NZIFF recommends this programme for children aged 8+
Films — by Country
- Afghanistan
- Aotearoa New Zealand
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- India
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- North Korea
- Palestine
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tahiti
- Taiwan
- The Netherlands
- Tunisia
- UAE
- UK
- USA
- Uruguay
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
Belgium
![As I Open My Eyes](/assets/resized/sm/upload/tf/61/mn/uz/APJOLY4(c)SHELLAC%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=e4b85d4b27)
As I Open My Eyes
À peine j’ouvre les yeux
Tradition butts up against progress in Leyla Bouzid’s debut, a musically charged French-Tunisian film that follows a young woman in a band as she navigates familial and cultural strictures on the eve of the Jasmine Revolution.
![The Dancer](/assets/resized/sm/upload/f2/id/bb/o9/ladanseuse02%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=57f408053a)
The Dancer
La danseuse
French singer Soko and Lily-Rose Depp star in this exquisitely dressed, spectacularly danced drama inspired by the true story of two rival pioneers of modern dance in late 19th-century Paris.
![The Event](/assets/resized/sm/upload/c9/nn/io/46/THEEVENT_Bild6%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=ede4dad65e)
The Event
Sobytie
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa follows his monumental documentary Maïdan with this found-footage epic vividly recalling popular optimism at the failed coup of August 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union.
![The First, the Last](/assets/resized/sm/upload/hw/0c/i6/c7/lespremierslesderniers04%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=5a7ce8f893)
The First, the Last
Les premiers, les derniers
Two bounty hunters searching the flatlands of Western Europe for a stolen cellphone cross paths with two lovers on the run from the end of the world in this deadpan delight from Belgian actor/director Bouli Lanners.
![Free to Run](/assets/resized/sm/upload/li/9t/z4/f9/FreeToRun_Wom_11-%C2%AESalmini_Sportfilm_LLC%20KEY-web-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=dd6561d403)
Free to Run
Rich with clips and lively interviews, this doco traces the running movement over the past 50 years – the struggle for the right to run, especially for women, then the explosion of grassroots road races and marathons.
![Graduation](/assets/resized/sm/upload/pp/au/np/fk/0077458__c_Mobra_Films%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=d959baa526)
Graduation
Bacalaureat
Cannes winner Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) directs a tense, involving moral thriller centred on an overbearing father keen to get his daughter out of Romania and into a British university at any price.
![I, Daniel Blake](/assets/resized/sm/upload/ef/8a/y5/5l/KEY%20IDB_DAY_7_248_Katie__Hayley_Squires__Dan__Dave_Johns_-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=c37ee785d8)
I, Daniel Blake
This often funny and ultimately intensely moving tale of the friendship between an out-of-work Newcastle carpenter and a young single mother won for Britain’s Ken Loach a second Palme d’Or for Best Film at Cannes this year.
![The Land of the Enlightened](/assets/resized/sm/upload/sf/gs/vb/wd/16189_TheLandoftheEnlightened_still1_KEY.jpg_cmyk-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=b19337b22b)
The Land of the Enlightened
Spectacular cinematography captures the world of bands of children who rove war-torn Afghanistan, scavenging, stealing, trading and surviving with gusto, in a film that artfully combines documentary and re-enactment.
![No Home Movie](/assets/resized/sm/upload/dd/4o/p1/s9/appartement1%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=256fed2dd7)
No Home Movie
The late, great Belgian filmmaker and cultural nomad Chantal Akerman crafts a moving portrait of her relationship with her housebound mother, an Auschwitz survivor whose chronic anxiety greatly shaped her daughter’s art.
![A Quiet Passion](/assets/resized/sm/upload/yx/vz/gr/qk/AQP_01256_CROP%20KEY%20OPTION%202-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=4364a1e221)
A Quiet Passion
Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine star in Terence Davies’ lively, witty and ultimately intensely moving dramatisation of the sheltered life of 19th-century New England poet Emily Dickinson.
![The Red Turtle](/assets/resized/sm/upload/8t/8r/va/pb/latortuerouge04-web-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=447d422475)
The Red Turtle
La Tortue rouge
Studio Ghibli’s first international co-production is a ravishing castaway fable that combines beauty, mystery, drama and heartbreak – with not a word spoken. It’s a triumph for animator Michael Dudok de Wit.
![Shadow World](/assets/resized/sm/upload/2j/9c/7w/h7/Shadow_World_01%20KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=a0a5116586)
Shadow World
Based on a behind-the-scenes exposé written by former South African politician Andrew Feinstein, this excoriating doco from Johan Grimonprez offers a superb and succinct examination of the global arms trade.
![The Son of Joseph](/assets/resized/sm/upload/9f/l3/wc/ap/KEY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=20d5ca287c)
The Son of Joseph
Le fils de Joseph
“Offbeat French formalist Eugène Green delivers his most accessible work to date with this… honey-drizzled, farcically funny fable of an unhappy teenager seeking a father.” — Guy Lodge, Variety