Couldn’t make it to the red carpet this year? No worries. We’ve brought Cannes to you. NZIFF 2025 features a hand-picked selection from the world’s most glamorous and influential film festival, with bold new works, major prize-winners and future classics from around the globe.

Opening the Festival is this year’s Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident, a politically charged thriller from acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi. After years behind bars and under a filmmaking ban, Panahi returns with a gripping road movie about vengeance, memory and power. The story follows Vahid, a former political prisoner, who sets out to confront the man who tortured him. Along the way, he picks up a vanload of fellow survivors, each with their own story to tell. The result is dark, absurd, and emotionally raw.

Our Closing Night film is Sentimental Value, a Cannes Grand Prix winner directed by Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World). Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård star as a daughter and estranged father, forced to reconnect when he announces plans to make a film about their turbulent past. Smart, moving and quietly hilarious, it is a beautiful portrait of a fractured family and the stories we tell to heal.

Also screening is Sirāt, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize. A father and son search for a missing daughter across the Moroccan desert, encountering a crew of misfit ravers on a strange and hallucinatory journey. Wild, emotional and unlike anything else in the programme.

Other Cannes standouts at NZIFF this year include:

The Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt, a deadpan art heist film about a hapless thief on the run. It earned a five-minute standing ovation on opening night at Cannes.

Romería, a moving drama by Carla Simón about a teenager retracing the story of her parents’ love and addiction in northern Spain.

The Secret Agent, a taut and stylish political thriller set in 1970s Brazil, produced by Pedro Almodóvar and awarded Best Director at Cannes.

Young Mothers, a powerful new film from the Dardenne brothers about five women navigating motherhood in a Belgian shelter.

The line-up continues with:

Resurrection, a sci-fi drama from Bi Gan about a world where no one can dream.

Urchin, the gritty directorial debut from actor Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness), following a recovering addict post-prison.

A Poet, a sharp Colombian satire about art, survival and class in Medellín.

Kokuho, a kabuki theatre epic from Japanese director Lee Sang-il, packed with ambition, betrayal and rivalry.

Sound of Falling, a haunting four-generation ghost story set in an isolated German farmhouse.

The Love That Remains, a surreal and bittersweet family drama from Iceland.

As NZIFF Artistic Director Paolo Bertolin says, “This year, Cannes gave us films that speak to both the personal and the political. Stories that confront harsh realities but also offer hope and healing through cinema.”

Want early access? A 10-Trip Multipass gives you entry to the exclusive Auckland and Wellington pre-sales before tickets open to the public. Auckland pre-sale starts 8 July. Don’t miss out!