Radio programmer Miles Buckingham loves films.
He loves them so much that during the two weeks of this year’s international film festival his days will consist of little more than home, work and the cinema.
“I think I’m probably going to see close to 45 films [in the festival] this year,” Buckingham said.
“I just enjoy the film festival.”
What it means is that Buckingham will see about three films a day from July 23 till August 10.
And this is a quiet year for him.
“I must have got pretty close to 60 in 2003,” he said.
“I’ve had other years that I’ve gotten pretty close to 60 as well, but that was back in my days of gainful unemployment.”
These days Buckingham programmes the airwaves at Radio Active, which means easing up a little on his passion for the silver screen– but not too much.
“I just am either at work or at a film for 2 weeks.”
So what’s the allure of the film festival All to do with the type of films in the programme, he said.
“It’s where I know I’ll find films that I can engage with, that I’m interested in seeing on a big screen, in a darkened room with strangers.”
For Buckingham that means documentaries.
“You don’t get great, long-form documentaries on television. You tend to have to seek them out. It’s just the ease of having them at the film festival and there’s an audience for them.
“For the other 11 months of the year it’s superheroes biffing each other or films aimed at elderly people who don’t want to be too challenged.”
Buckingham said the key to watching so many films was getting a little space between the screenings, sitting outside or going for a walk.
“Sometimes they do blur [together].”
But that “vague mash of films” was part of the experience according to Buckingham, and being deeply affected by the films was the point.
“Sometimes you leave a film knowing that you will see it again if the opportunity presents itself.
“Or in the case of Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams [in 2011’s programme] you see it and wake up the following morning and see it again because you can, and it blows your mind twice within 24 hours.”
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– The Wellingtonian
