2004 New Zealand International Film Festival
The films I saw at my second ever film festival.
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22 titles
- DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsVladimir GarinIvan DobronravovKonstantin LavronenkoIn the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
- DirectorAleksandr SokurovStarsAndrei ShchetininAleksei NeymyshevAleksandr RazbashA father and his son live together in a roof-top apartment. They have lived alone for years in their own private world, full of memories and daily rites. Sometimes they seem like brothers. Sometimes even like lovers. Following in his father's path, Aleksei attends military school. He likes sports, tends to be irresponsible and has problems with his girlfriend. She is jealous of Aleksei's close relationship with his father. Despite knowing that all sons must one day live their own lives, Aleksei is conflicted; his father knows he should accept a better job in another city, perhaps search for a new wife, but who will ease the pain of Aleksei's nightmares?
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorGabriele SalvatoresStarsAitana Sánchez-GijónDino AbbresciaGiorgio CarecciaA young boy accidentally discovers a deep hole in the ground, where another boy is kept prisoner.
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsKim Ki-dukOh Yeong-suJong-ho KimA boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
- DirectorHirokazu KoreedaStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
- DirectorJørgen LethLars von TrierStarsClaus NissenMajken Algren NielsenDaniel Hernandez RodriguezFilmmaker Lars Von Trier challenges Jørgen Leth, the filmmaker behind The Perfect Human (1967), to remake his classic short under circumstances of increasing constraint.
- DirectorMikael HåfströmStarsAndreas WilsonHenrik LundströmGustaf SkarsgårdA teenage boy expelled from school for fighting arrives at a boarding school where the systematic bullying of younger students is encouraged as a means to maintain discipline, and decides to fight back.
- DirectorMarco Tullio GiordanaStarsLuigi Lo CascioAlessio BoniJasmine TrincaAn Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to the 2000s.
- DirectorHelen SticklerStarsMark 'Gator' RogowskiStacy PeraltaTony HawkA documentary exploring the rise and fall of 80s skateboard legend Mark "Gator" Rogowski.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsRémy GirardDorothée BerrymanStéphane RousseauDuring his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
- DirectorDavid RitteyStarsToby AgnewMichael LawrenceElizabeth ThomsonA deaf teenage boy struggles with the loss of his older sister.
- DirectorMarcelo PiñeyroStarsRicardo DarínCecilia RothHéctor AlterioThe film is seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, Harry (Matías del Pozo), who does not know that Argentina's 1976 coup d'état is impacting his life. After witnessing the "disappearance" of dissident friends, a human rights lawyer (Ricardo Darín) and his research scientist wife (Cecilia Roth) flee the city and hide from the military police in a vacant summer house. With them are their two kids: Harry, who is fascinated with the escape artistry of Harry Houdini, and El Enano, his little brother. (Translated as "Little Guy" in the English subtitles, played by Milton de la Canal. The actual translation is "dwarf".) The family adopts new identities and attempts to lead a normal life. Later, they are joined by a student who is using the alias Lucas (Tomás Fonzi). Their new life is difficult, but a visit with their estranged grandparents (Fernanda Mistral and Héctor Alterio) reveals that they are still a close-knit family. Subtly hinted, however, and used as a metaphor, is the mother's constant smoking and El Enano's renewed bed-wetting. Both serve to show how stressful and precarious their situation is.
- DirectorBrad McGannStarsMatthew MacfadyenMiranda OttoEmily BarclayA disillusioned war journalist's return home is blighted when he becomes implicated in the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl he has befriended.
- DirectorAmarbir SinghStarsGenevieve BowersJon BrazierKarlos DrinkwaterFrom dusk til' dawn on K Road captures the woozy horror of a best-forgotten night out. The filmmakers roam the bars, takeaways and brothels, encountering several night-lifers, none of whom turns out to be what they first appear or pretend to be. The most fully explored character, an amiable young Sikh taxi driver, begins the film expressing his optimistic view of the opportunities New Zealand provides. He spends the rest of the night demonstrating just how wishful those views are. His excursion away from the strip, to a home in the suburbs, is the film's most original foray into pseudo-documentary revelation. Meanwhile two old mates get together for a drink and a few rounds of pool. As the beers flow they peel back layers of betrayal, hostility and sexual one-upmanship. A woman in the bar mistakes the intensity of their interaction for enviable closeness and sidles up. A good Samaritan, recovering from a recent break-up, offers to help out a crippled and bitter ex-cop. A prostitute's bad night is made that much worse by her obsessively watchful boyfriend. The female characters generally have it together in 1nite, while the men, sorry bastards, all head for melt-down. As 1nite becomes 2day, and the characters crawl off into the dawn, the camera, immobilized, like the last lonely sign of intelligent life, waits for a subject.
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsGael García BernalRodrigo de la SernaMía MaestroErnesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. His experiences on the journey transform him.
- DirectorZana BriskiRoss KauffmanStarsKochiAvijit HalderShanti DasTwo documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.
- DirectorYoav ShamirDocumentary filmmaker Yoav Shamir's depiction of the checkpoints that the Israel Defense Forces man in the Palestinian Authority.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsYekaterina GolubevaDavid WissakDavid, an American photographer, and his Russian girlfriend Katia are scouting locations for a photo shoot. During the day, they drive through some of the wildest, most bizarre desert landscapes, but their luck begins to run out.
- DirectorFlorian HabichtStarsUncle BimUncle BimmBen HaretukuIn Kaikohe, a small, poor, but vibrant town in the far north of Aotearoa, locals interviewed in the thermal hot springs participate in demolition derbies.Watched subsequently.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpyVernon DobtcheffNine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.Watched subsequently.