TIM WONG previews the latest installment of the World Cinema Showcase, compelling in its tenth year.

BRIDGING the 12-month gap between New Zealand International Film Festivals, the World Cinema Showcase is a calculated and deliberate late-Summer institution. More than simply jumpstarting the local film festival season, its strategic positioning affords unique advantages: namely, as a sweeper able to pick up on any missed opportunities its bigger brother was unable to lock down the previous Winter. Those curious as to the whereabouts of Cannes flashpoints such as Catherine Breillat’s An Old Mistress (with the red hot Asia Argento), or the festival’s eventual conqueror, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, will be pleased to know both films screen as part of the Showcase this March and April.

GAUTAMAN BHASKARAN detours from the major festival circuit, finding the pace at the 7th Marrakech International Film Festival refreshing leisured, and the films mostly gripping.

SOMETIMES, I feel that having covered major international film festivals across the globe and for two long decades, including really flashy ones such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin, I must now look at smaller, more intimate festivals. Like cinema, where big-budget blockbusters can be addictively attractive, personal, low-key, cherished movies made on shoestring money can also be so darn appealing. Provided, provided, you turn your attention to them.