N.Z. film festival in Italy

Press, 18 February 1989, Page 4

N.Z. film festival in Italy

PA Wellington The largest restrospective of New Zealand cinema ever assembled begins in the northern Italian city of Turin next week, the New Zealand Film Archive said yesterday. Orgnaised by the film archive with the New Zealand Film Commission and the Ministry of External Relations and Trade, 74 films will be shown in three cinemas over two weeks from February 22. The idea for the season, called “Te Ao Marama/The World of Light (Il Paese Delle Luce)” was initiated in Italy and has taken 18 months to prepare, the director of

the archive and curator of the festival, Mr Jonathan Dennis, said in a statement. The gala opening, in the presence of the New Zealand Ambassador to Italy, Mr Francis Small, will be the original version of Geoff Murphy’s 1983 feature, “Utu.” Twenty-two feature films from 1940-1988 will also screen. They include th recently restored 1952 Broken Barrier, Rudall Hayward’s 1940 “Rewi’s last Stand,” John O’Shea’s 1964 "Runaway,” as well as contemporary films “Sleeping Dogs,” “Goodbye Pork Pie,” “ Smash Palace,” “Ngati,” “Came A

Hat Friday,” “Mr Wrong,” “The Navigator” and “Mauri.” Fifteen films by New Zealandborn film-maker Len Lye (19011980) will screen along with a documentary about his life and work.

Maori films, historical and contemporary, will also screen, including four films by James McDonald made between 1919 and 1923 showing scenes of Maori life.

Seventeen films preserved by the archive make up a major presentation of the programme.