Festival Programme

Films by Genre

LGBTQI+

The Blue Caftan

Le bleu du caftan

Maryam Touzani

A master tailor’s wife watches on as her closeted husband falls in love with his apprentice in this sensuous second feature from Maryam Touzani, as elegant and finely crafted as the beautiful garments in her film.

Clean

Lachlan McLeod

This inspirational Australian documentary invites us into the world of trauma cleaning as run by the larger-than-life personality of Sandra Pankhurst, whose response to the chaos of death and squalor is simple kindness.

Close

Lukas Dhont

Belgian director Lukas Dhont follows up his award-winning debut Girl (NZIFF 2018) with this deft exploration of the fragile world of childhood bonds, which has already picked up major prizes at Cannes and Sydney.

Joyland

Saim Sadiq

A married man falls for a glamorous trans dancer in this daring and emotionally intense love story from Pakistani first-time writer-director Saim Sadiq.

Loving Highsmith

Eva Vitija

Delving into Patricia Highsmith’s personal writings and accounts of friends and family, this doco sheds new light on the writer behind such classics as Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr Ripley and Carol.

Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams

Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s one-of-a-kind feature is an Afro-futurist science-fiction musical centred on a grieving coltan miner and an intersex hacker who find liberation through technology.

Punch

Welby Ings

Seventeen-year-old boxer Jim carries the hopes and dreams of his father on his shoulders, but his growing relationship with local takatāpui Whetu forces him to confront the truth about his sexuality and choose his own future.