Photo: If Beale Street Could Talk Tatum Mangus / Annapurna Picture
7 March | If Beale Street Could Talk (Recent Oscar Winner)
Following his Best Picture Academy Award win for Moonlight, writer/director Barry Jenkins adapts James Baldwin’s acclaimed novel If Beale Street Could Talk. Set in early-1970s Harlem, New York, If Beale Street Could Talk is the timeless and moving love story of a couple’s unbreakable bond and a family’s empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish (newcomer Kiki Layne). Friends since childhood, Tish and her fiancé Fonny (Stephan James) dream of a future together and are expecting their first child. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. Relying on familial and inner strength, Tish must navigate an unforgiving and racially biased world in If Beale Street Could Talk, an intimate, powerful film in which Jenkins crosses time frames to show how love and humanity ultimately endure.
21 March | Daffodils
Inspired by a true story, this heartfelt musical love story features the songs we grew up with, including some of the most iconic New Zealand songs ever written; tracks by Crowded House, LIPS, Bic Runga, Chris Knox, The Mint Chicks, Dave Dobbyn, The Clean, The Exponents, Darcy Clay, Mutton Birds, Th’Dudes, The Senators/Ray Columbus and the Invaders, The Swingers and Blam Blam Blam. Daffodils stars international Kiwi actors Rose McIver (iZombie, The Lovely Bones) and George Mason (Home & Away, Go Girls) alongside Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Kimbra, in her big screen debut in a musical and acting role. All three lead roles returned home to New Zealand to star in this heart aching drama of a quintessential New Zealand marriage, told with iconic New Zealand music.
Photo: Daffidols
4 April | The Heart Dances (NZ Film)
The Heart Dances – the journey of The Piano: the Ballet gives the viewer a powerful and privileged insight behind the scenes when celebrated Czech choreographer Jirí Bubenícek and his production designer brother Otto arrived in New Zealand to help create The Piano: the Ballet for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, setting the stage set for a voyage into uncharted territory for everyone involved. As a whole the company works to bring this memorable story to the stage, where aspects of the film that inspired the ballet continue to be played out – old world versus new, new relationships, new challenges – while Jirí and Otto discover the responsibilities of storytelling in dance are more complex than they ever imagined.
Photo: The Heart Dances
