Comedy

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...

If you're looking for the wildest film of the fest this year, look no further! Ebony and Ivory is here on a nugget slide to melt your brain with absurd humour that becomes so delirious that it turns into a nightmare.

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.

Patricia Rozema’s queer indie comedy from the 80s Toronto New Wave offers a sharp dig at artworld pretensions, even as it celebrates the wild, imaginative power of women.

Alexe Poukine’s spicy Belgian Cannes hit combines dark wit and sensitivity for the human condition in all its variations, in its story of a mother’s initiation into a taboo marketplace.

Romania’s irreverent maverick Radu Jude returns for another off-the-wall savaging of the ills of modern Europe, this time with the villainy of an unaffordable rental system in his sights.

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.

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.

A clueless US film crew stranded in rural Argentina desperately search for a story in Amalia Ulman’s savvy culture-clash comedy that offers biting satire, off-kilter cinematography and a wigged-out soundtrack.

Master of whimsy, Michel Gondry and his daughter Maya harness storytelling while he works overseas, with Maya directing her Papa to create wild and whimsical stop motion animations suitable for all ages.

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.

An aspiring novelist finds inspiration gurgling down the drain when his unconventional muse, a tropical fish, goes missing in this darkly absurd romp through the mean-ish streets of Auckland’s inner suburbs.

Maverick filmmaker Alex Ross Perry takes on cult indie rockers Pavement to deliver a music doco unlike anything you’ve seen before. A fittingly absurd and satirical tribute to a band that defined a generation.

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.

A once-celebrated writer chases relevance through petty schemes, fading commissions and awkward self-promotion. Simón Mesa Soto’s character study is biting, funny and deeply attuned to the sadness of creative decline.

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.

A grieving brother finds an unlikely connection at a support group for siblings who have lost a twin, but his burgeoning bromance threatens to turn into something darker in this uncomfortably sharp-witted comedy.

After her death by dust poisoning, a woman returns as a haunted vacuum cleaner to comfort her grieving husband. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke blends absurd comedy and class politics into a fable that’s as strange as it is moving.

Cannibalism, murder and betrayal are on the table in this riotous NZ horror comedy. Four holidaying friends come across a strain of weed that gives them the most extreme case of the munchies ever recorded.

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.

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.