Here's the news you've been waiting for ... announcing the full programme for NZIFF 2022 in Christchurch, opening at the Isaac Theatre Royal on Friday 5 August.

 “We couldn’t be prouder of our 2022 programme – as well as having an outstanding collection of films from Aotearoa, our international selection is packed with award-winning, critically acclaimed films from all around the world. We look forward to presenting our programme to audiences around the country and we thank New Zealanders for their continued support of the festival,” says NZIFF General Manager Sally Woodfield.

As previously announced, Muru will open the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin festivals, while Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s Palme d'Or-winning Triangle of Sadness will bookend the festival programme in all centres.

Additional titles direct from Cannes Film Festival 2022 joining the line-up include Charlotte Wells’ directorial debut Aftersun, starring Normal People’s breakout star Paul Mescal, David Cronenberg’s sci-fi spellbinder Crimes of the Future, staring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, Queer Palm winner Joyland, a trans love story from first-time Pakistani director Saim Sadiq, and blacker-than-black Norwegian comedy Sick of Myself, directed by Kristoffer Borgli and from the producers of The Worst Person in the World.

Award winners from this year’s Berlin Film Festival include Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s vibrant ensemble drama about a Catalonian peach-growing family facing eviction and Mexican-Bolivian filmmaker Natalia López Gallardo’s Silver Bear Jury winning Robe of Gems, a story of crime, class, and corruption in modern Mexico.

Joining the collection of New Zealand films will be documentary Gloriavale, which will have its world premierre in Christchurch. The film is a probing and poignant investigation behind closed doors of the Gloriavale Christian Community.

Other 2022 programme highlights include stop motion delight Marcel the Shell with Shoes On from our Square Eyes Collection, a collection curated especially for both the youngest cinephiles and those young at heart, and, from the other end of the spectrum, in the Incredibly Strange strand –  a collection that promises to burrow into your mind, haunt your waking moments and ward off any chance of a peaceful night’s sleep – comes vacation-from-hell thriller Speak No Evil from Danish director Christian Tafdrup and a double-dose of absurdism from French director Quentin Dupieux with his twisted mind-bender Incredible but True and wacky super hero parody Smoking Causes Coughing direct from Cannes.

NZIFF 2022 in Christchurch is at the Isaac Theatre Royal (5-7 August) and Lumière Cinemas (5-14 August). Browse the programme online and pick up a printed programme from festival venues in Christchurch from Wednesday 13 July. Tckets will be on sale from Friday 15 July.