International Film Festival's first six confirmed

The New Zealand International Film Festival
July-November

The International Film Festival has confirmed the first six films confirmed for the 2013 programme, including the world premieres of four from New Zealand.

“These four early film confirmations give us great confidence about this year’s New Zealand programme," festival director Bill Gosden says.

"Once again we can only be humbled by the immense commitment of local filmmakers who have dedicated vast swathes of their time to getting the world on film, and have done it so persuasively.”

The New Zealand films are: 

Antarctica: A Year on Ice
Director Anthony Powell has spent nine winters in Antarctica. A self-taught photographer, he built his own equipment to survive the harsh conditions and capture stunning time-lapse imagery. A Year on Ice shows us a part of the world most will never discover in breathtaking high definition.  

The Deadly Ponies Gang
Director Zoe McIntosh has found the Flight of the Conchords’ long-lost country cousins in Clint and Dwayne, the two members of the Deadly Ponies Gang, who talk of picking up ‘chicks’ on their blinged-out horses. Auckland’s legendary Golden Dawn stars as the venue for Dwayne’s false teeth fundraising gig.

Gardening with Soul
Director Jess Feast (Cocaine and Communists) joins Sister Loyola, now in her 90s, at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay, Wellington. Sister Loyola, a NZ Gardener of the Year, continues to tend to the community garden she established, while providing refreshingly candid reflections on life and religion.

Soul in the Sea
Director Amy Taylor travelled to Whakatane after seeing media reports of a friendly lone dolphin named Moko. She spent the next six months documenting Moko’s time with the community, getting to know his friends and detractors.

Two American films will also have their New Zealand premieres at NZIFF:

Dirty Wars
USA 2013
Director Rick Rowley
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill has produced this explosive documentary with director Rick Rowley about the "secret wars" of the US Joint Special Operations unit. Scahill’s book of the same title is being released this week.
View Dirty Wars trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KpzBAKJmig

Upstream Color
USA 2013
Director Shane Carruth
The year’s most tantalising cinematic offering comes nine years after writer, director, musician, editor, producer and star Shane Carruth first amazed audiences with his no-budget time-travel riddle Primer. The narrative, which defies detailed synopsis, concerns the uncanny merging of two lost souls, both strangers and both utterly contemporary urban figures.
“A vision as vast and as natural as it is reflexively cinematic and fiercely compassionate.” — Richard Brody, New Yorker

NZIFF dates for 2013 are confirmed for these regions:
Auckland: July 18 – August 4
Wellington: July 26 – August 11
Christchurch: August 1 – 18
Dunedin: August 8 – 25
Gore: August 14 – 25
Palmerston North: August 15 – September 1
Hamilton: August 22 – September 15
Nelson: August 28 – September 15
Tauranga: September 12 – 29
Masterton: October 16 – 30
Hawke’s Bay: October 16 – November 3
New Plymouth: October  24 – November 6