Film Fest Director Marten Rabarts Adapts

Marten Rabarts, the globetrotting New Zealand film executive turned festival director reflects on a year spent grounded, watching whales from his home office and the formative influences of Wendy Palmer and Michael Kuhn, Sandy George reports for Screen Daily.

The pandemic has meant he has stayed put for the past year, which has allowed him to connect more deeply with his family and the land, George writes.

“I can mostly work in my festival office above a restored 1920s picture palace. We still feel the pandemic on our doorstep as [Wellington’s] grand old Embassy Theatre is only operating on weekends … But my work has never been restricted to one place. Hotel rooms, airports and film festivals have often been my office,” Rabarts explains.

He says the biggest challenge facing film is: “Ensuring proliferating content platforms and bricks-and-mortar cinema circuits each play a role in the ecosystem without threatening each other.”

Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is on from 28 October until 5 December 2021.

Original article by Sandy George, Screen Daily, April 9, 2021.

Photo by Rebecca McMillan.