Aotearoa New Zealand

An international showcase of impressive recent animation in a wide array of techniques, digital and analogue, with an emphasis on the abstract and the expressive – and a few gag-based pieces too.

The second annual Artists Cinema programme of short films again asks for a ‘response, comment, interruption and/or reflection on the cinema context’ from established artists more usually associated with the gallery context.

Shot on the spectacular hills overlooking Cook Strait, Juliet Bergh’s salvagepunk Western set in a post-apocalyptic future is the first fruit of the Film Commission’s low-budget Escalator scheme. Starring Loren Taylor.

Filmmakers Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith lived at Jerusalem on the Whanganui River and have produced a lively, visually beautiful picture of the local community and the three Sisters of Compassion stationed there.

The inaugural winner of the Make My Movie feature film competition, Dean Hewison’s 'Peeping Tom romcom’ is a funny, kooky and rather sweet look at one shy guy’s attempt to find true love via unethical means.

For the past 40 years, in a remote and harshly beautiful corner of northern Manitoba, Brian Ladoon has devoted his life to preserving and breeding an endangered species: the Qimmiq, Canada's indigenous Eskimo dog.

A spectacular environmental documentary by Peter Young, one of New Zealand’s leading nature cinematographers and a key figure in the international movement to end fishing of the Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea.

Internationally lauded Auckland filmmaker Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) accompanies 16-year-old Māori scholar Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti to Yale and a critical turning point in his education.

Six short films have been selected as the finalists in the inaugural NZIFF New Zealand’s Best Short Film Competition.

Ngā Whanaunga means relatedness and connectedness between peoples Selected for NZIFF by the Wairoa Māori Film Festival this lively collection showcases recent shorts by Māori and Pasifika filmmakers.

The ongoing artistic collaboration between pianist Norman Meehan, poet Bill Manhire and singer Hannah Griffin has produced two sublime CDs. Keith Hill’s doco captures them mid-process and in performance.

Fascinating, admiring documentary by Dan Salmon about NZ ‘outsider artist’ Susan King who stopped talking aged four and has produced more than 10,000 drawings throughout her life, now sought by art dealers worldwide.

An intimately observed drama of change in the lives of a deeply attached couple in their 60s caught between his world (an island in the Hauraki Gulf), hers (a city in China), and the world they have made together – their red house in the bush.

Mathurin Molgat’s comprehensive documentary about the past and future of the mighty kauri centres on an inspiring artisan: Northland luthier Laurie Williams.

Tātarakihi tells the story of a ‘journey of memory’ taken by a group of Parihaka children following in the footsteps of their male ancestors who were transported south after the Taranaki land confiscations of the 1860s.

This lyrical documentary inducts us into the surprising world of Tongan Futa Helu and his Atenisi Institute. Probably the world’s smallest university, this unconventional institution proudly stands apart from church and state.

Documentarian Michael Heath transports us to the Irish fishing village of Bunmahon where NZ artist Edith Collier painted during 1914–15. A gentle investigation of her work, the landscape, and the locals in this beautiful town.

Jeremy Dumble and Adam Luxton’s gonzo art movie tracks random sets of Auckland characters linked by a teenage boy’s bizarre video project. An eye-popping cameo from Florian Habicht exemplifies its cunning and rude energy.

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh were producers on this lucid, angry documentary and key players in the battle for justice for the ‘West Memphis Three’ imprisoned as teenagers for murders they did not commit.