Wintergarden to be transformed into buzzing Film Cafe

Media Release Dated: 13 May 2011

Wintergarden to be transformed into buzzing festival Film Café

Show Me Shorts Film Festival is proud to announce a new partnership with the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), which will provide more opportunities for Aucklanders to engage with short films.

This July, as part of NZIFF, the Civic’s elegant Wintergarden will be transformed into a social hub and vibrant hive of activity when it becomes the ‘Film Café’ presented by Show Me Shorts and hosted by NZIFF and The Edge.

The Film Café will offer an inviting space for people to gather and interact between movies at NZIFF. The programme will feature free short film screenings, a range of interesting Film Talks, displays, installations and exhibits.

Show Me Shorts Festival Director Gina Dellabarca says, “Aucklanders want a place to hang out in between movies at NZIFF; a place to go for a drink when they bump into friends. We are really excited by this opportunity to partner with the iconic NZIFF and deliver Aucklanders short films from some of the hottest up and coming talents. We have a great line-up of shorts in store that we know people are going to love!”

From Saturday 16 July until Sunday 31 July (the final day of the Festival), the Film Café will be open from 12pm weekdays and from 2pm on weekends. Daily film events will be held at 6.30pm as well as weekday lunchtime events at 12.30pm.

One Film Café programme highlight already confirmed is a package of the latest films from the Media Design School. Included in this session will be ‘Das Tub,’ one of the school’s most-awarded student films. ‘Das Tub’ recently won Best Short Short at Aspen Shortsfest – an Oscar qualifying category, as well as Best Director for course leader James Cunningham at the Honolulu Film Awards. The film was also nominated for a prestigious VES Award (the Oscars of the visual effects world) in early 2011.

Script to Screen are coordinating the Film Talks, which promise opportunities to engage with visiting filmmakers and learn from their experiences. Among the interactive installations present in the Film Café, the Film Archive celebrates 30 years of New Zealand short film history via a set of viewing stations loaded with one short film for each year.

Dellabarca promises, “something for everyone” at the Film Café, with chilled wine and hot drinks available to sustain NZIFF audience members through the cold July weather.

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