New Zealand International Film Festival 2025
Spectacularly bringing the elaborate style and all-consuming dedication of the Japanese Kabuki artist to the big screen, Lee Sang-il’s epic drama is a decades-spanning tale charting the ambition, friendship and rivalry of two young trainees.
The luminous new drama from Robin Campillo (BPM, The Returned, Eastern Boys) intertwines sunlit romance and tender emotions with a sharp, incisive exploration of social class and the quest for self-discovery.
The remarkable – and frequently hilarious – new film from writer/director Hlynur Pálmason (Godland, A White, White Day) tenderly captures a year in the life of a family of five, as the parents navigate their separation.
The eagerly anticipated new drama from acclaimed writer/director Carla Simón (Summer 1993, Alcarràs) follows an orphaned teenage girl as she meets her paternal family and reckons with her late parents’ complex and secret history.
The best-reviewed film of the 2025 Berlinale, Gabriel Mascaro’s breathtaking fable follows a remarkable Brazilian woman who – as her working life draws to an end – secretly sets out on a trip down the Amazon to fulfil a long-held dream.
The first Singaporean feature to premiere in Official Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, Yeo Siew Hua’s gripping new surveillance thriller centres on a couple whose secrets are exposed after their young daughter goes missing.
An audience favourite wherever it has screened, the wildly entertaining new film from writer/director Emmanuel Courcol follows two siblings separated by fate and reunited by music.
Writer/director Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay's sharp new thriller follows the unfolding drama after a burnt Quran is discovered on a German film set, throwing the project into turmoil.
The scathingly funny new comedy of manners from writer/director Frédéric Hambalek centres on a tantalising premise: what would happen if everything a family had been keeping private from each other was suddenly out in the open?
Albrecht Schuch (All Quiet on the Western Front) delivers a stellar central performance in Bernhard Wenger's biting debut satire as a paid companion whose facade starts to crumble.
Filled with moments of surprising tenderness, writer/director Marcelo Caetano's vibrant new drama is a colourful, empathetic ode to queer found family, and a fine homage to the city of São Paulo and the people who struggle to survive in it.
Inspired by true events, Patricia Font’s superb drama follows a teacher whose progressive outlook transforms the lives of a group of young students on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, but places him in the crossfire of local authorities.