New Zealand films revealed for 2024 NZ International Film Festival

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) has today announced the line-up of exceptional New Zealand-made feature films, documentaries, and shorts in the 2024 programme, showcasing the increasingly rich talent and diverse storytelling in New Zealand filmmaking. The 2024 NZIFF opens in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington on 31 July before touring to nine other centres across the country until 4 September.

Twelve full-length films and 19 shorts make up the ‘Māhutonga’ strand of the programme - a selection of stand-out New Zealand features and documentaries curated by 2024 Artistic Director Paolo Bertolin and Head of Programming Michael McDonnell, and shorts selected by long-time co-curators Leo Koziol and Craig Fasi, and 2024 guest selector Gerard Johnstone. The Māhutonga programme is proudly supported by Creative New Zealand.

Bertolin says, “Aotearoa cinema has reached a defining crossroad. The twelve features and four combined programmes of shorts in Māhutonga reflect the diversity and wealth of subjects and styles in local storytelling. With their films, New Zealand filmmakers provide a vibrant kaleidoscope that enables audiences to look at the past and the present through distinctive perspectives. 

 “In this selection, our audiences will discover films that are entertaining, thought-provoking, and deeply affecting. Most of all, they will find a space for conversation and exchange on the beauty and complexity of life in Aotearoa. It is our privilege to provide a platform for these inspired and inspiring filmmakers to meet our audience in the communal experience of cinema.”

We Were Dangerous, directed by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu and fresh from winning the special Jury Award for Filmmaking in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW, will open the festival in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington on 31 July, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 7 August, and all regions except Christchurch, because Head South, directed by Jonathan Ogilvie and set and filmed in Christchurch, will open the Ōtautahi Christchurch season on 15 August following sell-out screenings at Sydney Film Festival.

The other New Zealand-made feature films in the 2024 programme are A Mistake (2024), directed by Christine Jeffs; Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara (2024), directed by Kent Belcher; Grafted (2023), directed by Sasha Rainbow; I Am a Dark River (2024), directed by Tessa Mitchell; Marimari (2024), directed by Paul Wolffram; Night Piece (2023), directed by Bridget Sutherland; Taki Rua Theatre - Breaking Barriers (2024), directed by Whetū Fala; The Haka Party Incident (2024), directed by Katie Wolfe; and The House Within (2024), directed by Joshua Prendeville. Never Look Away (2024), directed by Lucy Lawless, also in the Māhutonga strand, has previously been announced.

The New Zealand feature films sit alongside two regular short films sections in the NZIFF – Ngā Whanaunga Māori and Pasifika Shorts, selected by long-time co-curators Leo Koziol and Craig Fasi, and New Zealand's Best, selected this year by guest selector Gerard Johnstone. The 2024 shorts programme also includes Short Connections – five promising new Aotearoa shorts that deftly capture the bonds and binds between us. All this year’s shorts are outlined below.

New Zealand film will be celebrated at a special Aotearoa Film Focus weekend, presented by the University of Auckland Faculty of Arts, taking place from 15 to 18 August at Auckland’s ASB Waterfront Theatre. Across three days and four nights, audiences can enjoy films, a new exhibition by the New Zealand Cinematography Society – Still Stories, panel discussions, a workshop, a masterclass, filmmaker Q&A events, and a gig! Exclusive to the weekend will also be a tribute to iconoclast Garth Maxwell, showcasing his recent MoMa purchase Naughty Little Peeptoe and the remastered version of his early work Come with Us.
 
Bertolin says, “The aim of our Aotearoa Film Focus weekend is to give a full spotlight on the vivid resurgence of local cinema, thanks to an exciting new generation of filmmakers, but also through the work of more established directors. We wish to engage audiences, especially young people, with New Zealand cinema, creating a dialogue that goes beyond the sheer screening of films. And we hope that this connection will last beyond the festival, truly benefiting both filmmakers and audiences.”

NZIFF 2024 will screen at The Embassy, Roxy Cinema and Light House Cinema Cuba in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (31 July – 11 August), The Civic, Hollywood Avondale and ASB Auckland Waterfront Theatre in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (7 – 18 August), The Regent Theatre in Ōtepoti Dunedin (14 – 25 August), State Cinemas in Whakatū Nelson (14 – 25 August), Lumière Cinemas in Ōtautahi Christchurch (15 August – 1 September), Luxe Cinemas in Tauranga Moana (15 – 28 August), MTG Century Theatre in Ahuriri Napier (21 August – 1 September), LIDO Cinema in Kirikiriroa Hamilton (21 August – 4 September), Len Lye Cinema in Ngāmotu New Plymouth (21 August – 4 September), and Regent 3 in Whakaoriori Masterton (21 August – 4 September).

 

Tickets for Wellington will be on sale from 10am Friday 12 July and tickets for Auckland will be on sale from 10am Friday 19 July, with tickets for all other centres going on sale in late July. Tickets can be booked online at www.nziff.co.nz or in-person at the NZIFF Box Office on Allen Street, Wellington, and at The Civic on Wellesley Street West, Auckland. Keen festival-goers can get advanced booking access and discounts by purchasing multi-passes now from www.shop.nziff.co.nz.

Never Look Away 

Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024

Director: Lucy Lawless 

  

New Zealand-born CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth walks on the razor’s edge between sanity and death. Her first assignment with CNN is to cover the riots that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination in India. She goes on to cover conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and the Bosnian war. In vivid, emotional detail, we see what Moth saw and how she, in turn, changed what we, the television viewer, saw. A rollicking ride through sex, drugs and war, Never Look Away is war as you’ve never seen it before, from a woman’s perspective.

Presented in association with NewstalkZB.

      

Grafted  
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024

Director: Sasha Rainbow   

 

A shy, socially awkward young woman from China with a facial disfigurement moves to New Zealand. Craving acceptance but facing rejection and cruelty at every turn, she wreaks revenge on her bullies in a very unique way – using her own scientific formula, she figures out to create masks out of human skin that graft onto her own face. The catch? She hasn’t figured out how to make them last longer than a few days, resulting in a gruesome murder spree. Sasha Rainbow’s brilliant directorial debut injects new life into Aotearoa New Zealand’s horror film canon.

I Am a Dark River  
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Tess Mitchell

Dubbed “the kumara god” by James K. Baxter, Bob Lowry was, famously, a lot of things. Printmaker, writer, activist, publisher, raconteur – but to Tess Mitchell, he is the mysterious grandfather she grew up hearing so much about but never knew. Does the dark river that ran through him also run through her? Mitchell, herself as unconventional and creative as her grandfather, uses the medium of performance documentary to explore this question, and in doing so reveals the fascinating history of her family.

The House Within  
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Joshua Prendeville 

At 84, Dame Fiona Kidman has published more than 30 books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, and received a raft of the highest accolades here and abroad. As the New Zealand Listener put it, “in her craft and storytelling and in her compassionate, gutsy, tough expression of female experience, she is the best we have.” Filmmaker Joshua Prendeville’s sterling documentary holds a delicate lens to the fascinating life and work of one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s literary treasures.

Head South
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Jonathan Ogilvie 

Christchurch-born filmmaker Jonathan Ogilvie returns home for this evocative coming-of-age story that brilliantly captures the feeling of growing up weird in the Garden City. It’s 1979 and teenage Angus gets his mind blown when he first listens to Public Image Limited at the local record shop. Before long he is drawn into the burgeoning underground post-punk music scene of the city and is forced to back up his fabricated claims of musical ability. Starring Ed Oxenbould, Márton Csókás and featuring Stella Bennett, aka Benee, in her acting debut, Head South will be our opening night film for the Christchurch leg of the Festival. 

 

A Mistake

Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024 
Director: Christine Jeffs

Informed consent. Transparency. Evidence-based care. When sickness or injury strikes, we all want to understand the what, why, and how of our maladies and their proposed treatments. But how do physicians communicate nuance and probabilities when patients and their loved ones crave certainty?  Adapted from Carl Shuker’s Ockham shortlisted novel of the same name, Christine Jeffs’s A Mistake delves into the complexity of our healthcare system, through the lens of an error – at once minor yet with far-reaching implications – in the workday of gifted surgeon Liz Taylor (a finely-tuned performance from Elizabeth Banks). It is difficult to remain detached when consequences become personal. As her steely veneer crumples, we are faced with the question: where does responsibility start and where does it end?

Taki Rua Theatre - Breaking Barriers
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024 
Director: Whetū Fala

After the 1981 Springbok tour, as New Zealanders were embracing a new maturity of valuing their own identity, a group of theatre practitioners took over a space in downtown Wellington. They grew to understand that to truly represent our stories, they needed to be in partnership with Māori, and the New Depot evolved into Taki Rua Depot Theatre, now Taki Rua Productions – a kaupapa Māori theatre company. Director Whetū Fala draws on her personal connection with Taki Rua to both learn from and pay tribute to actors, writers, producers, directors, staff, governors, and te reo Māori advocates who have helped shape Taki Rua over the last 40 years.

The Haka Party Incident
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Katie Wolfe

In 1979, a group of young Māori activists sought to stop Pākehā students at the University of Auckland performing a parody of haka each capping week. Headlines described it as a “gang rampage” with “students bashed”, and several activists were convicted of crimes. But the Haka Party has not been held since. The Haka Party Incident was rescued from historical oblivion by writer and filmmaker Katie Wolfe – originally as a play commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company, first staged in 2021. The film cleverly intertwines interviews from both sides, both recent and from around the time of the incident. Wolfe’s play toured the country last year to great acclaim.

We Were Dangerous
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu

After winning a Special Jury Prize at SXSW 2024, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s electric full-length debut launches our festival with a fiery trio of delinquent schoolgirls railing against the system in 1950s New Zealand. After a failed escape attempt from their strict boarding school, the girls and their cohort of renegades are shipped off to an isolated island. Doom sets in when they catch a glimpse of the dead-of-night discipline being performed against those who act out. We Were Dangerous is a riotous middle finger to colonial tyranny, a fierce feminist anthem with a wicked sense of humour, and a potent portrait of friendship and solidarity.

MariMari
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024 
Director: Paul Wolffram

The observational lens of Kiwi documentary filmmaker Paul Wolffram takes audiences deep into the lushly forested landscapes of Papua New Guinea to hear harrowing first-hand accounts from survivors and perpetrators of accusations of black magic. The beating heart of this hard-nosed investigation is Evelyn Kunda, a human rights worker who has devoted herself entirely to rescuing and protecting those fleeing accusations – cooking for kids living rough, opening her home, and establishing safehouses. The natural beauty of Papua New Guinea is gracefully shot, providing a stunning contrast to the adversity faced by the accused, just as Evelyn’s unflagging compassion (“Marimari” in Tok Pisin) shines brightly through difficult circumstances.

Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024 
Director: Kent Belcher

Even if you’re not a fan of heavy metal, you can’t help but admire Alien Weaponry – if not for their international acclaim, then for being the first band of the genre to sing in te reo Māori. Director Kent Belcher follows Alien Weaponry’s rise to international acclaim, from their first performance at Smokefree Rockquest, to European metal festivals, through to their international headlining concerts, jam-packed with metalheads. Although Alien Weaponry’s success is clearly huge, perhaps what is truly most impressive about them is their commitment to keeping te ao Māori culture alive. 

Night Piece 

Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director: Bridget Sutherland  

Night Piece documents the confronting career of Peter Roche, one of Aotearoa’s most electrifying conceptual artists. From early performances spiked with danger, pushing audience and artist to their limits, to immense neon sculptures that would become permanent parts of Auckland's landscape, the documentary offers intimate insight into the mind and process of an artist who truly lived his art. Affectionately assembled with archive photos and video stretching from the mid-1980s to Peter’s untimely death at 63 in 2020, along with insightful interviews with the artist’s critics, peers, and friends, Night Piece is a warm tribute to the man and an accessible overview of the art – provocative work that demands to live on.

New Zealand’s Best Shorts 2024

The year’s best New Zealand short films as chosen by guest selector, Gerard Johnstone. After twice winning the 48Hours film competition, director Gerard Johnstone used some of his prize money to create a comedy TV pilot. Although the project went nowhere, TV3 went on to screen two seasons of his award-winning comedy The Jaquie Brown Diaries. Johnstone made his feature-length directorial debut in 2014 with haunted house horror-comedy Housebound and went on to reboot the 1980s series Terry and the Gunrunners as Terry Teo in 2016. Johnstone's second feature, killer robot horror M3gan, was released with Blumhouse in 2022. 

The New Zealand’s Best programme in the NZIFF 2024 is:

I See You
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2022
Director, Screenplay: Briar March
A young mother struggles with her toddler’s delayed development until a chance encounter with a charismatic young man changes her mind.

First Horse
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Awanui Simich-Pene
In pre-colonial Aotearoa a young Māori girl witnesses the best and worst of a rapidly changing world when she encounters a dying man and his horse.

Grateful Grapefruit
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor: Sam Handley
A frustrated wife at her wits’ end finds a message in a bottle which leads her into the mysterious world of The Hypnotist, and before long she’s on track to put the glitter back in her grapefruit. 

Rochelle
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director, Screenplay, Editor: Tom Furniss
A brazen young man takes it upon himself to send his friend’s busted up car, Rochelle, out in style by entering it in a local demolition derby, but to get there he needs help from an unexpected source.

Lea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director: Vea Mafile’o
A young speech therapist who has lied about her language skills must find a new way to communicate when she is assigned to an elderly Tongan patient with aphasia who can no longer speak English.

Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2024

This collection of seven Māori and Pasifika short films has been selected by co-curators Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), Director of the Wairoa Film Festival, and Craig Fasi (Niue), Director of Pollywood Film Festival.

Support these homegrown films and vote for your favourites at screenings all across the motu.

My Brother
USA, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Misa Tupou

Health of mind and especially body is often overlooked – Pasifika people are proud, towers of strength, in denial of the unwilling host to illness that they are. Change is choice – quality of life the decision.

Butterfly/Bataplai
USA, 2023
Director, Producer, Screenplay, Editor: Veialu Aila-Unsworth

Unique, distinct, bold and proud – understanding and acknowledgement to own who you are despite the generic prejudice you will encounter. Embrace, enhance, expose – be Butterfly/Bataplai.

The Great South
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Taniora Ormsby 

Sometimes life isn't as black and white as we think it is, sometimes it’s red and blue – the hope in hopeless times is to somehow stay true.

The Red Room
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Alex Liu

Therapy in the form of fantasy located in tomorrow here for you today. Suffering to heal via an “institution” that thrives with failure of the human condition. Stay calm – be prepared – know your enemy.

Show Home
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director: Jane Shearer

The universe can teach if you are willing to learn. Desperation and lack of any contingency creates delusion and false hope. Sacrifice deserves certainty – words like hope and potential are fairytales. 

Hands of Fate
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director: Sima Urale

Not just another night in the city, a tale untold revealed; perhaps helplessness is a disguise. 

Chatterbox
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director: Tainui Tukiwaho

The new Aotearoa Rocky Horror we didn't know we needed explodes on screen. Enjoy the ride, for this story will surely leave you wanting more, more, more!

Short Connections 2024

Five new Aotearoa shorts examine the ways we connect with each other. From strangers uniting to stand up for what is right to fleeting moments of understanding between loved ones, these films deftly capture the bonds - and binds - between us. 

Payback
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Mia Blake

When a welfare department’s insidious prejudice can no longer be tolerated, a group of unlikely heroes band together against a narrow-minded case worker. Made in collaboration with Toi Whakaari, Mia Blake cleverly reflects the state of the nation in this punchy black comedy.

The Sea Inside Her
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director: Alyx Duncan

Award-winning filmmaker and choreographer Alyx Duncan (The Tide Keeper NZIFF 2015) builds on her unique movement-led films depicting an anxious grandmother desperate to protect her grandchild from the dangers of the world. Using performance, puppetry and visual effects, Alyx Duncan paints a fantastical picture of fear and frustration for these fragile times.

Earthlings
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Jamie Lawrence 

A lonely teenager shares a moment of intimacy with a mysterious stranger in this surprising and sensitive film. Jamie Lawrence (Darryl Exists NZIFF 2011) evokes a surreal world that tenderly explores identity, belonging and the desire for connection.

Lost at Sea
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Director, Screenplay: Asuka Sylvie 

A young woman and her friends gather at a beach house one evening to honour the memory of a loved one. Made in collaboration with Toi Whakaari, Asuka Sylvie (Kainga NZIFF 2022) conjures an evocative atmosphere in this poignant and lyrical portrait of grief.

The Lascar
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Director, Screenplay: Adi Parige 

At the end of the eighteenth century, hundreds of Indian sailors, known as lascars, worked in brutal working conditions amongst European seal hunting gangs in Aotearoa. In Adi Parige’s striking coastal epic, one such crew is shaken when a lascar is caught trading with two Māori siblings behind the back of the gang’s tyrannical British leader. 

Notes on Garth Maxwell Shorts

Best known for his cultish debut feature, Jack Be Nimble, as well as prolific work in television across both sides of the Tasman, Garth Maxwell here offers a deeply personal film, co-directed by the late Peter Wells, in Naughty Little Peeptoe. 

An ode to friend, fashionista and foot-fetishist Doug George, Maxwell along with collaborator Debra Daley recorded the caustic, chaotic narration from George, retelling the story of how high heels saved his life. The featurette was recently picked up by MoMA as part of its permanent film collection, with film curator Ron Magliozzi dubbing it a “witty testimony to the durable, liberating spirit of a queer perspective.”

Peeptoe will be preceded by a screening of Maxwell’s first ever film Come With Us, a culmination of a creative childhood friendship between Garth Maxwell and Simon Marler, who grew up in the North Shore suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1960s and 70s. A reading from queer erotic fiction writer, Samuel Te Kani, will follow. 

Naughty Little Peeptoe
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2000
Co-Directors: Garth Maxwell and Peter Wells
Presented in association with Gus Fisher Gallery

Come with Us
Aotearoa New Zealand, 1981
Co-Directors: Garth Maxwell and Simon Marler