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