Festival Programme

Films by Language

French

After Love

Aleem Khan

Deception abounds in this nuanced portrait of lies and loss when a middle-aged woman discovers her recently deceased husband led another life in France, contradictory to the pious Muslim home they built together in England.

Beau Travail

Claire Denis

This digital restoration of Claire Denis’ striking Beau Travail lends new crispness and intensity to not only one of the great films of the 1990s, but one of the greatest endings in all of cinema.

Calamity

Calamity, une enfance de Martha Jane Cannary

Rémi Chayé

Sumptuous landscapes and adolescent empowerment abound in the second feature from Rémi Chayé (Long Way North NZIFF 2014), a gorgeous, feminist coming-of-age western set in the American Far West.

The Employer and the Employee

El empleado y el patrón

Manuel Nieto Zas

Subtle and slow-burning, this quietly perceptive rural drama elegantly exhibits the social barriers and economic polarities operating in contemporary Uruguay.

Gagarine

Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh

A soon-to-be-demolished social housing estate, named after Yuri Gagarin, in the Parisian banlieue provides the earthly anchor for weightless flights of fancy in this wondrous and moving debut feature.

Happening

L’événement

Audrey Diwan

Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival, Happening is a powerful and timely abortion drama, executed precisely by director Audrey Diwan.

Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful

Gero von Boehm

One of the photography world’s most provocative artists, Helmut Newton’s story is told by the women who knew him best: those who lived with him, inspired him and disrobed for his lens.

Honey Cigar

Cigare au miel

Kamir Aïnouz

A young French-Algerian woman, Selma, navigates emerging sexual desires under the constraints of her family’s patriarchal notions of virginity, intimacy and womanhood in this empowering coming-of-age drama.

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

A pregnant teen and her mother look to the women of their community for help in Cannes-selected abortion drama Lingui, the Sacred Bonds, set amidst the natural beauty and religious strictures of Chad.

Mandibles

Mandibules

Quentin Dupieux

Two amateur criminals discover a monstrous fly in the trunk of a stolen car. Their plan? Train the fly and make a fortune in this joyously absurd buddy-fly bromance.

Marinheiro das montanhas

Karim Aïnouz

Brazilian-Algerian filmmaker, and NZIFF veteran, Karim Aïnouz invites us on his first ever journey to Algeria, the homeland of his estranged father, in this evocative diary film bending space and time.

Marona’s Fantastic Tale

L’extraordinaire voyage de Marona

Anca Damian

A beautifully poignant and life-affirming fable, shared through the eyes of an optimistic dog as she looks back on the human companions she has loved throughout her life with happiness, heartbreak and everything between.

The Monopoly of Violence

Un pays qui se tient sage

David Dufresne

People from all sides of the cultural battlefield confront smartphone footage of the French gilets jaunes protests and the police crackdown they inspired in this intelligent and innovative documentary.

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Världens vackraste pojke

Kristian Petri, Kristina Lindström

As Tadzio in Death in Venice, Björn Andrésen electrified audiences worldwide with his fragile beauty. Fifty years later, his life is still haunted by the fallout from the role that made him recognised, and coveted, across the globe.

Mother Schmuckers

Fils de plouc

Lenny Guit, Harpo Guit

The Mother Schmuckers are two nutzoid Belgium brothers who accidentally lose January Jack, their mum’s prized pooch in this gross-out anti-comedy.

Never Gonna Snow Again

Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie

Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert

A mysterious, unclassifiable semi-satire of its disconnected upper-classes, Poland’s selection for this year’s Oscar race follows an angelic masseuse trying to draw meaning out of his patients’ lives.

Night of the Kings

La nuit des rois

Philippe Lacôte

If a young man cannot command an inmate-run prison with his storytelling, his first night behind bars promises to be his last in this lush, striking and unexpected tale that blends magical realism with current affairs.

Paris, 13th District

Les Olympiades

Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard’s charming exploration of the tangled work and love lives of three young Parisians is a beautifully-crafted love letter to the classics of French New Wave.

Playground

Un monde

Laura Wandel

A seven-year-old child becomes caught in a conflict of loyalty after her beloved brother falls victim to brutal schoolyard bullying.

The Restless

Les Intranquilles

Joachim Lafosse

An unflinching study of the impact of bipolar disorder on a French artist and his family. “Lafosse administers the tension like a seasoned anaesthetist who knows exactly what dose to deliver.” — Hollywood Reporter

Summer of 85

Été 85

François Ozon

This queer coming-of-age romance combines all the sensuality of François Ozon’s best with the infectious energy of a CW drama and how meeting one person can open you up and change the trajectory of your life.

Titane

Julia Ducournau

Titane is coming, and it’s coming to fuck you up." — Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

White Cube

Renzo Martens

Can an indigenous art economy compete with a multinational plantation? Artist Renzo Martens travels into the Congo to see if he can bring local art to the international stage and return the profits where they belong.