Robuta

We've partnered with The Walt Disney Company New Zealand and Searchlight Pictures to present four special advance screenings of Rental Family, direct from...

Jul 11, 2025 - Returning from last year’s Festival to screen alongside the rest of his Sex Dreams Love trilogy, Dag Johan Haugerud’s comic drama takes a candid and...

Oct 5, 2023 - A tense eco-thriller from US director Daniel Goldhaber questions just how far its young activist protagonists are willing to go in order to confront their...

Jul 18, 2022 - Director Chloe Okuno and lead actress Maika Monroe bring a fresh femme perspective to this heart-stopping 70s-style psychological thriller dripping with...

Aug 13, 2025 - 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...

Nov 4, 2021 - A sharp social commentary fights for breath under gallons of grue and viscera, as a young couple fight to reunite across a city overrun by violent sex-crazed...

Aug 21, 2023 - After losing their own child, a married couple become foster parents, healing from their own grief and rediscovering parenthood in this deeply moving,...

Jul 10, 2025 - Simon doesn't feel as though he belongs anywhere, yet he somehow fits in with a group of voracious, mentally disabled teenagers. This intensely felt debut...

Aug 20, 2025 - 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...

Apr 14, 2023 - A thrilling tale of resilience, Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner Flee is just as interested in the quiet toll trauma takes on survivors as it is the...

Aug 18, 2025 - This surreal anime from the mind of a young Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), remains just as unique as it was in the 80s. Returning with a stunning 4K...

Aug 18, 2023 - Clyde Peterson’s documentary collaboration with drone metal legends Earth, perfectly melds their cinematic soundscape with grungy and timeless Super8 footage...

Jul 8, 2024 - A quietly diligent examination of a family-run three-star Michelin restaurant in France, revealing minute details of a sprawling ecosystem as it unobtrusively...

Aug 29, 2024 - A conflicted family implodes as protests spread throughout Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof’s courageous and urgent film delivers a bold middle finger to the...

Apr 14, 2023 - Based on the 2014 memoir, My Salinger Year is The Devil Wears Prada for the literary world, a young woman’s coming of age as she balances her writing...

Apr 21, 2023 - 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...

Dec 4, 2024 - On the eve of a move towards greater public health data reporting, a medical error throws life into a spin for a respected surgeon and her surgical team; the...

Apr 14, 2023 - The unique power of Australia’s Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts organisation, fuels this artful documentary...

Apr 14, 2023 - Two strangers connect in the intimate confines of a train compartment in Juho Kuosmanen’s arresting sophomore feature.

Dec 6, 2021

Aug 21, 2023 - Filmmaker Robin Greenberg celebrates the life and art of avant-garde New Zealand photographer and publisher Grant Sheehan and his creative Artificial...

Nov 25, 2021 - In love, newly engaged and maintaining a long-distance relationship, director Jan Oliver Lucks and his fiancée decide to throw traditional rules out the...

Sep 11, 2024 - Love-letters to cinema are a dime a dozen, but not many can lay claim to having the heart and humour of Chandler Levack’s nostalgic, charming debut.

Dec 6, 2021 - The 20 years Brief Encounters was banned by Soviet censors could not diminish the originality of this exquisite film, making it an instant classic.

Sep 11, 2024 - Reclusive auteur Terrence Malick’s sophomore effort, beautifully restored in 4K, is a bewitching, visually ravishing pre-World War I fable of passion and...

Aug 21, 2023 - An extraordinary story of a Ugandan pop-star politician who risks everything to take on a brutal autocrat, told with a rare and potent intimacy.

Dec 6, 2021 - This digital restoration of Claire Denis’ striking Beau Travail lends new crispness and intensity to not only one of the great films of the 1990s, but one of...

Nov 4, 2021 - This very special screening is presented to celebrate 50 years of the film festival in Wellington.

Apr 14, 2023 - A Jehovah’s Witness wrestles with persecution and patriarchal confinement in this powerhouse debut from Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili.

Jul 10, 2025 - An exquisite mix of visual poetry and subtle eroticism that breathes new life into the coming-of-age genre – this stunning debut feature from Slovenia...

Aug 6, 2025 - A diverse ensemble of creatives including Stephen King, Takashi Miike and Karyn Kusama illuminate the enduring cultural legacy of Tobe Hooper’s low-budget...

Dec 6, 2021 - Set entirely within the walls of Shanghai’s elegant 19th century ‘flower houses’, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s genuinely...

Aug 21, 2023 - After the death of their patriarch, a multigenerational Indigenous Taiwanese family must come together to retain their connection to their ancient culture...

Aug 9, 2024 - Sensitive and funny, this semi-autobiographical film follows 13-year-old Chris Wang as he grows up in diaspora, flirting through AOL emojis and navigating...

Nov 4, 2021 - Natural Light confronts Hungary’s complicity in war crimes against pro-Soviet ‘partisans’ during World War II.

Curated by Malcolm Turner, animation programmer at NZIFF since 1988, and director of the Melbourne International Animation Festival.

Jul 10, 2025 - Masterfully directed with pitch-perfect tension, this award-winning Romanian film orchestrates a captivating portrait of the last days of Ceausescu’s regime,...

Sep 12, 2023 - A 7-year-old child becomes caught in a conflict of loyalty after her beloved brother falls victim to brutal schoolyard bullying.

Jul 31, 2025 - 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...

Aug 21, 2023 - Dreams, lack of means, and poodle schemes on the rez! Aided by their community, two young men push back against deprivation and systemic discrimination to...

Aug 17, 2023 - Set in Japanese-occupied Korea in 1933, five people are held captive by a security chief determined to find the spy “Phantom” in this stylish, highly...

Jul 24, 2025 - In 2021, 26 plundered artefacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey are returned to the modern day nation of Benin. Mati Diop’s dreamlike documentary skilfully...

Nov 4, 2021 - French director Lucile Hadžihalilović creates an enigmatic and melancholic world that seems to exist in the centre of a Venn diagram of Lynch’s Eraserhead...

Apr 14, 2023 - “Radu Jude's tale of a sex tape gone wrong jams two very different movies together for a bold, hilarious take on society's awful state.” — Eric...

Apr 21, 2023 - A young woman with dangerous powers escapes a mental asylum and lets loose on the seedy neon-lit streets of New Orleans in this mind-bending fantasy-adventure...

Aug 9, 2022 - Meet Marcel, a tiny talking shell, on a big-hearted big-screen stop-motion adventure, as tender and funny as it is insightful and poignant.

Apr 14, 2023 - Photographer Fiona Clark shocked 1970s New Zealand with her documentary images of Auckland’s burgeoning queer scene. The pictures they tried to ban were just...

Aug 5, 2025 - A reclusive nerd must enter a video game to fight a demon and rescue his dog in this quirky feast of horror, comedy and sci-fi with old-school gaming...

Apr 21, 2023 - Reaping top awards at the 2022 Césars, this majestic, lavish fresco adapted from Balzac’s masterpiece paints a cruel portrait of 19th century Parisian...

Jul 11, 2025 - 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...

Support these Māori and Pasifika films at screenings all across the motu.

Jan 23, 2025 - Festival fave Kleber Mendonça Filho delivers a delightful cinematic love letter to his childhood home in Recife, the many old picture houses he used to...

Nov 4, 2021 - Caught between the inaction of local authorities and the senseless cruelty of the cartels, a Mexican mother takes matters into her own hands when her daughter...

Aug 28, 2023 - Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso NZIFF 1990) pays tribute to legendary composer Ennio Morricone and his prolific career that spanned over seven decades and...

Jul 25, 2025 - Two undocumented brothers live on the edges of Malaysian society, one quiet and law-abiding, the other reckless and furious. Jin Ong’s emotionally powerful...

Our premium collection of Māori and Pasifika short films from the gifted storytellers of Moana-nui-a-kiwa.

Nov 28, 2021 - The biggest player in the New Zealand economy is put on notice in this spirited documentary that sees a young activist from rural Northland go up against the...

Jul 9, 2025 - One of the most essential films in Portuguese auteur Manoel de Oliveira vast filmography, this dreamlike 1993 film posits Flaubert’s Madame Bovary into 20th...

Apr 14, 2023 - Melancholic, atmospheric and heartfelt, Ben Sharrock’s feature exploring immigrants awaiting asylum eschews conventional approaches to stories of the modern...

Sep 11, 2024 - Defying the traditional rock ’n’ roll narrative, this is the story of how a young Australian hard rock band developed a political conscience and brought...

Aug 21, 2023 - A star student faces a stark choice of whether to succeed in a corrupt and hypocritical schooling system or to join in a real-life student movement that is...

Aug 21, 2023 - An Indigenous girl seeks revenge for her father’s death and finds solace in a secret cabal of witches. This enigmatic folktale of supernatural resistance...

Aug 18, 2023 - In this engrossing study of US interventions since the cold war, a cast of senior White House figures across the decades revisit their decisions, set against a...

Apr 21, 2023 - Park Chan-wook makes a welcome return to NZIFF with this masterful and seductive romantic thriller about an insomniac detective investigating a mysterious...

Jul 11, 2025 - Déni Oumar Pitsaev’s Cannes-awarded documentary is a lyrical meditation on the dreams of the displaced, as he returns to a valley in the Caucasus in search...

Nov 22, 2024 - Acclaimed playwright Annie Baker ruminates on the evolving relationship between an 11-year-old misfit and her single mother during the summer holidays in this...

Jul 9, 2025 - The outrageous risk, callous ego and futile hunger that drive a star matador are in the frame of Catalan renegade Albert Serra’s unusual, much-debated take...

Aug 15, 2023 - Wes Anderson goes sci fi in his latest colourful concoction, screening first at the Festival as a jaw-dropping A-list cast converge on the small desert town of...

Big name actors get plenty of time in the limelight, but who's making moves behind the camera? These internationally-acclaimed directors are ones to...

Jul 10, 2025 - Not your average true crime doco, this witty and perceptive deconstruction of the genre is less about the infamous Zodiac Killer case itself, instead shifting...

Sep 14, 2023 - Set in Australia’s remote Pilbara, Jub Clerc’s multi award-winning debut feature is a triumphant coming-of-age road movie that honours the power of...

Oct 11, 2024 - The spirit of shoestring-budget, seat-of-your-pants filmmaking of the most inventive sort is alive in Aotearoa, in this homegrown psychedelic fantasy courtesy...

Nov 12, 2021 - In post-war Germany, Hans is repeatedly convicted for being gay. Over his many stints in prison, he develops a tumultuous friendship with Viktor. A moving film...

Apr 14, 2023 - Operatives from both sides of the Korean divide, working diplomatic jobs in Somalia, must come together to survive as Mogadishu descends into civil war in a...

Jul 9, 2025 - A young single mother takes on a challenging role as a carer for the elderly in this poignant exploration of in-home care. Eager to make a difference in her...

Apr 14, 2023 - Adapted from the short story by Haruki Murakami, Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s profoundly moving, poetic vision of grief and the deep mysteries of...

Aug 15, 2023 - In this first Mongolian Official Selection at Cannes, a teenage boy dreams of winning a scholarship in a national physics competition but his hopes are...

Tom Vialle takes P3 at Fox Raceway as Red Bull KTM riders open the 2025 Pro Motocross season strong. Discover full results and race highlights.

Jul 25, 2025 - 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...

Oct 5, 2023 - A one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back—even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path. Jalmari Helander’s gleefully...

Come and spark little imaginations with us as we share ten terrific films, both silly and serious, made by dedicated artists all around the world who...

Aug 21, 2023 - In this astonishing, edge-of-the-seat chronicle, the camera follows audacious, high-risk quests to escape from North Korea, and the man who plans them, with a...

Dec 7, 2023 - A Catalonian, peach-growing family face upheaval in this moving and nuanced reflection on identity, place and time by Carla Simón (Summer 1993 NZIFF 2017),...

Jul 3, 2024 - One of Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos” ponders the meaning of existence from beyond the grave in this gleefully unclassifiable film that playfully...

Jul 23, 2024 - Featuring numerous unexpected twists and plenty of Hitchcockian suspense, German director Timm Kröger’s heady sci-fi thriller takes us on a gripping...

Jun 21, 2024 - Oscar-nominated Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi documents a love story for the ages as a woman struggles to preserve the brilliant mind of her partner of 25...

Jul 9, 2025 - 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...

Aug 18, 2023 - A pregnant single mother with two children in foster care fights an impossible system in this affecting debut feature from Savanah Leaf.

Nov 10, 2021 - Helming this compelling documentary following one of New Zealand's sporting superstars, Kiwi director Peter Brook Bell charts how Mark Hunt overcame a...

Nov 10, 2021 - Tracing the story of one of our more complex characters, this layered portrait re-examines the exploits of influential outsider, Dutch immigrant artist Theo...

Jul 9, 2025 - This incisive drama, from Academy Award nominee Scandar Copti, envelops us into the chaotically intertwined lives of a family navigating the unique challenge...

Sep 12, 2023 - Karen Gillan delivers two knockout performances in Riley Stearns’ hilarious, ultra-deadpan comedy about a woman and her nightmarishly perfect clone who must...

Nov 14, 2024 - A sensitive vampire meets a depressed teenage boy in this deadpan romantic comedy about two loners connecting.

Jul 3, 2024 - Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane bring the brutality of Grand Theft Auto to the world of Shakespeare – or is it the other way around?

Aug 21, 2023 - Trailblazing Chinese director Lou Ye's vivid, kaleidoscopic tale of doomed lovers lost in the fog and filth of Shanghai's canals receives a stunning...

Sep 11, 2024 - Starring the late great Harry Dean Stanton in his most iconic role, Wim Wenders’ newly restored modern classic delivers one of the definitive outsider views...

Apr 21, 2023 - This inspirational Australian documentary invites us into the world of trauma cleaning as run by the larger-than-life personality of Sandra Pankhurst, whose...

Jul 11, 2025 - In a future world where senior citizens are banished from society, a rebellious matriarch instead embarks on a fantastic Amazon adventure. Gabriel Mascaro’s...

Jun 20, 2023 - Documentarian Julien Temple explores the close ties between Shane MacGowan, Ireland’s beloved punk poet, and his home country’s tumultuous history.