Coexistence Festival – Tickets On Sale Now

Coexistence Festival – Tickets On Sale Now

The Heart of Auckland organisation are bringing the provocative art exhibition Coexistence, which has been travelling the world for five years, to the Britomart Precinct from February 10. In conjunction with this event the Academy Cinemas are pleased to announce a short festival featuring four films over four weekends that emphasise and illuminate the principles of the Coexistence event.

Coexistence is an international outdoor art exhibition that consists of 44 posters (5m x 3m) mounted in a central, meaningful, open air location beyond the confines of a museum setting. The first 24 images were selected from artists around the world by an international jury and the rest of the art works have been added to the exhibition during its global journey.

The art works use universal images as a language to communicate with all ages, religions and nationalities. The exhibition encourages people to consider and discuss issues of tolerance and understanding in the hope of improving relations between people.

The films screening in our short festival are: Paper Clips (4.00pm Sat Feb 11 & Sun Feb 12); Hone Tuwhare - The Return Home (4.00pm Sat 18 & Sun Feb 19); The Take (4.00pm Sat Feb 25 & Sun Feb 26) and A Way of Life (4.00pm Sat Mar 4 & Sun Mar 5). Each title screens twice only.

More information about the festival can be found here: http://www.hotcity.co.nz/events/co_introduction.asp

See the NZ Herald listings, or Academy Cinemas website for more info: www.academycinemas.co.nz

Week 1 - Feb 11&12

Paper Clips

Whitwell, TN is a small, rural community of less than two thousand people nestled in the mountains of Tennessee. Its citizens are almost exclusively white and Christian. In 1998, the children of Whitwell Middle School took on an inspiring project, launched out of their principal's desire to help her students open their eyes to the diversity of the world beyond their insulated valley. What happened would change the students, their teachers, their families and the entire town forever… and eventually open hearts and minds around the world.

PAPER CLIPS is the moving and inspiring documentary film that captures how these students responded to lessons about the Holocaust-with a promise to honor every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis. Despite the fact that they had previously been unaware of and unfamiliar with the Holocaust, their dedication was absolute. Their plan was simple but profound. The amazing result, a memorial railcar filled with 11 million paper clips (representing 6 million Jews and 5 million gypsies, homosexuals and other victims of the Holocaust) which stands permanently in their schoolyard, is an unforgettable lesson of how a committed group of children and educators can change the world one classroom at a time.

PAPER CLIPS, presented by One Clip At A Time HMA, is a production of The Johnson Group, in association with Miramax Films and Ergo Entertainment. It was named one of the top films of 2004 (documentary) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, has been acclaimed by critics as "Oscar caliber" (Joel Siegel, Good Morning America), and has received audience and jury awards at film festivals across the country.

Week 2 - Feb 18&19

Hone Tuwhare - The Return Home

A documentary about Hone Tuwhare's return to his birthplace near Kaikohe, 75 years after leaving Northland.

Featuring poet Glenn Colquhoun.

Directed by Michelle McGregor, duration 60mins.

Will be supported by some live poetry and other presentations.

Week 3 - Feb 25&26

The Take

Occupy. Resist. Produce. A film by Avi Lewis & Naomi Klein

In the wake of Argentina’s spectacular economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act —the take —has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Director/producer Avi Lewis (Counterspin) and writer/producer and renowned author Naomi Klein (No Logo) take viewers inside the lives of ordinary visionaries, as they reclaim their work, their dignity and their democracy.

Week 4 - Mar 4&5

A Way of Life

Drama

BAFTA 2005 - Winner of the Carl Foreman Award for best British newcomer - Amma Asante, writer and director

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 - Winner of the Grand Jury prize. Winner of the FIPRESCI prize for best dramatic feature in world cinema competition.

Best Feature Award at The Britspotting Festival 2005

A powerful story with a young, talented cast in a tale of passion, beauty, and hatred. Vulnerable young love and teenage sexuality is movingly contrasted with themes of exploitation, prejudice, isolation and survival. A teenager battles to keep her baby daughter with the fumbling support and friendship of three teenage boys who ultimately serve as her family, struggling on the margins of society until boredom, paranoia, frustration and anger finally prove a lethal combination.

Starring Stephanie James, Oliver Haden, Nathan Jones, Gary Sheppeard, Dean Wong, Sara Gregory and Brenda Blethyn, directed by Amma Asante, produced by Patrick Cassavetti, Peter Edwards and BAFTA award-winning Charlie Hanson with music by David Gray. Distributed in the UK by Verve Pictures

ENDS

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