American HoneyAndrea Arnold
USA · 2016 Texas teenager Star joins a magazine sales crew on the road in pursuit of the American Dream. “Undeniably gorgeous… drenched in colour… In the centre of it all is Sasha Lane as Star, just as bright (if not brighter), and impossible not to watch.”– Karen Han, CutPrintFilm Screening times, reviews and trailer >> |
A Fantastic WomanSebastián Lelio
Chile · 2017 When her lover dies suddenly, Marina falls under suspicion, in this Oscar-winner from the director of Gloria. “Ravishing… the remarkable trans actress Daniela Vega [gives] a transfixing performance… this is acting at its most fearless” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter. Screening times, review and trailer >> |
Summer 1993Carla Simón
Spain · 2017 After the sudden death of her parents, six-year-old Frida moves from Barcelona to a small Catalan village to live with her aunt and uncle. “As enthralling a child’s eye view as has graced the screen in many a year… It’s a beautiful film.” – Bill Gosden, NZIFF 2017 Screening times, review and trailer >> |
LoroPaolo Sorrentino
France/Italy · 2018 Tony Servillo inhabits former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi in this fantastical vision of the controversial tycoon and politician and his inner circle. “There’s not a dull moment in Loro… all of it is visceral pleasure at an eye-bleeding volume” – Film Threat Screening times, review and trailer >> |
Les MisérablesLadj Ly
France · 2019 From the team behind Beasts of the Southern Wild, this euphoric and immersive documentary drops us in the middle of a dazzling, dangerous fireworks festival with astonishing results. “A powerful, joyous first feature, full of the sorts of visuals that linger behind your eyelids long after the film is over” – Vox Screening times, reviews and trailer >> |
Corpus ChristiJan Komasa
Poland · 2019 In this stranger-than-fiction doco, we meet six brothers who have spent their entire lives confined by their father to their Manhattan apartment – where they watch movies obsessively and film their own ingenious re-enactments. “A warm, disarmingly optimistic documentary” – New York Times Screening times, review and trailer >> |
The SouvenirJoanna Hogg
UK · 2019 An enigmatic and intensely personal portrait of the artist as a young woman. “Tender and charming, but the bitter sting elevates it to greatness” – Little White Lies Screening times, reviews and trailer >> BamboozledSpike Lee
USA · 2000 Television executives peddle racist stereotypes for the sake of ratings in this blistering satire. "Audacious, vibrant, unsurprisingly maligned but frequently brilliant" – Vanity Fair Screening times, review and trailer >> Dwelling in the Fuchun MountainsGu Xiaogang China · 2019 Inspired by the works of Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, this epic debut depicts a year in the life of the Yu family, providing a panoramic view of societal change in China. “Exquisitely photographed, the film builds a slow-burning portrait of a community in which modernity and tradition coexist.” – Screen Daily Screening times, reviews and trailer >> |
The Last Black Man in San FranciscoJoe Talbot
USA · 2019 Jimmie Falls dreams of reclaiming the regal Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of gentrified San Francisco. “An indelibly beautiful story of love, family and loss in America” – NY Times Screening times, reviews and trailer >> LeviathanAndrey Zvyagintsev
Russia · 2014 An involving, magnificently envisaged and blackly funny tale of one man’s struggle in a densely corrupt world. “A killer combination of energy, imagination and visionary cinematic power” – Hollywood Reporter Screening times, review and trailer >> The ClanPablo Trapero
Argentina/Spain · 2015 This '80s true crime drama unravels the exploits of a well-connected Buenos Aires businessman and his rugby-star son and their ruthless kidnapping and ransom operation. “Audaciously entertaining… full of Scorsese-like swagger” - Telegraph Screening times, reviews and trailer >> |
The WolfpackCrystal Moselle
USA · 2015 In this stranger-than-fiction doco, we meet six brothers who have spent their entire lives confined by their father to their Manhattan apartment – where they watch movies obsessively and film their own ingenious re-enactments. “A warm, disarmingly optimistic documentary” – New York Times Screening times, reviews and trailer >> In the FogSergey Loznitsa
Germany/Netherlands/Belarus/Russia/Latvia · 2012 An intense, slow-burning war drama that considers moral choice in the moral vacuum of occupation. “Actors and landscapes alike could have come out of 19th-century Russian paintings” – Sight & Sound Screening times, review and trailer >> Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
(Chun jiang shui nuan) is presented in co-operation with the Confucius Institute, Victoria University of Wellington |
For more contemporary festival titles, see:
BREAKING THROUGH · GERMAN CINEMA · SCANDINAVIA · AFRICAN CINEMA
BREAKING THROUGH · GERMAN CINEMA · SCANDINAVIA · AFRICAN CINEMA