Fraud film programmer finds plenty to choose from for first festival

The programmer of next month's inaugural New Zealand International Fraud Film Festival says there is much more from where he made his original selection.

Steve Newall, who also runs the Flicks.co.nz cinema website, says he has initially stuck to documentaries for the two-day event (Nove 18-19), which is based on a successful Dutch festival.

He says the power of cinema to educate and entertain is unmatched, as is the choice of titles to illustrate the topic.

“So many films are about fraud of one sort of another,” he says. “We have honed in on core financial issues in the commercial and corporate sphere; on how people’s passions can be manipulated, what’s behind the fraud and some intriguing elements that might be coming across more in the future.”

The festival is playing it safe at the start by avoiding fiction, such as American Hustle. It has also overlooked the best of local productions, such as TV3's 2008 production, The Million Dollar Con Man, about Taranaki-born Derek Turner, who ran a phoney hedge fund in the Bahamas before being caught in a New York "sting."

The festival is split into two days: one for professionals involved in dealing with fraud and a day for the general public. It is timed to coincide with Fraud Awareness Week.

The films will be followed by a discussion led by a group of experts.

“The panels will tease out the themes and make them locally applicable,” Mr Newall says

The acclaimed New Zealand documentary Tickled, an investigation into the bizarre world of competitive tickling, will be followed by director Dylan Reeves talking about the mysterious man behind the scenes and his attempts to prevent the film from being screened.

Programme in brief

Day one:
Deep Web, about the vast, unseen area of cyberspace notorious for criminal activity.
Unravelled: The 750 million dollar thief, featuring Manhattan attorney Marc Dreier, who is facing a sentence of life imprisonment.
(Dis)honesty: The truth about lies, in which Duke University professor and "dishonesty guru" Dan Ariely explains how and why people lie, based on behavioural research.
Sour Grapes, about Rudy Kurniawan, who cultivated a reputation as a savant in wine circles and sold them expensive but faked vintages.

Day two:
The Captain and the Bookmaker, about South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje’s on-field fraud prompted by bookmakers, followed by a panel hosted by Hayley Holt.
Chancers, which traces a scam aiming to con £2.5 million off the British taxpayer by faking the production of a £20 million gangster movie.
Tickled, the New Zealand documentary that could be in line for an Oscar.

The festival is being held November 18-19 at Auckland’s Q Theatre. Details at www.fraudfilmfestival.co.nz