Issue date: 
Monday, 13 June 2016

The theatrical trailer of The Rehearsal, Alison Maclean’s vibrant screen adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s debut novel has been released online.

The Rehearsal Trailer


The Rehearsal will have its world premiere at the Civic Theatre on 23 July as the centerpiece of the New Zealand International Film Festival. Staring James Rolleston, Kerry Fox, Ella Edward, Alice Englert and Marlon Williams, The Rehearsal tells the story of Stanley (Rolleston), a naïve 1st year drama student who seeks to impress his charismatic tutor, Hannah (Fox). When Stanley’s group hits on a sex scandal involving his young girlfriend, Isolde (Edward) as the inspiration for their end-of-year show, Stanley finds himself in morally tricky territory.

The Rehearsal is directed by Alison Maclean and is adapted from the novel by Man Booker award-winner Eleanor Catton. The script was written by Maclean alongside award winning writer Emily Perkins.

Maclean is looking forward to premiering the film to a local audience. 

"I’m thrilled to be premiering The Rehearsal at the New Zealand International Film Festival. While we know the film has international appeal, it’s a New Zealand film through and through and I can’t wait to show it first to a local audience." 

New Zealand International Film Festival director Bill Gosden says they are thrilled to present a film that brings together "enough talent to constitute a real-world new wave".

"Like the novel, the film is as attentive to the misleading effect youthful nerve can have on the 'mature', as it is to the crises the teachers so blithely incite in the taught. It's also its own sharp, original thing, alive with ambiguity and cinematic verve."

Tickets to the world premiere will be on sale now from Friday 24 June. Following the Auckland world premiere, The Rehearsal will play further NZIFF screenings in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin before a nationwide theatrical release in late August.  

 

Last updated: 
Monday, 13 June 2016