MARCH 7 2020 LISTENER 65
SATURDAY MARCH 7
My Brilliant Friend (TVNZ
OnDemand). It’s season two
of the brilliant adaptation of
Italian author Elena Ferrante’s
beloved Neapolitan novels
and Lila (Gaia Girace) and
Elena (Margherita Mazzucco)
are now teenagers – and their
complicated relationship
is about to become more
complex. In Naples, volatile
genius Lila marries in order
to escape the attentions of
a mafioso, while Elena stud-
ies in Pisa. However, a boy
is about to come between
them. Isn’t that always the
way? Italian director Alice
Rohrwacher, whose 2014
film The Wonders won the
Grand Prix at Cannes, directs
the first two episodes of the
eight-episode season; Saverio
Costanzo, who directed and
co-wrote the first season,
returns for the rest. In Italy,the season was
released as a spe-
cial event in movie
theatres as well as on
television and Ferrante’s
new novel has become an
instant bestseller.SUNDAY MARCH 8
Woman with Gloria Steinem
Marathon (Vice, Sky 013,
9.50am). On International
Women’s Day, Vice goes full
on with all eight episodes
of Gloria Steinem’s first
foray into television.
The episodes confront
very tough subject
matter, including rape
as a weapon of war
in the Demo-
cratic Republic
of Congo, themurder of
First Nations
women in
Canada and
child brides in
Zambia. Closer to her home
are episodes about American
mothers behind bars and
sexual assault in the US mili-
tary. Following the Woman
marathon at 3.40pm is
Conservatives and Progressives
Debate Feminism, a discussion
in the Vice office, and then
The Future of Fertility at
4.30pm. Throughout
the month, Vice is
also screening related
programmes, such
as Gurls Talk, with
Adwoa Aboah,
on Thursday
(7.30pm). Sky’s
retro channel,
Jones! Too, is
joining the
celebrationment
follows as the group joins with
200 New Zealand pilgrims on a
trip to perform Hajj in Mecca, a
journey that was funded by the
Saudi King.
“It took me a while to work
out just how fundamentally
important that spiritual
pilgrimage is for them and
how potentially healing,” says
Wright. The group, and Wright,
were helped by New Zealand’s
most senior Muslim police
officer, Superintendent Naila
Hassan.“The Hajj is very, very
different to anything any of us
in New Zealand has ever seen
or experienced. It’s absolutely
amazing, and Naila Hassan was
brilliant because she was able,
with a foot in both worlds, to
translate that for us.”
The experience did provide
some healing, says Wright. “For
Aya in particular, it gave respite
from her grief for long enough
that she was then able to think
about how to find new things to
do without her brother, because
they were very close.”
Wright discovered while
speaking to Abbas that “Muslims
don’t mark anniversaries”,
but she has found over the
course of the past year that
the community “truly felt the
support shown by New Zealand
in the aftermath and it has truly
helped them, and they feel that
the perception of Muslims has
changed in New Zealand.” lG
ET
TY(^) IM
AG
ES
My Brilliant Friend, Saturday.
The Best of the Week
Television by FIONA RAE
Goo
d^ for
a
La
ug
h!
OZZY
&^ JA
CK’S
WOR
LD^ D
ETOU
R
Choice
TV,^ T
hursda
y,^
9.^30 pm
Woman with
Gloria Steinem
Marathon,
Sunday.
“It took me a while
to work out just
how fundamentally
important that
spiritual pilgrimage
is for them.”