Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand's Best 2025 Highlights 

Gardening – peaceful, pleasant, intrusive, sad… Grief distracts confrontation, and blame is the only reality. — CF 

An elderly woman wilting away in a retirement home longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside. This magical short offers a positive spin on our impending mortality. — MM 

Exceptional as the many; each guide shares the same journey – forcing you to choose a path. — CF 

Two kung fu masters meet in a Chinese diner via a dating app and turn to the art to settle scores. — CG 

In this captivating animation, a koro leads a desperate chase after the mirumiru (bubbles) of memories that escape his deteriorating wife before they’re gone forever. — HH 

Two isolated strangers find an unexpected connection in this pungent short. Immersive handheld camerawork draws us into a world of rural desolation before dropping the hammer blow. — MM 

Katherine Mansfield’s __The Garden Party__ is modernised in this contemplative short, following teenage Laura as she hosts a party up the road from a mourning family. — HH 

A subtle and poignant exploration of Pasifika masculinity and its queer-tinged boundaries. — LK 

It is a hard life on the street for Puti; perhaps she best not follow her mother’s footsteps. With hope, there is another journey, another possibility. — LK 

Shy Ali joins a group of zealous schoolgirls creating a stage challenge concept that will both wow audiences and distract the girls from their concerns for the future. — HH 

A sullen teenager hopes recovering his sister’s stolen dirtbike will change her mind about leaving their remote small town. This Cannes’ selected short brings arthouse nihilism to Godzone. — MM 

Ollie's girlfriend has a shiny new ring on her finger, but it ain't from Ollie. Shades of Chappell Roan in this sapphic not-quite-love story. — LK 

A young filly struggles to break from the stable in this absurd and wildly original fable, starkly reminding us of the past dehumanisation of Indigenous whānau. — LK