NZIFF reveals its Cannes do attitude

NZIFF reveals its Cannes do attitude

The full list of the 20 Cannes films playing at this year's New Zealand International Film Festival has been revealed.

Read on to see what lies ahead:

Cannes Official Competition

In addition to Winter Sleep, NZIFF will be screening Grand Prix winner The Wonders, Best Screenplay winner Leviathan, Jury Prize winner Jean-Luc Godard’sGoodbye to Language in remarkable 3D, and David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars which won the award for Best Actress (Julianne Moore). 

From the same category comes Cannes-veteran Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Halland the compelling new African feature Timbuktu, as well as Wild Tales from Argentina and the Dardenne Brothers’ Two Days, One Night featuring a stellar performance from Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.

Un Certain Regard

We have a number of exciting titles from the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes, which supplements the competition selection by recognising fresh talent and daring new films. 

Dog enthusiasts will be captivated by top Prize winner White God ‘s depiction of a canine uprising (which also won Cannes' most endearing film award, the Palm Dog). We can’t wait to screen Jury Prize winner Force Majeure, Special Prize winner The Salt of the Earth, Wim Wenders’ spectacular documentary portrait of photographer Sebastião Salgado; and from Australian director Rolf de Heer, Charlie’s Country which collected the award for Best Actor (David Gulpilil).

Directors’ Fortnight

Ant Timpson has selected Jim Mickle’s indie thriller Cold In July for Incredibly Strange. Elsewhere on the programme you will find Frederick Wiseman’s insightful documentary National Gallery and from Japan, the new Studio Ghibli animationThe Tale of The Princess Kaguya - a gorgeously animated interpretation of the ancient Japanese folk tale.

Critics’ Week

The creepy and suspenseful It Follows also features in Incredibly Strange. You’ll find art-house werewolf horror When Animals Dream in our juicy line-up of genre thrills. 

We’re also featuring two films that screened out of competition: Ukraine’sMaïdan, and starring Robert Pattinson in a fantastic performance, we’ve got The Rover from Australian director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom), which looks at powerful human connections within the bleakness of a post-economic collapse in Western Australia.

All of these films are confirmed to screen in Auckland and Wellington. Further location listings will be advised on our website once availability and distributor arrangements are confirmed as NZIFF travels around New Zealand. 

The complete NZIFF programme will be available in Auckland from Tuesday 24 June and in Wellington from Friday 27 June. NZIFF screens in Auckland from 17 July to 3 August, and in Wellington from 25 July to 10 August