Moving, funny and affectingly personal, The Kid was Charlie Chaplin’s first feature-length film. The already world-famous Little Tramp is accompanied by a smaller, spirited foil and dependent in the person of newsboy-capped kid (Jackie Coogan). The blend of agile physical comedy and unabashed sentiment in his portrayal of Victorian London street life is still stirring to this day, never more so than when experienced with the gloriously symphonic score Chaplin composed for the film in 1981.

The Kid is preceded by The Immigrant, one of the last shorts Chaplin made before stepping up to feature-length films, and one of his most gob-smackingly inventive. The Little Tramp causes havoc on board a crowded ship from Europe; then on the mean streets of New York.

Charlie Chaplin's masterpieces will feature the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra performing Chaplin’s own gloriously symphonic score for The Kid, as arranged by Carl Davis, and a feisty new score for The Immigrant by Timothy Brock, under the baton of Orchestra Wellington’s Music Director Marc Taddei.

Mark your calendars (and your Wishlist) for this special cinematic event at 2.00 pm on Sunday 23 August.

The full Christchurch programme will be announced on the evening of Monday 13 July with tickets on sale from Thursday 16 July. NZIFF screens in Christchurch from 7 to 23 August.