Auckland International Film Club

"And now for something completely different". This is the first Romanian film we have had for a long time, and it is a hard hitting docu-drama based on a true event.

In 2015, a rock band was performing in Bucharest in a night club called Colectiv. A fire broke out and caused the immediate deaths of 27 people. Amazingly a further 37 people died over the following months, partly due to lack of adequate medical care, due even though the patients were in hospital.

The film follows the work of the investigative journalists who looking into the mismanagement of healthcare and corruption in the pharmaceutical industry. The film received huge accolades and the Best European Documentary Award (the first Romanian film to win such an award.

It is more than documentary however and nor is it entirely bleak. The New York Times reviewer wrote; "[the film] sketches out an honest, affecting, somewhat old-fashioned utopian example of what it takes to make the world better, or at least a little less awful."

In our world today, this is a must-see. There will be a great discussion after this for sure.

Mukadderat in Turkish means "Fate". This film is in some ways a good fun comedy that you can sit back and enjoy.

Sultan wakes up to find that her husband has passed away. A day or two later she wakes up and decides she wants to find someone new and marry again. Her family are thrown into confusion. However, for years she has woken up to find someone else in the bed and house. As a way of coping with grief, She wants that to continue.

Two features stand out, at least for me: the strong acting performances from the leads and the depiction of a family dealing with loss and confusion, but also new appreciation of each other as theY deal with grandma at this time.

Enough said, this is a good fun FILM with its points to make about growing old, friendship, family and loss and grief.

This Turkish film slipped out of sight fairly quickly, but it is definitely worth the watch, especially for those hopeless romantics among us.

An ex-boxer falls in love with a blind girl and starts to rebuild his life, only to find that his past comes back to haunt us.

The two leads in this are brilliant. I think the reason it didn't get wider acclaim was it didn't have a major company pushing it.

The reviews of those who did see it are "five stars and a box of tissues" type.

Every year we have a film night devoted to showing NZ short films. We have some great emerging movie makers here and this is always a highlight.

There will be five or six short films (most still to be finally selected). All have something interesting and perceptive to say about life in NZ today.

One will be the 2023 short film Tō Te Wai, in which a young woman realises how disconnected she is from her past and culture.

'Nuff said, come along and check them out!