“[Chris] Sivertson’s invitation to the Kiwi festival screenings of The Lost could not have been better timed. While his adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s novel is yet to see mainstream release in the United States, Sivertson’s follow-up movie I Know Who Killed Me releases on 1500 screens across his homeland, a few days after The Lost’s Wellington showings. “If I was in LA this week, all I would be thinking is “what’s the release going to be like,” Sivertson told me... Having only just got off the plane from a rushed visit to Auckland, Sivertson handled my questions in a spirit of both openness and calm, even after my opening gambit of spinning the tape recorder onto the concrete and losing a battery down the storm-drain.” IAN PRYOR’s interview with Chris Sivertson continues....[Read More]

“It’s with hard-to-contain fondness that I can report, following last night’s pre-festival Gala, on the irresistible geekery of Taika Waititi’s lionhearted comedy... Though Waititi appears to be grafting the skin of a Michel Gondry concoction onto Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, the film’s soft-spoken modesty – a shy thing hiding behind the curtain, as introduced by its director – underlines it culturally. As for anyone seeking an antidote to the buffoonery of Sione’s Wedding, its appeal will be immense.” TIM WONG forwards early impressions on Eagle vs Shark from Wellington’s Russell McVeagh Gala event.

Also in Wellington, JOE SHEPPARD kicked proceedings off with Hand Painted Under Camera, “an auspicious opener to 2007’s celebration of all things film, with enough ideas, styles and voices in 69 minutes to sustain a whole festival,” and followed it up with Bamako (“a trial drama where the defendants are no less than Capitalism and Globalisation themselves, but the most vehement excoriation is reserved for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the G8”) and Tales From Earthsea (“Another stunningly designed and magical milieu has sprung perfectly formed from the fertile and original minds at Studio Ghibli”).

Meantime, JACOB POWELL takes a second bite at Tales From Earthsea (“Probably the thing I appreciated most... is Goro Miyazaki’s easy combination of distinctly Japanese and Western components/character traits into a seamless whole. The heart of Le Guin’s stories remain intact inside a very Japanese flavoured retelling”) and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Climates (“With an obvious eye for setting gorgeously beguiling shots, the director and his cinematographer, Gökhan Tiryaki, at turns impress and frustrate. Five minutes in, I was ready to praise this as possibly one of the most beautifully shot pieces I had seen; five minutes further along I was wringing my hands in annoyance”); DARREN BEVAN observes the reaction to Death of a President (“A clever mix of digitally edited footage gets Mr Bush in the thick of the action to start with, but as the opening shot explains, there was no co-operation from the White House or the Secret Service – something which raised a titter from the audience”); BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM checks out a selection of Sundance talent from the festival’s World of Shorts compilation.