Uber-cool film festival In the Shade (of which our parent company Stuff is a sponsor) opened at the Hollywood Cinema in Avondale last Wednesday night with a screening of Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, hosted by MC Chris Parker. The following night Ensemble very excitedly presented Zola, a film we have waited two years to see (and which certainly fulfilled expectation). 

On Saturday evening fashion and film elite mingled in the cinema’s beautiful garden bar in celebration of film maker Lula Cucchiara and her brilliant debut feature, Fiona Clark: Unafraid, a documentary focusing on the queer photographer who captured seminal photos of a 1970s Auckland social scene. Fiona continues to document people and environmental issues from her home in rural Taranaki. Lula and wife Siobhan (a producer on the film) were joined by Fiona at the screening and party that followed, after Dominic Corry hosted a Q&A between the documentary filmmaker and her subject.

Others in attendance included photographers Karen Inderbitzen-Waller and Delphine Avril Planqueel, actors Emily Barclay and Jackie van Beek, comedian Chris Parker, broadcaster Charlotte Ryan and makeup artist Lochie Stonehouse.

We loved our summer evenings of festive fun spent between garden bar and cinema, and the good news is that the festival will continue to operate safely under red light settings, utilising vaccine passports and restricting ticket sales to under 100. Our advice is to pre-purchase to avoid disappointment.

(Fiona Clark: Unafraid is released in cinemas nationwide on February 17.)