Wellington Fringe Film Festival begins Today

The 17th Wellington Fringe Film Festival begins on Monday

The country's finest filmmakers and emerging talent will be showcasing their short films and music clips at the Wellington Fringe Film Festival from 5th - 9th of July.

The Festival kicks off on Monday with the Short Film Programme at The Paramount Theatre on Courtenay Place. During the five days, 150 short films will be shown, so there's something for everyone. Daily screening sessions of approximately two hours are separated into the genres of drama, experimental, animation and documentary. Besides seeing a great collection of kiwi flicks, you also have the opportunity to talk to the directors about their work and find out all the things you’ve always wanted to know about filmmaking.

Day four brings the Fuji Film Competition—an event established to promote originality and innovation within a given theme and timeframe. All 36 films entered in this section are less than three minutes and contain a reference to "Orange". Over the last six years the competition has helped encourage first-time filmmakers and students to give it a go, with some outstanding results. This event has become so popular that entries have doubled since last year.

The Festival also runs workshops to encourage the development of filmmaker’s skills in particular areas. Owen Ferrier-Kerr, editor for Snakeskin, hosts the first session discussing the art of Editing on Tuesday at 3pm. While award winning director Greg Page, discusses the journey ‘From Fringe to Feature Film’ on Thursday at 3pm.

On Friday you will be treated to a ‘Fringe Film Retrospective’ session. During this session you’ll have the opportunity to see work produced by some of the country’s critically acclaimed filmmakers early in their careers. This session begins at 3pm and will include short films by Robert Sarkies (Scarfies), Gillian Ashurst (Snakeskin) and many more.

Tickets can be purchased from The Paramount prior to each session, or buy a season’s pass. For more information visit www.fringefilmfest.co.nz

The Kodak Music Clip Awards provide the finale to the Festival this year. Held at Bar Bodega on Ghuznee Street, the night celebrates the craft of making music clips. Achieving record numbers again this year, a total of 98 clips are vying for prizes.

Clips from well-known directors such as Edward Davis, Richard Bell and Rachel Davies are among the contenders.

cont’d
Each entry will be judged for all categories: Best Video, Best video—Runner Up, Best Director of Photography, Best Editor, Best Animation and The Knack Award - for achieving grand ideas with a small budget. Winners of each category will receive prizes generously donated by Kodak and other members of the New Zealand film industry.

Tickets can be purchased from Bar Bodega on the night, for what's guaranteed to be an aural and visual feast of great New Zealand music.

The 17th Wellington Fringe Film Festival would not be possible without the considerable support received from the New Zealand Film industry. This year's Festival is proudly brought to you in association with Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Film Commission, Wellington City Council and Channel Z.

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