NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - WE COME AS FRIENDS (SOUTH SUDAN DOCUMENTARY)

SOUTH SUDAN MAY HAVE DECLARED ITS INDEPENDENCE IN 2011 BUT WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN IN A GLOBALISED WORLD? Hubert Sauper's documentary catches the forces at work in the world's newest country with a dramatic immediacy. A Chinese oil company is exlpoiting the natural resources, sapping 300,000 barrels a day from the ground and contaminating the equally precious drinking water in the process. Meanwhile, American missionaries are exerting their religious influence, offering education in exchange for compliance with their notions of property. Hubert Sauper collected a much-deserved Special Jury Prize for 'Cinematic Bravery' at Sundance Film Festival 2014. AUCKLAND RIALTO CINEMAS, 25 and 31 July 2014.