Two Dutch Documentaries In 'Life Unscripted'
Two Dutch Documentaries In 4th Edition Of DOCNZ 'Life Unscripted' International Film Festival
The 2009
DOCNZ Festival takes place in Auckland (February 26 –
March 8), Wellington (March 12 – 22) and
Christchurch/Dunedin (March 26 – April 5).
DOCNZ 2009
will screen two Dutch documentaries:
'El Olvido',
Director Heddy Honigmann
(http://issuu.com/amsterdamweekly/docs/amsterdamweekly_issue45_20november/20)
and
'Carmen Meets Borat', Director Mercedes Stalenhoef
(www.carmenmeetsborat.com/summary.html)
El Olvido is Netherlands based director Heddy Honigmann's ode to the city of her birth: Lima, Peru. Eschewing a focus on political upheaval or dirty wars or disasters that seem to be the staple of coverage of South America, Honigmann instead talks to street-children, bartenders and street performers who either view history with a rueful eye or instead choose to forget entirely.
In Carmen Meets Borat, Dutch director Mercedes Stalenhoef follows the life of 17-year-old Carmen , who lives in a gypsy village in Romania, where the men spend their days tying one on and exchanging coarse words in her father's bar. In the evenings, she watches a Spanish soap opera and dreams of a better life in Spain, where the men are romantic and decent. Her plan to emigrate falls to pieces when an American film crew descends on her village to shoot Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
More than 45 fresh, feature-length films will appear in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin during the festival season. From a clutch of domestically-produced documentaries to international heavyweights, the diverse themes explored will satisfy even the most demanding of cinephiles.
ENDS