Award Ceremony NZ International Film Festival 2017

My personal summary of NZIFF 2017. I had few disappointments this year, either the films this year were good or I was good picking the ones I would like.

Themes

Each year has its themes.  This year's themes are:

• Thrillers, which got their own section in the program this year.
• Woman Centred films, a lot of them this year.
• Sex.

There were even 2 films involving poisonous mushrooms.

Best Film

Nominations:

• Abacus: Small Enough to Jail - the fallout of the global financial crisis
• Bad Genius - a teen thriller worth examining
• A Date for Mad Mary - set on the wrong side of the bus shelter
• Jasper Jones - there are lots of secrets in Corrigan
• Lady Macbeth - a Russian tragedy in Yorkshire
• The Nile Hilton Incident - how do corrupt police investigate crime?
• Una - has never come to terms with the end of her first love affair

My pick is Jasper Jones an Australian film about young Charlie Bucktin growing up fast.

Best Documentary

Nominations:

• Abacus: Small Enough to Jail - the fallout of the global financial crisis
• Dina - a love story with physical affection issues
• Kedi - a cute doco about stray cats in Istanbul. Did NZIFF comp Gareth Morgan?
• Risk - a little insight into Julian Assange

My pick is Abacus: Small Enough to Jail a legal battle and family film

Best Thriller

Nominations:

• 6 Days - docu-drama about the Iranian Embassy hostage crisis 1980
• Bad Genius - a teen thriller without any life threatening situations
• Berlin Syndrome - not sponsored by the Berlin Tourist Board or Lonely Planet
• Hostages - docu-drama about 1983 hijack of Aeroflot flight 6833
• Human Traces - Kiwi Sub-Antarctic thriller caused by none communication
• It Comes at Night - post apocalyptic threats in the night 
• Jasper Jones - teen thriller in small town Australia
• The Nile Hilton Incident - noir thriller in Cairo
• Tragedy Girls - girl power, social media and a small town killing spree
• Wind River - you are not in call-for-backup country now, FBI girl

My pick is Wind River, while I enjoyed some of the other thrillers more. I think this one works best as the thriller.

Best Comedy

Nominations:

• Bad Genius - a good dose of humour to leaven the tension 
• A Date for Mad Mary - would your gran say "Even a sniper wouldn't take you out"?
• Kiki, Love to Love - a humorous look at kinky sexual turn-ons 
• The Love Witch - an over the top homage to 1970s sexploitation films
• The Party - when a cocktail party goes bad
• The Teacher - a school blackmail scam
• Tragedy Girls - why fake news, when you can create real news

My pick is Tragedy Girls, though A Date for Mad Mary is a very close second.

Best Horror

Nominations:

• The Evil Within - who or what causes nightmares
• It Comes at Night - nightmares and the unknown
• Tragedy Girls - a serial killer stalks a small town
• The Untamed - what is in the cabin in the woods and why is everyone drawn to it?

My pick is The Evil Within even though it is the most conventional of horror movies

Best Woman Centred Film

Nominations:

• The Beguiled - seven Southern Belles capture an Irish Yankee soldier
• Belle de Jour - frigid Parisian woman's sexual fantasy and liberation
• Berlin Syndrome - Australian girl alone in East Berlin
• A Date for Mad Mary - who needs a +1 for a wedding
• A Gentle Creature - a woman's lot in today's rural Russia
• Lady Macbeth - and a tragedy of miscalculation
• The Love Witch - whose love magic can be fatal
• Sami Blood - a girl's story of changing ethnicity
• Tragedy Girls - girls that blog together can do anything together
• Una - a wronged woman wants answers and revenge

My pick is A Date for Mad Mary, the stroppiest of women on the hunt for a man

Special mentions for the great frocks:

• The Beguiled - long skirts and tight bodices to be ripped, showering buttons 
• Belle de Jour - Yves Saint Laurent elegance, even for prostitutes 
• Lady Macbeth - tightest of corsets and the widest of skirts 
• The Love Witch - dressed up, dishabille or naked but always sexy

Best Sex Film

Nominations:

• Belle de Jour - sex fantasies and sex work in 1967 Paris
• Berlin Syndrome - sex with a stranger leads to trouble
• Kiki, Love to Love - kinky sexual turn-ons and kinky sexual practices
• The Love Witch - love magic leads to sex
• The Untamed - out of this world sex
• Una - was it love or was it sex? Can we separate the two?

My pick is Kiki, Love to Love credits to credits sex in more variety than you'd admit to knowing.

Strangest Film

Nominations:

• The Evil Within - what is behind the sunglasses?
• The Love Witch - love, magic, sex, Victoria high tea, a renaissance fair and dead bodies
• The Untamed - an alien in a movie that is not centre of attention

My pick is The Untamed a Mexican modern relationship drama with an alien in the supporting cast

Special Mentions

I saw one Kiwi feature film (Human Traces) and 6 Kiwi short films (New Zealand's Best 2017).

A Gentle Creature was long of the longest films and it could have been shortened by more than 2 hours and still got its message across.

And remember, be careful of who cooked those mushrooms.