Along with the controversial Morgan Spurlock film What Would Jesus Buy?, the NZ International Documentary Film Festival is set to screen more than 75 long-format documentaries, including many that will have their world premieres during the Festival. DOCNZ 2007 will show in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin from 27 September - 21 November.

Image: Rev. Billy and his No Shopping Church Choir in What Would Jesus Buy?Along with the controversial Morgan Spurlock film What Would Jesus Buy?, the NZ International Documentary Film Festival is set to screen more than 75 long-format documentaries, including many that will have their world premieres during the Festival. DOCNZ 2007 will show in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin from 27 September - 21 November.

Image: Rev. Billy and his No Shopping Church Choir in What Would Jesus Buy?Screening as part of the festival's "Best of Fest" line-up, What Would Jesus Buy? focuses on consumerism and the commercialisation of Christmas. The film caused Starbucks - formerly one of the sponsors for a significant American documentary festival Silverdocs - to withdraw its sponsorship after continued targeting from activist/performer and film subject Bill Talen during the film. Morgan Spurlock's previous documentary Supersize Me was an international theatrical success and received a theatrical release here in New Zealand.

Weijun Chen's film Please Vote for Me follows an interesting experiment in democracy. Three-year-olds campaign for the position of Class Monitor in a central elementary school in China. A humorous and fascinating observation follows as both the pint-sized candidates and their respective parents resort to lying, bribery and defamation.

Jon Else's Wonders Are Many: The Making of Dr Atomic features in the festival's popular arts and culture strand "Culture Vultures". The film documents the making of the San Francisco Opera's 2005 world premiere of Doctor Atomic - an opera based on Robert Oppenheimer and his creation of the atomic bomb. An intricate crafting of art and science as well as the past and present, the film focuses on the 48 hours leading up to the first test of the Trinity bomb, as the group fashion a work of art from a shocking moment of American History.

The philanthropic efforts of a tattooed and former Thai boxer turned Buddhist monk Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto are examined by Dutch filmmaker Mark Verkerk in Buddha's Lost Children. A cinematic observational documentary set in the foothills of the Thai Golden Triangle, the film has been the recipient of many international awards including the International Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles AFI fest.

More films will be announced mid-August, as well as the final list of films that made the cut for the local and national competitions.

Auckland
When: 27 September - 10 October 2007
Where: Academy Cinemas and SkyCity Cinemas

Dunedin
When: 11-21 October 2007
Where: Octagon

Christchurch
When: 25 October - 4 November 2007
Where: Regent on Worchester

Wellington
When: 8- 21 November 2007
Where: Paramount

12/8/07