Last year Adam Wingard emerged from the deep south of the US with his feature film Pop Skull. Director, co-writer, editor, and producer, he made the film for a budget of just $3,000 and managed to capture the attention of major French distribution company Wild Bunch. Adam talks with Ant "Incredibly Strange"Timpson about Pop Skull, his fascination with horror, and how his film made the distributors sit up and take notice. Presented by SPADA, Thursday 17 July, 6.30pm.

NZ International Film Festivals panel discussions, Civic Theatre, AucklandLast year Adam Wingard emerged from the deep south of the US with his feature film Pop Skull. Director, co-writer, editor, and producer, he made the film for a budget of just $3,000 and managed to capture the attention of major French distribution company Wild Bunch. Adam talks with Ant "Incredibly Strange"Timpson about Pop Skull, his fascination with horror, and how his film made the distributors sit up and take notice. Presented by SPADA, Thursday 17 July, 6.30pm.

NZ International Film Festivals panel discussions, Civic Theatre, Auckland

Shuchi Kothari, screenwriter of Apron Strings and senior lecturer in film at Auckland University, talks with to New York-based screenwriter and director Ira Sachs about the journey from his first low-budget indie film in 1996 to a big-budget production with an A-list cast. The Writers Room, Wednesday 16 July, 6.00 pm, presented by Script to Screen.

Ira Sachs is a New York-based screenwriter and director. Married Life, which he co-wrote with Oren Moverman (I'm Not There, Jesus' Son) is his third film, and stars Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper. His last two films, The Delta and Forty Shades of Blue (which received the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance), have both screened at our film festivals.

Making films in a country not your own brings many rewards, but also a new range of challenges: logistical, cultural and philosophical.

Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze), Benjamin Gilmour (Son of a Lion) and Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) discuss what drew them to unfamiliar territory, and their experiences of filming in a foreign land. Tuesday 15 July at 6.00 pm

Yung Chang is a Chinese Canadian filmmaker. Up the Yangtze observes life on the soon-to-be flooded banks of the Yangtze River from aboard a cruise ship for English tourists.

Benjamin Gilmour hails from Sydney, but his debut feature, set entirely in Pakistan, couldn't be less Australian. Son of a Lion tells the story of a sensitive young Pashtun boy who wants to escape working in his father's weapon workshop and go to school.

Listen to Son of a Lion director Benjamin Gilmour on Nine to Noon.

Pietra Brettkelly's passion for making documentaries has taken her from New Zealand to such far-flung places as Libya, the Amazon, the Sudan and Afghanistan. The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, which follows controversial performance artist Vanessa Beecroft as she tries to adopt two babies while in the Sudan, won a documentary award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

This discussion will be led by NZ filmmaker and Associate Professor of Documentary Film at Auckland University, Annie Goldson (An Island Calling).

Presented by NZ Screen Directors Guild

A series of panel discussions between visiting and local filmmakers will be held throughout the Festival at the CIVIC Theatre.

Admission to talks is free, they're open to everyone and runabout one hour.

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New Zealand International Film Festival begins

Image: Left: Pierce Brosnan as Harry. Right: Rachel McAdams as Kay . Photo by Joseph Lederer © 2007 Marriage Productions LLC. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

14/07/08