Whanau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) today reveals its line-up of impressive New Zealand feature films that have been selected to screen at the 2022 festival so far. Rich in storytelling, the themes of resilience, survival, and hope run deep in many of the titles.

Making their feature film directorial debuts are Nina Nawalowalo with A Boy Called Piano – The Story of Fa'amoana John Luafutu, and Welby Ings with Punch.

Adapted from the stage to the screen, A Boy Called Piano is an incredibly moving documentary detailing the remarkable story of Fa’amoana’s time as a state ward in the 1960’s and the intergenerational impacts of these experiences. The film was recently awarded Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal Independent Film Festival.

Punch, shot against the black sand backdrop of Tāmaki Makaurau’s West Coast beaches, has its world premiere at NZIFF 2022. This contemporary coming-of-age story set in small-town New Zealand stars Academy Award-nominee Tim Roth and newcomers Jordan Oosterhof and Conan Hayes.

Veteran independent documentary-maker Costa Botes (Forgotten Silver, Act of Kindness, Angie) returns to the festival with the world premiere of observational documentary When the Cows Come Home, charting the unusual life of musician, journalist, artist and cow whisperer, Andrew Johnstone. Interviewing Johnstone and family and friends involved in the various phases of Johnstone’s evolution, it seems as though Botes, himself a one-man production company, has found a kindred spirit in this offbeat bohemian.

Also making its world premiere at the festival is Geoff Dixon – Portraits of Us from filmmakers Glenis Giles and Clare O'Leary. The film is an intimate deep-dive into the world of New Zealand-born Australian-based visual artist Geoff Dixon whose work confronts the fragility of the natural world and seeks to raise awareness of issues of climate change and endangered species.

Anthology films Kāinga and We Are Still Here will treat audiences to the immense talent of a pool of filmmakers, bringing together a raft of Pan-Asian and Indigenous filmmakers respectively.

The final film of the trilogy that includes critically acclaimed films Waru (NZIFF 2017) and Vai (2019), Kāinga features stories written and directed by 11 Kiwi Pan-Asian female filmmakers from Māori Chinese Aotearoa, China, Philippines, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar and Tamil Eelam descent that chronicle the diverse, ever-changing experiences of Asians trying to make Aotearoa New Zealand their home.

Conceived as a cinematic response to the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in the South Pacific, We Are Still Here interweaves eight stories from 10 New Zealand, Australia and South Pacific directors that traverse 1000 years, from past, present, and future. The films explore stories of kinship, loss, grief, and resilience and show the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that First Nations people have continued to face.

“We’re always proud to showcase homegrown cinema in the festival and it’s an honour to share this world-class Kiwi line-up to audiences around Aotearoa this winter,” says NZIFF General Manager Sally Woodfield.

“We encourage New Zealanders to experience these beautifully crafted films on the big screen and support local filmmakers.”

NZIFF will also present Auckland premieres of a few films from its 2021 programme that weren’t able to screen in the city last year, including Shirley Horrocks’ Juliet Gerrard: Science in Dark Times, planetarium audio-visual experience Path 99 (screening at Auckland’s Stardome Observatory) and the colourised version of Florian Habicht’s modern cult classic Woodenhead (NZIFF 2003).

More New Zealand feature films will be announced when the full festival programme is revealed in July.

NZIFF opens in Auckland on Thursday 28 July, followed by Wellington on the following Thursday, 4 August, Christchurch on 5 August and Dunedin on 11 August. The remaining centres will span August. Aotearoa New Zealand films screening at NZIFF 2022 are proudly supported by Resene.

NZ films to screen at NZIFF 2022 so far:

New Zealand Premiere: A Boy Called Piano – The Story of Fa'amoana John Luafutu

Dir: Nina Nawalowalo

A Boy Called Piano – The Story of Fa’amoana John Luafutu tells the remarkable story of Fa’amoana’s time as a state ward in the 1960’s and the intergenerational impacts of these experiences. Growing from the long-term collaboration with the Luafutu Aiga, the film blends dramatised sequences and powerful interviews with beautiful aerial and underwater photography, translating Nina Nawalowalo’s celebrated visual storytelling to the screen for the first time.

To read more, click here

World Premiere: Geoff Dixon: Portraits of Us

Dir: Glenis Giles and Clare O’Leary

From filmmakers Glenis Giles and Clare O'Leary comes documentary Geoff Dixon – Portraits of Us, an intimate deep-dive into the world of New Zealand-born Australian-based visual artist Geoff Dixon whose work confronts the fragility of the natural world and seeks to raise awareness of issues of climate change and endangered species.

To read more, click here

Auckland Premiere: Juliet Gerrard: Science in Dark Times

Dir: Shirley Horrocks

Science in Dark Times follows the work of a remarkable woman, Dame Juliet Gerrard, Jacinda Ardern's Chief Science Advisor, through three years of dramatic crises, including the Whakaari White Island eruption and the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film is making its Auckland premiere following its world premiere in Wellington as part of NZIFF 2021.

To read more, click here

World Premiere: Kāinga

Dir: Michelle Ang, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, HASH, Nahyeon Lee, Angeline Loo, Asuka Sylvie,  Yamin Tun, Julie Zhu

Following the success of Waru (NZIFF 2017) and Vai (2019), the trilogy completes with Kāinga, with eight Pan-Asian female filmmakers crafting unique stories chronicling the diverse, ever-changing experiences of Asians trying to make Aotearoa New Zealand their home. The stories, set in the same house across several decades, explore the historical connection to tangata whenua, feelings of isolation, community support in lieu of family, home precarity, excitement about making home, longing to be “back home”, being othered at home, and finally claiming home.

To read more, click here

Auckland Premiere: Path 99

Dir: Grayson Cooke, Dugal McKinnon

Screening at Auckland’s Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, Path 99 combines planetarium immersion with an enveloping electronic soundtrack, showing us how, now more than ever, it is crucial that we all have our heads in the clouds. Using information discarded as “invalid data” by geoscientists, media artist Grayson Cooke and composer Dugal McKinnon concoct a full spectrum audio-visual experience of a continent’s shifting weather systems. The film is making its Auckland premiere following its world premiere screening in Wellington as part of NZIFF 2021.

To read more, click here

World Premiere: Punch

Dir: Welby Ings

A contemporary film about love, loyalty and liberation, Punch centres on Jim, a teenage boxer in a small town. He is a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. His father Stan, a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic, has given everything to see his son escape the brutality of his small world. As Jim begins to rethink why he is fighting, his life tangles with outcast takatāpui Māori schoolmate, Whetu. In a world that pretends that being gay is accepted, this film peels back the veneer of tolerance to show what exists under the surface. As Jim stumbles towards discovering what it really is to be a gay man, he is forced to see that strength has little to do with heroism.

To read more, click here

New Zealand Premiere: We Are Still Here

Dir: Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean, Dena Curtis, Tim Worrall, Richard Curtis, Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Chantelle Burgoyne, Tracey Rigney, Renae Maihi

We Are Still Here is a unique Indigenous film that interweaves eight powerful stories from 10 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific directors. Conceived as a cinematic response to the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in this region, We Are Still Here traverses 1000 years from past, present, and future, exploring stories of kinship, loss, grief, and resilience and showing the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that Indigenous people from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific have continued to face.

To read more, click here

World Premiere: When the Cows Come Home

Dir: Costa Botes

Veteran independent documentary-maker Costa Botes returns with an observational documentary charting the unusual life of musician, journalist, artist and cow whisperer, Andrew Johnstone.

Opening on the Johnstone family farm in Cambridge, When the Cows Come Home, Johnstone is enthusiastic to expound his views on animal husbandry and bovine communication, before the film walks us back through the events that have shaped the farmer-philosopher — from personal family tragedy to warring with Catholic school authorities, innovating in Hamilton’s nascent music scene to creating guerrilla art installations; Johnstone’s life has had a truly idiosyncratic trajectory. Mental health issues may have seen him retreat to life on the farm, but the film makes clear its subject’s restless inquisitiveness is far from being put out to pasture.   

To read more, click here

Auckland Premiere: Woodenhead

Dir: Florian Habicht

At last Auckland audiences will get to see a colourised version of Florian Habicht’s debut feature, Woodenhead (NZIFF 2003) following its premiere in Wellington at NZIFF 2021. Filmed in Northland’s lush forests and spartan hill country, Woodenhead conjures a unique, fairy-tale-like realm. Gert, an innocent rubbish-dump worker, is charged with the task of delivering Princess Plum, the ethereal daughter of his master Hugo, to her wedding in Maidenwood. Their journey through the grandeur of New Zealand’s landscape is beset with strange events.

To read more, click here