Art community to benefit from visiting filmmaker

Media Release

Art community to benefit from visiting filmmaker

The upcoming visit from international director, poet, and painter Lech Majewski is a coup for the Wellington film and arts community in March.

Lech Majewski, born in Poland but based in America since 1981, has a broad portfolio that includes writing (Basquiat), directing (The Gospel According to Harry) as well as musical composition. In 2004 Majewki received critical acclaim for his feature, The Garden of Earthly Delights, winning the Grand Prix at the 2004 Rome International Film Festival.

The Wellington Film Society is hosting the director as part of the 2009 season of films which commences with the Majewski ‘Landscape of Dreams’ season. His award-winning film The Garden of Earthly Delights will screen on the 9th March and the director will be in attendance to introduce the film and welcome questions and answers from the audience.

“We are excited to be able to offer our members the chance to interact with an international filmmaker. It enhances the whole experience and is one of the many bonuses we offer members of the Film Society,” says Mr Lindsay, president of the Wellington Film Society.

The Film Archive will also present the feature-length cinematic art installation Glass Lips on the 7th March with the director in attendance. Also known as Blood of a Poet, it had its world premiere at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2006 and is described as a circuit of 33 short films.

“We’re thrilled to have a filmmaker of Lech’s quality make the journey to New Zealand. Majewski’s work is rich, lush and deeply poetic. For anyone who is interested in experimental cinema, this is a must-see,” says Mark Williams, Film Archive Project Developer.

The director is in New Zealand thanks to the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Canterbury, where he will be in residence as a Canterbury Fellow.

Wellington Film Society is the longest-standing society in New Zealand. Formed in 1945 the Film Society is a registered charity as part of the NZ Federation of Film Societies and is run entirely by volunteer members. Full-waged memberships cost $90 which equates to less than $3 per film across the year. Screenings are held at the Paramount on Courtenay Place every Monday from 6.15 pm.

For a full listing of the WFS 2009 season please visit www.filmsociety.wellington.net.nz.

7 March 2009 Glass Lips at the Film Archive, corner of Taranaki and Ghuznee Streets

9 March 2009 The Garden of Earthly Delights, Paramount on Courtenay Place

ENDS

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