Embassy Theatre

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Class, religion, and gender intersect in Neeraj Ghaywan’s personal approach to life in Northern India. A life-long friendship is put to the test when a shared dream leads two best friends in different directions.

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.

The all-consuming dedication of the Japanese Kabuki artist gets its due in an ornate, decades-spanning spectacular of passion and pain that charts the journey of two young trainees.

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.

What is love? Through the stories of a straight woman and a gay man, Haugerud defies conventions with humor and compassion, in an eloquent and moving masterwork on human relations in the 21st century.

An intimate, rapturously-lensed exploration of a family struggling with a parental separation, Hlynur Pálmason’s mosaic of snapshots, dreams and memories finds gentle profundity in the slow march of time.

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.

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.

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.

In the wake of a traumatic incident, a young woman forms a surrogate mother-daughter relationship with her rescuer. As emotional walls come down, doubts arise: is there more to the care offered than simple kindness?

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.

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.

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.

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 young girl scrambles to prepare a high-stakes birthday cake for a dictator amidst the dangers and deprivations of the Gulf War in this irresistibly scrappy Caméra d'Or-winner from Iraq.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An enterprising young man leaves the comforts of home swapping a suit and tie for a shepherd's crook, but soon enough the arduous nature of pastoral life in the south of France serves him a healthy dose of reality.

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.

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.

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.

German cinema celebrated the arrival of a bold new auteur in Cannes, as Mascha Schilinski unveiled her ghostly epic of women in one house visited by catastrophe and its echoes over generations.

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 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.

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.

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.

Fresh from Cannes acclaim comes a gripping, mordantly absurd and meticulous study of the inverted logic of state terror from master chronicler of tyranny Sergei Loznitsa.

This gritty and empathetic portrait of addiction and the self-destruction that comes along with it is filled with pitch black humour. Frank Dillane puts on a masterclass as he takes his character to rock bottom.

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.

An unsettling, sinister slow-burn thriller, Samuel Van Grinsven unites rising star Dacre Montgomery with Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps and New Zealand’s own Sarah Peirse for a supernatural chiller like no other.

Frequently singled out as one of the best films of the 21st century, Béla Tarr’s melancholy, mud-deep world of simmering mob chaos foretells of resurgent fascism in the heart of Europe.

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.

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.