USA

As widower father moves out of the family house, filmmaker son unpacks the secrets of his parents’ 55-year marriage. One of the year’s most involving and moving investigative documentaries.

Gripping documentary account (produced by Jane Campion) of the outrageous conspiracy exposed in the aftermath of a 13-year-old Japanese girl’s abduction in 1977.

A documentary for everyone who hates reality television – two struggling sitcom writers sell their souls to pitch a show in which contestants may have to eat each other.

Riveting documentary follows sarcastic, anarchistic rebels on a sonic assault from Los Angeles to NYC for the birth of Straight Edge – the early 80s American answer to punk rock.

Art, fun, folly, fairytales, folkstories and more feature in this collection of animation for ages four to seven.

Diversity is the word this year in our annual collage of animated gems – films that dare you to reach out and run your hands over the textures of paint and pencil.

Rich, lovely history of the rival ballet companies, originally founded in Paris in 1909, whose troupes toured the world in costumes by Dali, Picasso and Matisse.

Visceral documentary traces the radicalising effect of the US occupation on one Shi-ite family. “A revealing insight into the war in Iraq from the locals' point of view.” — Variety

Joseph Gordon-Levitt channels Bogart to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend in this inspired fusion of teenage confidential and film noir set in a Southern California high school.

Steven Soderbergh shoots gripping true crime on high-def video in a small town near the Ohio-West Virginia border, proving he is one of America’s most restless and inventive filmmakers.

Life in a Chinese garment factory through the eyes of one of its 14-year-old workers. "A must-see film for anyone interested in global politics, economics, and the socio-cultural issues of contemporary China." — Globe and Mail

Michel Gondry directs comedian Dave Chapelle’s joyous celebration of all that is affirmative, soulful and triumphant in black music now. Don’t miss the party of the year on the giant screen.

Artworld superstar Matthew Barney, creator of the Cremaster series, joins forces with wife Björk to dumbfound the rest of us with this spectacular epic of bizarre courtship rituals and even weirder consummation.

Norwegian director of Kitchen Stories gives a lovely doleful glow to beat poet Charles Bukowski’s autobiographical account of his early life as a low-life slob. Starring Matt Dillon.

Delicious, serio-comic tale of four friends in affluent, liberal, west LA takes on an avoided subject: money. Stars Jennifer Aniston as a pot-smoking housecleaner.

The most brutal, disturbing and clever thriller of the Internet age sees a feisty 14-year-old girl turn the tables on the 32-year-old fashion photographer she met online.

Documentary follows hoop dreams of Seattle schoolgirl team. "A smartly paced chronicle that nails the socialization of girls, the costs of playing ball, and the perils of female adolescence." — San Francisco Bay Guardian

Documentary filmmaker Caveh Zahedi’s itch for anonymous, commitment-free sex is fatally paired with a need to confess his peccadilloes – ideally to a totally committed girlfriend.

Korean American So Yong Kim explores the ghost world of teenage alienation with watchful, intelligent minimalism. Judged Best Film in the Sundance dramatic competition.

In a landmark year for hard-hitting activist cinema, Al Gore’s straightforward and devastating film on global warming stands out as exceptionally well-honed and persuasive.

Beautifully crafted, poetic documentary frames war-torn Iraq through three male clans: a Sunni master and apprentice, a young Shiite commander and his men, and a Kurd farmer and son.

The rise and fall of the Peoples Temple movement, whose charismatic founder convinced hundreds of his followers in Jonestown, Guyana to participate in a mass ‘suicide’ on November 18, 1978.

The beauty of San Francisco imbues every frame of Jenni Olson’s compelling hybrid of city symphony, personal lament and political activism against suicide.

A man searches for his lost daughter, imprisoned by his own guilt and shame. Haunting, expressionistic psychodrama from the director of Clean, Shaven.

Five real life dramas from the pediatric oncology centre at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital testify to the resources of science, moral imagination and compassion dedicated to the care of children with cancer.

Failed writer Jim (Casey Affleck) heads home for a nervous breakdown, where kind-hearted nurse (Liv Tyler) takes a shine to him. Steve Buscemi directs this deadpan comedy with downbeat charm.

Boston band The Pixies reunite for a world tour, 12 years after their acrimonious split. “Onstage … they sound as good – if not tighter, leaner and actually better – than ever.” — salon.com

Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant) takes on Mel Gibson style showbiz religiosity, starring Matthew Modine as a man who directs a movie in which he plays Christ, with Juliette Binoche as Mary Magdalene.

The most baffling film in the Festival (Drawing Restraint 9) is elucidated in this admiring career portrait of artist/filmmaker Matthew Barney.

James Scurlock’s alarmist exploration of the vastness of the debt that underlies the American economy, is as visceral as it is illuminating.

Perceptive comedy around an incipient ménage-a-trois set on the fringes of the indie-pop world in hipster Brooklyn. “Nails the walk and talk of twentysomething iPeople like nothing else.”— Slate

In the great Terrence Malick’s (Badlands, The Thin Red Line) new film, the romance of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) becomes a breathtaking ode to Eden before the fall. Ravishing.

The rise and fall of the short-lived North American Soccer League gets juiced-up E!-style coverage in this often hilarious account of 70s excess.

A Live Cinema performance of one of the greatest hits of the silent era and an early benchmark in movie horror, with a thrilling orchestral score composed by Carl Davis. (1925)

An immigrant cop from Senegal patrols a David Lynch-like Seattle on a bicycle. Strange and hauntingly memorable. “A deceptively quiet, and completely genuine thing of beauty." — Film Comment

With more nerd chic than Napoleon Dynamite, this tale of three geeks who dig laser tag and medieval swordfighting is hilariously off-kilter and chock-full of wholesome fun.

Richard Linklater’s much anticipated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s nightmarish 1977 novel has an all-star rotoscoped cast: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder. Direct from Cannes.

John Cameron Mitchell’s Cannes sensation is a joyous and expressive tragicomedy of sex and sexuality in New York City.

Hollywood director Sydney Pollack provides an engaging personal introduction to one of the most popular architects of our time, his close friend 77-year-old Frank Gehry.

Aaron Eckhart was born to play the fast-talking Washington lobbyist and public affairs frontman for Big Tobacco in this gleefully cynical satire on the black art of spin-doctoring.

Kirby Dick’s gleeful assault exposes the hypocrisy, inscrutability, cronyism and downright wackiness of the all-powerful unregulated, United States film censorship board, the MPAA.

Tommy Lee Jones’ remarkable directorial debut (in which he also stars) dismantles the racism endemic in the western revenge drama genre. Written by Mexican Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams).

Thought-provoking documentary on the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, threatened with possible extinction by the twin oppressions of global warming and economic globalisation.

Deeply moving and hilarious tale switches from achingly funny to achingly sad in the twitch of a child’s finger. Could well be this precocious generation’s Stand by Me.

British director Paul Greengrass’ (Bloody Sunday) harrowing reenactment, in real time, of what might have happened on the one airplane that didn't fulfill the terrorists' intended goals on Sept. 11, 2001.

Fashioned as a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, this disarmingly entertaining documentary looks at the optimistic rise and swift demise of the electric car in 1990s California.

The Festival and the Auckland Philharmonia are proud to present a single rare screening of one of the great dramatic classics of the silent era from 1928.

Funny, heartbreaking documentary charts the tragic tale of Roky Erickson, charming lead singer of the legendary 13th Floor Elevators, who stared into the cosmos and never came back.