You’re sitting in your seat, popcorn at the ready, the lights go down and the film begins…

Bringing the best in the world of cinema to Aotearoa screens is a year-round job for the film festival team and while every single film tells its own story, there’s also a story behind every film selected for the film festival.

Each film has its own journey into the festival – our programming team attends selected festivals around the world and we have ongoing relationships with distributors, and with filmmakers. We read the screen media constantly, keeping our ear to the ground and making enquiries when something sparks interest, and then we also receive hundreds of submissions each year, which are each carefully reviewed and considered – we love discovering special gems and finding young filmmakers who we can support and champion for the future.

As we build the programme of films – continually reviewing the styles, the themes and the balance – we also start considering who we’d like to invite as international guests and what part they will play in the festival’s activity.

Earlier this week we announced British director Molly Manning Walker will be joining us in Auckland and Wellington to present her award-winning film How To Have Sex – here’s the story behind how this film came to be in the festival.

Late one Thursday evening during Cannes Film Festival, independent New Zealand and Australia distributor Ahi’s Courtney Mayhew emailed our Head of Programming Michael McDonnell and I to share her excitement that Ahi had acquired How To Have Sex and she wanted to know if it was a film we would be interested in for the festival… “I advise adding the word ‘film’ if you’re googling it,’” she said.

Michael and I were both aware of Molly’s film (her feature debut), knew Molly as a cinematographer, and had read initial reviews so it was on our radar. Courtney’s enthusiasm is infectious and she had flagged there was a possibility the director would be interested in coming out and our sister festival, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) was keen too.

At the time we had already almost completely committed our international travel budget and we had just committed to Elegance Bratton that day, with Celine Song still a possibility.

And so began a round of emails between Ahi, MIFF and NZIFF – while our programme lock deadline was just a week away and the print deadline for the catalogue was looming.

The film was confirmed for the festival the next day just as How To Have Sex picked up the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes, and as we went to print we were still waiting to hear if Molly would join us in Aotearoa… with fingers crossed we had scheduled the film to enable Q+A sessions after the screenings and allow her flexibility to also attend MIFF.

We announced the Auckland and Wellington programmes and tickets were on sale – and then, Ahi was in touch once again and in a flurry of two days, Molly’s flights were booked and her travel confirmed. A big drawcard: Molly’s also a football fan!

Molly Manning Walker will present her film How to Have Sex in Auckland at The Civic on Saturday 5 August and at Hollywood Avondale on Sunday 6 August, and in Wellington at the Embassy Theatre on Tuesday 8 August and Wednesday 9 August. Q+As with Molly will follow all four screenings.