Rich in documentaries, this year’s selection of New Zealand films feature several World Premieres, a collection of artist-made shorts and an Incredibly Strange SXSW hit, which is sure to have audiences raising horns.

Today’s reveal adds eleven New Zealand titles to our growing list of early announcements, along with a further collection of locally made shorts that will appear in the Aotearoa section of the programme. NZIFF has worked long and hard to provide this platform for striking work made within our own shores and we salute the filmmakers and their commitment to putting New Zealand and New Zealanders on screen.

The 2015 New Zealand titles are...

Crossing Rachmaninoff

Directed by Rebecca Tansley | 79 mins | World Premiere
A winning portrait of Italian-born Auckland concert pianist Flavio Villani as he returns like the prodigal son to Italy for his concert debut, scaling one of the summits of the Romantic repertoire.

Deathgasm

Director/Screenplay: Jason Lei Howden | 90 mins
Two metalheads unleash a satanic riff that opens the gates of hell in this blood-splattered, heavy shredding comedy-horror. The winner of the Make My Horror Movie competition hits home shores after wowing audiences overseas.

Out of the Mist: An Alternate History of New Zealand Cinema

Director/Screenplay: Tim Wong | 80 mins | World Premiere
Tim Wong’s elegantly assembled and illustrated film essay contemplates the prevailing image of our national cinema while privileging some of the images and image-makers displaced by the popular view of filmmaking in New Zealand.

Philip Dadson: Sonics from Scratch

Directors/Producers: Simon Ogston, Orlando Stewart | 80 mins | World Premiere
As deeply fascinated by the conceptual as the biographical, this comprehensive portrait of one of our great experimental artists is essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in New Zealand art and music.

Tom Who? The Enigma of Tom Kreisler

Directed by Shirley Horrocks | 73 min | World Premiere
Shirley Horrocks’ doco sheds new light on the life and art of Tom Kreisler, a 20th-century New Zealand painter with scant interest in landscape but a strong affinity with Mexican traditions and the wit and verve of Pop Art.

New Zealand films at NZIFF are proudly sponsored by Resene.