBRUARY 12-15 UPFI Cine Adarna, UP Diliman
Schedule of screenings at the UPFI Cine Adarna is as follows.
Screenings are preceded by a short film indicated in parenthesis.
ADMISSION IS FREE

February 7 Wednesday-
7 p.m. Cinema of Unease,
8 p.m. No.2
February 12- Monday
5 p.m. The World's Fastest Indian (Two Cars One Night),
7:30 p.m. Sione's Wedding (Grocer's Apprentice)
February 13-Tuesday 5 p.m. No. 2 (Blue Willow),
7:30 p.m. Whale Rider (The Lounge Bar)
February 14 - Wednesday
2 p.m. The World's Fastest Indian (Hotel Hawkestone),
5 p.m. Sione's Wedding (Blue Willow),
7:30 p.m. Whale Rider (Shadow of the Sun)
February 15 -Thursday
5 p.m. In My Father's Den (Infection),
7:30 p.m. No. 2 (No Ordinary Sun).

Sione's Wedding
Four Samoan guys are banned from their best friend's wedding.
Direction: Chris Graham. Screenplay: James Griffin, Oscar Kightley.
Cast: Oscar Kightley, Robbie Magasiva, Shimpal Lelisi, Iaheto Ah Hi,
Teuila Blakely, Madeleine Same, David Fane, Pua Magasiva, David van
Horn, Nathaniel Lees, Maryjane McKibbin-Schwenke, Ana Tuigamala.
2006 97 minutes 35mm color

Synopsis; Sione is getting married. But there's a problem, well
actually there are four problems - Sione's brother Michael and his
three best mates Albert, Stanley and Sefa: the ladies' man, the good
boy, the weird one and the party boy. They're 30-something, but they
still act as if they're 16. They get drunk, they chase the wrong
women and they have a remarkable record of causing chaos at every
wedding they attend. But when Sione's bans the boys from his wedding,
they know something has to change. The boys have one last chance:
find girlfriends to take to the wedding or be let out in the cold.
Their lives are about to get turned upside down. How hard can it be
finding a girl in the world's biggest Polynesian city when you're
young, gifted and brown?

Whale Rider
A feisty little girl bucks tradition in an attempt to become the
first female chief of a Maori tribe.
Winner of People's Choice Award –2002 Toronto IFF; Audience Award—
2003 Sundance FF; Audience Award—2003 Rotterdam IFF; Best Foreign
Film—2004 Independent Spirit Awards; Best Picture—2003 New Zealand
Film and Television Awards among over 50 awards and distinctions
including Oscar Nomination for Best Actress for Keisha Castle-Hughes—
2004 Academy Awards
Direction and Screenplay from Witi Ihimaera's novel: Niki Caro. Cast:
Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis,
Rawinia Clarke.
2002 101 minutes 35mm color

Synopsis; It is set in a small New Zealand coastal village where
Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every
generation, a male heir has succeeded to the chiefly title.
The Chief's eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins - a boy and a girl -
but the boy and his mother die tragically in childbirth. The
surviving girl is name Pai. Grief-stricken, her father leaves her to
be raised by her grandparents, Koro and Flowers. Koro, the Chief,
refuses to acknowledge Pai as the heir.

12 years on, Porourangi, now a feted international artist, returns
home for one of his brief and infrequent visits. Koro desperately
hopes that they can resolve their differences and that Porourangi
will accept his destiny. But Porourangi, who has made a new life for
himself in Europe, has no intention of becoming Chief.

Koro is convinced that the tribe's misfortunes began at Pai's birth
and calls for his people to bring their 12-year-old boys to him for
training. He is certain that through a gruelling process of teaching
the ancient chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future
leader of their tribe will be revealed to him. Excluded from the
sessions, Pai covertly enlists the help of her sympathetic uncle to
learn the old ways.

Meanwhile, deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is
responding, drawn towards Pai and their twin destinies. When the
whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals an
apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make the
ultimate sacrifice to save the people. The Whale Rider.

No. 2
A matriarch puts on a big feast for her family to name her successor.
Winner of Audience Award—2006 Sundance FF
Direction and Screenplay: Toa Fraser. Cast: Ruby Dee, Tuva Novotny,
Taungaroa Emile, Xavier Horan, Rene Naufahu.
2006 94 minutes 35mm color

Synopsis; The heart has gone out of Nanna Maria's family. There are
no parties - they don't even fight anymore. Inspired by a dream of
her childhood back in Fiji, Nanna demands that her grandchildren put
on a big feast at which she will name her successor. The
grandchildren reluctantly turn up, but as the day progresses their
preparations unravel into chaos and an outraged Nanna calls the whole
thing off. That's when everyone realizes they have to pull out all
the stops and give the crazy old lady what she wants, and what they
all need. Infused with the heat and vibrancy of the South Pacific,
No.2 is a big-hearted, exuberant story about what it takes to bring
family together.

In My Father's Den
A disillusioned war journalist is implicated in a teenage girl's
mysterious disappearance.
Winner of International Critics Prize—2004 Toronto IFF; Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Screenplay—2005 New Zealand Screen Awards among
more awards and distinctions including Best Actor for Matthew
Macfadyen, Best Actress for Emily Barclay, Best Supporting Actor for
Colin Moy, Best Supporting Actress
Direction and Screenplay from Maurice Gee's book: Brad McGann. Cast:
Matthew Macfadyen, Miranda Otto, Emily Barclay, Colin Moy.
2004 126 minutes 35mm color
For mature viewing with sexual content, language,some violence and
drug use

Synopsis; Paul (Matthew Macfadyen), a battle weary war photographer,
returns to his remote New Zealand hometown, when his father dies, and
faces the past he left behind. To his surprise, he also finds the
sixteen year old Celia (Emily Barclay), the daughter of his first
girlfriend, who hungers for the world beyond her small-town.

But many, including the members of both their families, frown upon
the friendship and when Celia goes missing, Paul becomes increasingly
persecuted as the prime suspect in her disappearance. As the violent
and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the
family tragedy and betrayal he ran from as a youth, and to face the
grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his
entire adult life.

The World's Fastest Indian
The true story of Burt Munro—the New Zealand man who spent decades
perfecting his classic 1920 Indian motorcycle. At age 68, he risked
everything, including his own life, taking the bike to the Bonneville
Salt Flats in Utah to break the world speed record.

Synopsis

Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro, a man who never let the dreams
of youth fade.

After a lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle, Burt
set off from the bottom of the world to test his bike at the
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all the odds against him, he set
a new speed record and captured the spirit of his times. Burt Munro's
1967 world record remains unbroken and his legend lives on today.

Documentary Feature
Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill
A documentary feature by Sam Neill and Judy Rymer
A century of New Zealand cinema is recounted in a personal journey
through the childhood and memories of one of its key actors.
1995 56 minutes 35mm color

Short Film Selection
Blue Willow (Veialu Aila-Unsworth, 2005, 14 minutes)
An animated fable haunts with its tale of love and betrayal.

No Ordinary Sun (Jonathan Brough, 2004, 15 minutes)
A man confronts his fears against the majestic backdrop of the
Antarctic.

Infection (James Cunningham, 2000, 9 minutes)
A mutant hero. A virtual bank heist. A digital action thriller. The
perfect digital crime.

The Lounge Bar (Don McGlashan-Harry Sinclair, 1989, 12 minutes)
A bizarre web of fate links a man and a woman meeting for the first
time to a singer, his song, his sideburns and bell bottoms.

Shadow over the Sun (Rachel Douglas, 2006, 8 minutes)
A new mom in colonial New Zealand is visited by a tui in her garden
in anticipation of fear and hope for a new life.

Hotel Hawkestone (Sebastian Doyle-Jonathan Smith, 1992, 14 minutes)
An Asian woman books a holiday in a New Zealand hotel yet to be
built.

The Grocer's Apprentice (Sebastian Doyle, 1997, 11 minutes)
A grocer leaves his store in the care of an errant assistant. Based
on the Goethe classic.

Two Cars, One Night (Taika Waititi, 2003, 11 minutes)
One night outside a rural pub, three children in two cars await their
parents.