Film lovers - not just here but around the world - were shocked and saddened by the news of the death of Bill Gosden yesterday.
Bill was the long-time director of the New Zealand International Film Festival, which may or may not have been the biggest of its kind, but in many people's opinion was certainly one of the best.
Under Bill's impeccable leadership it was the Festival of Festivals, gathering the best films from every other festival in the world.
Bill always handed the credit for the Festival to his tireless and loyal workers. But the secret of its success was Bill himself - his taste, his tireless energy, his peerless schmoozing skills and his amazing knack of being able to sum up every film in one or two pithy sentences.
Every year on this show Bill and Simon Morris would attempt to cover a hundred films in half an hour. Simon would throw a title at Bill, he'd talk about it - no notes, no hesitation, whether it was an obscure Slovenian art-film, or a revived Hollywood classic.
To remember Bill Gosden, Simon talks with two people who knew him better than most - film-maker and long-time friend of Bill's Dame Gaylene Preston... and the man who Bill brought in from the cold - curator of the Incredibly Strange section of the Festival, film-maker Ant Timpson.
Bill Gosden Photo: Supplied by Rebecca McMillan
