Auckland's Civic Theatre is one of the major venues for the New Zealand International Film Festival. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Auckland's Civic Theatre is one of the major venues for the New Zealand International Film Festival. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The New Zealand International Film Festival will return to cinemas in 2021 – but vaccines, Cannes and James Bond have pushed out the start three months later than usual.
Last year, the festival was forced into a hybrid model, with most of the films premiering online with only a few heading into physical venues.
For 2021, a "massive comeback" is planned, with all films returning to the cinemas – including major venues such as Auckland's Civic Theatre, The Embassy in Wellington and the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.
However, the festival, which normally takes over venues across the country during July and August, now won't arrive in Auckland until October 28 – before rolling out to 12 other venues over the next two months.
Festival director Marten Rabarts said that they have been discussing how a festival could be held ever since the 2020 edition wrapped up – and they decided to schedule around the vaccine rollout so patrons would feel comfortable returning to the cinema.
"We could reckon on the fact that audiences, once they have a vaccine and once they know there is vaccine coverage around them, they'll simply feel comfortable to go back into a cinema.
"We've been talking to our audience, we've been consulting with the people who are our core audiences, and even though we live in this lucky, safe place, people are still rightfully cautious."
International Film Festival director Marten Rabarts, pictured at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington. Photo / NZ Herald
The vaccine rollout in the United States has already had an impact on the movie industry, with the major cinema markets of New York and California finally able to reopen after being closed for a year.
Major blockbusters are also being scheduled for cinematic releases after continuous delays – with the new James Bond, No Time To Die, finally due for release in October after a nearly two-year delay.
Rabarts said they have been keeping a keen eye on release schedules to help find the "sweet spot" to plan the festival, and avoiding Bond was another factor in the new festival dates.
"It's been delayed for so long, it's much anticipated. Some of the big cinemas we want to be in – such as The Embassy in Wellington – will be playing James Bond, so there wouldn't be a place for us to go into the cinema."
The delayed start date also coincides with the postponed Cannes Film Festival, which provides NZIFF with a number of their films, and also means the festival will come after the Venice, Toronto and Telluride festivals – which are often seen as the launchpad for Oscar contenders.
"These are festivals that mostly the bigger films that come out there are heading for an Oscar campaign, they are going for distribution, they've gone out into the public – but this year, I think we will be able to see some of those films," Rabarts said.
Alongside this year's festival hits, the "unusual year" means filmgoers could also expect to see movies from 2019 and 2020 that couldn't be scheduled for last year's festival but could squeeze into this programme.
Rabarts wouldn't confirm any movies that have been selected for this year's festival, but did tease that titles from the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year could make an appearance.
"I'm just really delighted that I'm able to talk about a festival for 2021 in a place and time of year where we're going to have amazing movies and it's going to be safe for people to attend."
