International Film Festivals Meet-up (Splice Auckland)

This film has slipped under the radar and is not well known, although it was nominated as Vietnam's entry for the Academy Awards.

It is set in the Vietnamese countryside beautifully shot, as so many Vietnamese films are.

With all the suffering around the world, we all need a well done feel-good film about love friendship and childhood. The film tells the story of two brothers living and growing up in the 1980s. The film tells us a lot about Vietnam (it was very popular there) and the kids in the film are absolutely endearing. It is adapted from a novel by an award winning Vietnamese writer.

For a boost as winter comes, and tonic in a chaotic world, You can't miss watching this.

This film is based on the true story of a Jewish boy who was kidnapped and baptised into the Catholic Church in 1898. The boy's parents struggle to get him back and he is the middle of a tug of war

Kidnapped is about serious issues that affect us today. The Guardian wrote "It [the film] is a full-tilt melodrama with the passionate vehemence of Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens, which lays bare an ugly formative episode of Europe’s Catholic church: an affair of antisemitism and child abuse.... this already looks like a classic.

Kidnapped is challenging but it also draws you in affectionately - have you ever imagined the Pope playing with a child like a granddad besotten with his grandson? That is what this film achieves - a serious look at tough issues but with those memorable lighter moments

Screen Daily said "As true stories go, it’s jaw-dropping."

Apparently one of the techniques the film uses to lighten the seriousness of the themes is its deadpan humour. Look for it!

The Italian Film Festival is on with some gems to soak in!

The appertiser is Maunga [Mountain in te reo] Cassino, a 15 minute film to mark the 80th anniversary of the battle of Monte Cassino. An Italian/NZ co-production. No spoilers or comment, just a must-see for any New Zealander to honour the guys in the Māori Battalion.

There's still Time Tomorrow is set in 1946, when Italian women were able to vote for the first time, There was also a referendum on abolishing the Italian monarchy. In short, many Italian men were not pleased about the rising power of women and showed it.

The film is the most successful by a female director, Paolo Cortellesi. She drew the ideas from her own grandmothers' stories of the period. The film depicts the determination of a mother to break the cycle of abuse. (A topic not without relevance to Aotearoa-New Zealand, one might add).

It is Italy's 8th highest earning film of all time. 5.3 million Italians have watched this film. It is their story. The Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni called it a "courageous film". Head masters in schools have asked for permission to show it to their pupils. It touched a nerve,

“I understood that every Italian, young or elderly, recognised in the film a little piece of their own family,” she said. “Not necessarily violence, but certain attitudes towards girls and women.”

“I wanted to set a realistic tone, and it is a very Italian thing to use humour even in the most tragic situations,” she said. “Life was very tough after the war, but there were also stories of hope.”

I usually put a scene from the film in the picture, but this a pic of Paolo Cortellesi - she deserves to be there.

PLEASE NOTE: THE FILM IS AT THE BRIDGEWAY IN NORTHCOTE, NORTH SHORE

9 year old Samay lives in a remote village in India and discovers movies. He falls in love with the idea of capturing images, stories and using light to capture beauty. He travels on the train each day to watch movies at the cinema in the nearest town. He and his friends move mountatins to get a 35mm projector and make a film. The film is set in 2010, the end of the 35mm film and the beginning of the digital age.

This film was short-listed for the Academy Awards. Some found it a little shallow but most reviewers thought it is a little gem. Bhavin Rabari, who plays Samay, is worth the watch all by himself. The other reason to see this film is to compare it with Steven Spielberg's film the Fabermans, which is also auto-biographical, depicting a film director's childhood discovery of film.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Alive with movie love, Last Film Show is a dynamic comic drama, energized by superb casting — beginning with the terrific Bhavin Rabari as Samay — and a vivid sense of place."