Festival Programme

Films by Venue

Regent Theatre

Anchor Me - The Don McGlashan Story

Shirley Horrocks

A documentary tribute to one of the nation’s best loved songwriters, charting Don McGlashan’s storied career from arty punk upstart to one of the strongest voices in the national identity of Aotearoa.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

James Griffiths

What would you do if you won the lottery? Charles answers the age-old question by inviting his favourite former folk duo to his remote island, where the estranged band members prove that some flames never die...

Blue Moon

Richard Linklater

A washed-up songwriter drowns his sorrows as his former collaborator triumphantly opens Oklahoma! on Broadway. A career-peak performance by Ethan Hawke powers Richard Linklater’s theatrical drama.

The Blue Trail

O último azul

Gabriel Mascaro

In a future world where senior citizens are banished from society, a rebellious matriarch instead embarks on a fantastic Amazon adventure. Gabriel Mascaro’s film is an ode to life and freedom with no age restrictions.

Chain Reactions

Alexandre O. Philippe

A diverse ensemble of creatives including Stephen King, Takashi Miike and Karyn Kusama illuminate the enduring cultural legacy of Tobe Hooper’s low-budget 1974 slasher The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Deaf

Sorda

Eva Libertad

A woman navigates the experience of motherhood as a deaf person in a hearing world in Eva Libertad’s crowd-pleasing, feel-good drama which collected the Panaroma Audience Award at Berlin this year.

DJ Ahmet

Georgi M. Unkovski

Ahmet stumbles upon a forest rave at the edge of his local village, where he finds the escape he’s been desperately seeking in Georgi M. Unkovski’s loveable debut, the first ever Macedonian film to be awarded at Sundance.

Dreams (Sex Love)

Drømmer

Dag Johan Haugerud

A teenage girl recounts her crush for her teacher through the pages of a memoir. The winner of the Golden Bear 2025 is a lucid and tender chronicle of the unforgettable experience of first love.

Eddington

Ari Aster

A bracingly audacious political satire, Ari Aster’s modern-day Western utilises an A-list cast (Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler) to ruthlessly skewer the polarisation of post-pandemic America.

Enzo

Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo

A woozy summer of youthful aimlessness morphs into a complex infatuation as a rebellious bourgeois French teen falls for an older Ukrainian bricklayer in this sun-drenched coming of age tale.

It Was Just an Accident

Yek tasadef sadeh

Jafar Panahi

A masterpiece of cinematic invention and political bravery, Jafar Panahi’s rousing new film deservedly won the Cannes Palme d’Or and opens NZIFF 2025 on a powerful and inspiring note.

Lesbian Space Princess

Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Set in a gay-laxy far, far away this crowd pleasing and proudly queer Aussie adult animation delights with its vivid, candy-coloured palette, kinky sense of humour and catchy, upbeat musical numbers.

Life in One Chord

Margaret Gordon

Punk renegade Shayne Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer) takes us on an iconoclastic tour through a career of highs and lows from suburban Dunedin to the heights of international fame and back again.

A Little Something Extra

Un p'tit truc n plus

Artus

This wacky and heartfelt comedy, from popular French standup Artus, follows two criminals on the lam who lay low at a summer camp for young adults with disabilities. A runaway hit at the French box office last year.

Lurker

Alex Russell

Writer Alex Russell, whose credits include small screen hits Beef and The Bear, graduates to the big screen with this darkly compelling thriller about a desperate wannabe who attaches himself to a singer on the rise.

The Mastermind

Kelly Reichardt

A perfectly rumpled Josh O’Connor’s criminal ambitions go awry in Kelly Reichardt’s arthouse art-heist film showcasing the American master of cinematic minimalism at her absolute best.

Not Only Fred Dagg

Lorin Clarke

For over 40 years, the iconic John Clarke tickled the funny bones of Australian and New Zealand audiences. Now, in this intimately produced documentary, hear his story in his own words.

One to One: John & Yoko

Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice-Edwards

This immersive portrait of the time John and Yoko spent living in Greenwich Village is a vivid time capsule of America in the early 70s. A time of extreme political polarisation which may seem uncannily familiar.

Orwell: 2+2=5

Raoul Peck

Raoul Peck, the acclaimed documentary chronicler of power in America, looks to George Orwell’s writing of 1984 as a prescient guide to our modern era of Trumpian rule and reality manipulation.

Peacock

Pfau - Bin ich echt?

Bernhard Wenger

Mattias spends his days pretending to be someone else, offering companionship to strangers in need. Bernhard Wenger’s unsettling drama quietly dissects loneliness, identity and the cost of always performing.

Prime Minister

Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz

The uncharted highs and crashing lows of Jacinda Ardern’s time at the helm of Aotearoa get their due in an intimate-access international documentary about state power and human vulnerability.

Resurrection

Kuang ye shi dai

Bi Gan

Visionary director Bi Gan invites audiences to a journey through the ages of cinema. In a dazzling kaleidoscope of images, he keeps the flame of the undying love between cinema and audiences burning.

Romería

Carla Simón

One of the standouts of Cannes 2025, Carla Simón’s personal exploration of the restlessness of a young woman without parents is a poignant example of the healing power of cinema.

The Secret Agent

O agente secreto

Kleber Mendonça Filho

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho painstakingly recreates the Recife of the 70s dictatorship years in this sprawling, colourful spy thriller like no other. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at Cannes.

Sentimental Value

Affeksjonsverdi

Joachim Trier

Joachim Trier’s follow-up to his arthouse hit The Worst Person in the World, this piercing and ecstatically moving reflection on family and memory stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning.

The Shrouds

David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg’s sardonic self-portrait of his own struggle with grief is couched within a chilly and unsettling story of a tech-savant and his morbid invention which brings bereavement into the app age.

Sirât

Oliver Laxe

A father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his daughter who has disappeared from a rave in Morocco. When the duo crosses paths with a group of misfits, their trip over the Atlas Mountains gradually becomes a coming-of-age odyssey.

Sorry, Baby

Eva Victor

Irreverent humour and empathy in the eye of a storm are key to resilience in Eva Victor’s Sundance-celebrated debut, in which an abuse of power throws a lit student’s existence into disarray.

Splitsville

Michael Angelo Covino

A madcap comedy about the perils of open relationships from creative duo Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin that had audiences at Cannes roaring at every twist and refusal to take itself at all seriously.

The Teacher Who Promised the Sea

El maestro que prometió el mar

Patricia Font

A progressive teacher brings new methods to a village in Burgos on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, whilst in present day Catalonia a woman searches for answers as to the whereabouts of her great-grandfather’s remains.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tobe Hooper

Frequently cited as the greatest horror film ever made, Tobe Hooper’s raw, deeply disturbing journey into a sweaty, grimy, all-too-real hell still has the power to shake you to your core.

What Marielle Knows

Was Marielle weiß

Frédéric Hambalek

Panic around a new digital Big Brother era underpins a clever, absurdist send-up of bourgeois hypocrisy, as a married couple are put on the spot by their daughter’s all-pervasive telepathy.

Workmates

Curtis Vowell

Sophie Henderson and Curtis Vowell draw on real-life experiences for this delightful and nuanced romantic dramedy throwing a welcome spotlight on the legendary theatre spaces of Tāmaki Makaurau.

Young Mothers

Jeunes mères

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

The Dardenne brothers return with a deeply affecting drama exploring the lives of five teen mothers. Hopes and fears steer the young women towards bettering their lives for themselves and their children.