Showcase of top rated documentaries

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Showcase of top rated documentaries from leading international film festivals

The New Zealand International Documentary Film Festival "DOCNZ", running September 27 - November 21, is shaping up to deliver a stellar showcase of top rated documentaries from leading international film festivals from the US to the Far East.

Featuring just over 75 long format documentaries, local audiences will be treated to a round up of some of the finest documentaries running in the international film festival circuit including Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Bangkok International Film Festivals. In addition, a staggering number of films featured in the festival's line-up this year - close to half, will be world and international premieres when they show in New Zealand. The high ratio of world and international premieres to the number of films selected is a solid indication of DOCNZ's international reputation as an important event in the arts calendar.

Screening as part of the festival's "Best of Fest" line-up, the Morgan Spurlock produced What Would Jesus Buy has already elicited international controversy. The documentary, focusing on consumerism and the commercialization of Christmas has caused Starbucks, formerly one of the sponsors for a significant American documentary festival, Silverdocs, to withdraw it's sponsorship after continued targeting from activist/performer and film subject, Bill Talen during the film. Morgan Spurlock's previous documentary "Supersize Me" was an international theatrical success and received a theatrical release here in New Zealand.

Undoubtedly one of this year's crowd pleasers, watch as democracy is put to the test in a central elementary school in China in Weijun Chen's Please Vote for Me. Here, 3 eight year olds campaign for the position of Class Monitor. As an experiment in democracy unfolds, a humorous and fascinating observation follows as both the pint-sized candidates and their respective parents resort to lying, bribery and defamation. Please Vote for Me recently won the Sterling Feature Award at this year's AFI Silverdocs Film Festival in North America. Please Vote For Me will be one of the 6 films in this year's international medium length competition category.

Featuring in the festival's popular arts and culture strand, "Culture Vultures" is Jon Else's Wonders Are Many: The Making of Dr Atomic. A prestigious film which premiered at Sundance just earlier this year, Wonders Are Many documents the making of the San Francisco Opera's 2005 world premiere of "Doctor Atomic" - an opera based on Robert Oppenheimer and his creation of the atomic bomb. An intricate crafting of art and science as well as the past and present, the film focuses on the 48 hours leading up to the first test of the Trinity bomb, as the group fashion a work of art from a shocking moment of American History.

The philanthropic efforts of a tattooed and former Thai boxer turned Buddhist monk Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto are examined by Dutch filmmaker Mark Verkerk in Buddha's Lost Children. A cinematic observational documentary set in the foothills of the Thai Golden Triangle, the film has been the recipient of many international awards including the International Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles AFI fest.

More films will be announced mid August as well as the final list that made the cut for the local and national competitions.

The Documentary Film Festival 2007 will be held in:
Auckland - 27th September - 10th October, Academy Cinemas and SkyCity Cinemas
Dunedin - 11th - 21st October, Octagon
Christchurch - 25th October - 4th November, Regent on Worchester
Wellington - 8th- 21st November, Paramount

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