Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2025
28 August - 7 September 2025
Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival is our premiere national cinema event. Presenting a selection of contemporary and classic cinema and capturing the best of the global festival circuit, through curated progammes at locations nationwide.
The 2025 edition of the Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is upon us, with films from around the world to delight, educate, shock and move the heart and soul, so grab a brochure and don't miss the chance to escape the wintery days and nights for one of the highlights of the cinema calendar.
The 2025 NZIFF programme is made up of 9 strands, or sections. This structure provides audiences with clear insight of the cinematic experiences they can expect and of the artistic identity of the selected films.
Big Nights:
Opening Night:
It Was Just an Accident
Thu 28 Aug 2024 | 6:30pm – 8:45pm
All Tickets $25 | SOLD OUT
2025 | Iran | Director: Jafar Panahi | 102 mins | In Farsi with English subtitles
A masterpiece of cinematic invention and political bravery, Jafar Panahi's rousing new film deservedly won the Cannes Palme d'Or and opens the NZIFF 2025 on a powerful and inspiring note.
Join us on Thursday 28 August for the New Zealand International Film Festival Opening Night at the Len Lye Cinema. Drinks and canapes from 6.30pm, with screening to follow at 7pm.
Prime Minister
Sat 30 Aug 2025 | 5:45pm
Wed 10 Sep 2025 | 6:00 pm
Prime Minister
2025 | Aotearoa | Director: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz | 102mins
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.
Sat 30 August 5:45pm | SOLD OUT
Wed 10 September 6:00 pm | SOLD OUT
Closing Night:
Sentimental Value
Fri 7 Sep 2025 | 7.30pm - 9.45pm
2025 | Norway | Director: Joachim Trier | 135mins
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.
Sun 7 Sep 7:30 pm | Book Here
2025 Sections:
Māhutonga:
Māhutonga, or the Southern Cross, is the place for our storytellers from Aotearoa and the South Pacific to shine.
GRACE: A Prayer For Peace
2025 | Aotearoa | Director, Gaylene Preston | 95mins
A portrait of one of Aotearoa’s greatest living artists by one of our greatest documentary filmmakers. You should expect something special, and that’s what you get. Described as ‘a prayer for peace’, the film stands as an act of resistance rather than quietism, imbued as it is with inventiveness, joy, good humour and energy.” — Greg O'Brien
Sun 31 Aug 1:15pm | Book Here
Went Up the Hill
2024 | Aotearoa New Zealand | Director, Samuel Van Grinsven | 100mins
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.
Thu 4 Sep 7:30pm | Book Here
Portraits:
Exploring what it is to be human, Portraits is for character-driven tales about the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people.
Blue Moon
2025 | USA | Director, Richard Linklater | 100mins
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.
Fri 29 Aug 11:30am | Book Here
Sat 6 Sep 5:30pm | Book Here
What Marielle Knows
2024 | Germany | Director, Frédéric Hambalek | 86mins
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.
Tue 2 Sep 3:30pm | Book Here
Thu 4 Sep 5:30pm | Book Here
Deaf
2025 | Spain | Director: Eva Libertad | 99mins
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.
Fri 5 Sep 3:15pm | Book Here
Sun 7 Sep 10:45am | Book Here
Not Only Fred Dagg
2025 | Australia | Director: Lorin Clarke | 103mins
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.
Sun 7 Sep 5.15pm | SOLD OUT
Tue 9 Sept 6.00 pm | Book Here
Widescreen:
Vibrant, immersive and engaging, Widescreen is for films that offer snapshots of reality from around the globe.
A Little Something Extra
2024 | France | Director: Artus | 99mins | In French with English subtitles
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.
Fri 29 Aug 1:45pm | Book Here
Sat 6 Sep 3:30pm | Book Soon
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
2023 | Spain | Director: Patricia Font | 105mins | In Catalan and Spanish with English subtitles
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.
Sun 31 Aug 3:15pm | Book Here
Thu 4 Sep 1:00pm | Book Here
Late Shift
2025 | Switzerland | Director: Petra Volpe | 92mins
Plunging through the corridors of a surgical ward, this frantic Swiss drama charts the pulse-racing worklife of an overstretched, underappreciated nursing professional.
Mon 1 Sep 7:45pm | Book Here
Twinless
2025 | USA | Directors: James Sweeney | 100mins
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.
Wed 3 Sep 8.00pm | Book Here
The President's Cake
2025 | Iraq | Director: Hasan Hadi | 102mins | In Arabic with English subtitles
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.
Tue 2 Sep 1:15pm | Book Here
Sat 6 Sep 1:15pm | Book Here
Nocturnal:
Whether it's kooky, frightening, awe-inspiring or simply undefinable, Nocturnal is for films that are the stuff of dreams - or nightmares.
Bring Them Down
2024 | Ireland | Director: Christopher Andrews | 106mins | In English and Irish with English subtitles
Set amongst the rugged countryside of Western Ireland, Christopher Abbot (Poor Things) and Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) deliver standout performances in a thriller that is as shocking as the landscape is serene.
Sat 30 Aug 8:00pm | Book Here
Wed 3 Sep 1:00pm | Book Here
Lesbian Space Princess
2024 | Australia | Director: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese | 87mins
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.
Fri 5 Sep 7:30pm | Book Here
Rhythms:
A section celebrating music, it's makers and their stories.
Anchor Me - The Don McGlashan Story
2025 | Aotearoa New Zealand | Director: Shirley Horrocks | 88mins
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.
Fri 5 Sep 5:30pm | Book Here
Tue 9 Sep 6:00 pm | Book Here
The Ballad of Wallis Island
2025 | UK | Director: James Griffith | 99mins
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...
Sun 31 Aug 5:30pm | SOLD OUT
Wed 3 Sep 3:15pm | Book Here
DJ Ahmet
2025 | North Macedonia | Director: Georgi M.Unkovski | 99mins
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.
Mon 1 Sep 5:45pm | Book Here
Thu 4 Sep 10:45am | Book Here
One to One: John & Yoko
2025 | UK | Director: Kevin MacDonald, Sam Rice-Edwards | 100mins
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.
Fri 5 Sep 10:45am | Book Here
Visions:
Films told through distinct cinematic styles, Visions showcases the work of master filmmakers and emerging talent.
Dreams (Sex Love)
2024 | Director: Dag Johan Haugeraud | 110mins
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.
Mon 1 Sep 3:30pm | Book Here
Sat 6 Sep 7:30pm | Book Here
Love
2024 | Director: Dag Johan Haugerud | 119mins
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.
Sun 31 Aug 7:30pm | Book Here
Mirrors No.3
2025 | Director: Christian Petzold | 86mins
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?.
Tue 2 Sep 5:30pm | Book Here
Orwell: 2+2=5
2025 | USA | Director: Raoul Peck | 119mins
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.
Sun 31 Aug 10:45 am | Book Here
Romería
2025 | Spain | Director: Carla Simón | 114mins | In Catalan, French and Spanish with English subtitles
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.
Wed 3 Sep 5:30pm | Book Here
Fri 5 Sep 1:00 pm | Book Here
Sex
2024 | Norway | Director: Dag Johan Haugerud | 118mins | In Norwegian with English subtitles
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 refreshing look at modern gender roles.
Tue 2 Sep 7:30pm | Book Here
Young Mothers
2024 | Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | 104mins | In French with English subtitles
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.
Mon 1 Sep 1:15pm | Book Here
Sun 7 Sep 3:00pm | Book Here
Journeys:
Cinematic journeys through regions whose stories offer fresh insight into place, identity, and experience.
The Blue Trail
2025 | Directors: Gabriel Mascaro | 86mins
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.
Fri 29 Aug 3:45pm | Book Here
Sun 7 Sep 1:00pm | Book Here
Treasures:
A section of hand-picked classics and recently restored films.
War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us
1995 | Aotearoa New Zealand | Director: Gaylene Preston | 94mins
Seven women reflect on the emotional cataclysm of World War II in Dame Gaylene Preston’s landmark contribution to the collective memory of Aotearoa, which has lost none of its raw power on its 30th anniversary.
Sat 6 Sep 11:15am | Book Here
Fresh:
First narrative features from bold new voices in international cinema.
Peacock
2024 | Austria | Director: Bernhard Wenger | 102mins
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.
Thu 4 Sep 3:15pm | Book Here
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1974 | USA | Director: Tobe Hooper | 83mins
An exciting late addition to the festival line-up. 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.
Tue 9 Sep 8:00pm | Book Here