Festival Programme

Films by Genre

Politics

Beyond Utopia

Madeleine Gavin

In this astonishing, edge-of-the-seat chronicle, the camera follows audacious, high-risk quests to escape from North Korea, and the man who plans them, with a rare intimacy and emotional power.

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo

An extraordinary story of a Ugandan pop-star politician who risks everything to take on a brutal autocrat, told with a rare and potent intimacy.

Bread and Roses

Gaylene Preston

Preston*Laing’s film adaptation of activist Sonja Davies’ autobiography beautifully captures the heart-breaking social and societal conditions of mid-century women in New Zealand.

Building Bridges: Bill Youren's Vision of Peace

John Chrisstoffels

Farmer, family man, and—unlikely leftist organiser. Director John Chrisstoffels has compiled a gentle portrait of an ordinary New Zealand farmer capturing extraordinary changes in global twentieth century politics.

The Corridors of Power

Dror Moreh

In this engrossing study of US interventions since the cold war, a cast of senior White House figures across the decades revisit their decisions, set against a visceral catalogue of archival footage.

The Giants

Laurence Billiet, Rachael Antony

Interweaving the inspirational activism of Australian Greens co-founder Bob Brown with the stories of the ancient trees he is fighting to save, this environmental documentary is a rousing call to action.

The Grab

Gabriela Cowperthwaite

A stunning investigation into the money, influence, and alarming covert efforts of governments and private investors to gain control of the most vital resources on the planet – food and water.

Hello Dankness

Soda Jerk

Cultural anarchists Soda Jerk remix hundreds of bootlegged clips into a gutbusting, memeified satire on the parlous period before and after the 2016 American elections.

Hong Kong Mixtape

San San F Young

Both hopeful and heart-breaking, Hong Kong Mixtape chronicles the change in the creative landscape of Hong Kong as the shadow of Beijing, and the draconian laws it imposes, looms large.

Merkel

Eva Weber

Utilising a treasure trove of archival material, Eva Weber’s documentary delivers an intimate portrait of the long-serving German chancellor who became the most powerful woman in the world.

Ms. Information

Gwen Isaac

As the nation plunges into pandemic, Gwen Isaac’s observational documentary delves into the trenches with Siouxsie Wiles, the fuchsia-haired microbiologist who emerged as a national hero and a satanic witch in the minds of a divided New Zealand.

Reality

Tina Satter

Anchored by a remarkable performance from Sydney Sweeney, Reality reconstructs the interrogation and arrest of American whistleblower Reality Winner in real-time, to disturbing, pulse-pounding effect.

A Storm Foretold

Christoffer Guldbrandsen

A close-up portrait of Roger Stone, Trump’s disgraced political “fixer” and architect of the January 2021 insurrection. A compelling, frightening image of unbridled power and how far people will go to hang on to it.

Total Trust

Jialing Zhang

A revealing, personal exploration of the new frontier in China’s surveillance state—and the reality for those who challenge it.