This rebellious debut plasters teenage angst across a politically and religiously charged critique of the systems forced upon children before they’ve even had the chance to form their own opinions.
Festival Programme
Films — by Genre
- Action
- Activism
- Americana
- Animals
- Animation
- Art
- Based on Books
- Body and Mind
- Cannes
- Comedy
- Coming of Age
- Crime
- Disability
- Documentary
- Education
- Environment
- Family Ties
- Feminism
- Films about Films
- Food and Beverage
- For All Ages
- Horror
- Human Rights
- Indigenous
- LGBTQIA+
- Love Stories
- Media and the Internet
- Music
- Māori/Pacific
- Politics
- Rebellion
- Refugee and Migrant Stories
- Religion
- Rural Life
- Sci-Fi
- Science & Technology
- Sports and Gaming
- Stylistic
- Theatre
- Thriller
- Travel
- WTF?
- War Zones
- Women Make Docs
- Women Make Features
- Youth
Rebellion
![Gloria!](/assets/resized/sm/upload/sn/sq/vv/mf/Photo-1-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=49a0faf470)
Gloria!
An energetic re-envisioning of Baroque music through the lens of the fiery female composers whose revolutionary work was concealed throughout history.
![Heavenly Creatures](/assets/resized/sm/upload/st/c9/9x/d5/35%20(454)%20(1)%20(1)-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=716aec9c8b)
Heavenly Creatures
Returning to the Festival is Peter Jackson’s sublime 1994 film about the notorious Parker-Hulme murder drew rapturous acclaim and brought the former splatter king a newfound mainstream respectability.
![Kneecap](/assets/resized/sm/upload/2o/55/9p/nz/KNEECAP_STILL1406-1317_R2_COMP-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=0b4d284303)
Kneecap
Belfast’s own Beastie Boys become unlikely figureheads of the Irish Language Act in this madcap biopic of sex, drugs, and Gaelic rap.
![The People's Joker](/assets/resized/sm/upload/s8/wr/t4/lu/9cb9aa_04fb306cc2694eb7b4a209ba9baf5d60~mv2-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=533f997492)
The People's Joker
Vera Drew lays her soul bare with this fever-dream of a DC Universe parody that takes us through the trippiest and most monumental moments of her life and gender realisation.
![The Seed of the Sacred Fig](/assets/resized/sm/upload/r9/yl/hi/u4/Seed-%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=9869115cd4)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
A conflicted family implodes as protests spread throughout Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof’s courageous and urgent film delivers a bold middle finger to the totalitarian regime of his homeland.
![The Teachers' Lounge](/assets/resized/sm/upload/2j/oa/gt/4c/HERO_The%20Teachers'%20Lounge04-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=e62fc818ef)
The Teachers' Lounge
Das Lehrerzimmer
Driven by a captivating central performance, this unsettling Oscar-nominated classroom thriller thoughtfully probes the grey area of student care versus culpability, and to what degree our systems promote or constrain our humanity.
![We Were Dangerous](/assets/resized/sm/upload/cx/24/84/i5/WE%20WERE%20DANGEROUS%20-HERO%201-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=49fe86ce22)
We Were Dangerous
Earning director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu the Special Jury Prize for Filmmaking at SXSW this year, this electric debut launches our festival with a fiery trio of delinquent schoolgirls railing against the colonial system in 1950s New Zealand.