A Conversation with UoA Film Society: Bringing Re: Frame to the University of Auckland

Today, members of the NOYIFF team visited the University of Auckland to meet with Matt from UoA Film Society and discuss the possibility of hosting a Re: Frame screening on campus.

The conversation was about more than a venue or a single screening. We were interested in a broader question: what can a film event offer when it becomes part of university life — not simply something students attend, but a space they can genuinely inhabit, respond to and make their own?

On a campus, the life of a film does not end when the credits roll. A student may encounter independent cinema for the first time through one short film. Two people who have never met may begin talking afterwards about a character, an image, or a perspective they had not previously considered. Someone may arrive out of curiosity and leave with a new interest to follow. In those moments, cinema becomes more than content on a screen; it becomes a way for people to meet through ideas.

Re: Frame grew from that belief. As NOYIFF’s free, public-interest cultural initiative, it aims to bring film beyond industry spaces, jury rooms and online platforms, and back into shared public experience. It is for film students, certainly, but also for anyone with an interest in stories, images and the world around them. You do not need to be a filmmaker to take part in a meaningful conversation about film.

Working with student-led communities is an important part of this. University campuses bring together people from different disciplines, cultures and experiences. The questions they ask, the ways they interpret a film, and the conversations that continue after a screening are what give an event its lasting value. Our hope is not simply to bring films onto campus, but to create room for cinema to keep happening there.

Today’s discussion with Matt also explored the direction of the event, possible ways of working together, and how a screening might connect naturally with the UoA student community. The UoA Re: Frame screening is still in development, with the date, venue and programme to be confirmed.

Thank you to Matt and UoA Film Society for the time and conversation today. We look forward to continuing the dialogue and sharing more when the next steps are in place.