New Zealand International Film Festival 2019
All the films that were screened in Auckland
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161 titles
- DirectorNicolas BedosStarsDaniel AuteuilGuillaume CanetDoria TillierVictor, a disillusioned 60-something whose marriage is on the rocks, opts to relive the week of his life when, 40 years earlier, he met his true love through a company that allows customers to return to the time period of their choosing.Opening Night
- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsNoémie MerlantAdèle HaenelLuàna BajramiOn an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.Centrepiece
- DirectorTearepa KahiStarsAnnie CrummerDave DobbynSpencer FusimalohiDirector Tearepa Kahi's follow-up to the infectious Poi E is a rousing celebration of Pacific reggae legends Herbs, the band's members and its action as an inspiring musical front for social rights and harmony.Closing Night
World Premiere - DirectorAlan ElliottSydney PollackStarsAretha FranklinJames ClevelandAlexander HamiltonA documentary presenting Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972.Special Presentation
- DirectorJuliano DornellesKleber Mendonça FilhoStarsBárbara ColenThomas AquinoSilvero PereiraAfter the death of her grandmother, Teresa comes home to her matriarchal village in a near-future Brazil to find a succession of sinister events that mobilizes all of its residents.Special Presentation
- DirectorAnt TimpsonStarsElijah WoodStephen McHattieGarfield WilsonA man in his thirties travels to a remote cabin to reconnect with his estranged father.Special Presentation
- DirectorLulu WangStarsShuzhen ZhaoAwkwafinaX MayoA Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.Special Presentation
- DirectorKen LoachStarsKris HitchenDebbie HoneywoodRhys McgowanHoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of this modern-day form of labour exploitation.Special Presentation
- DirectorAlex HolmesStarsFrank BoughJohn ChittendenBruno Du BoisThe story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, who became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.Special Presentation
- DirectorCorneliu PorumboiuStarsVlad IvanovCatrinel MarlonRodica LazarNot everything is as it seems for Cristi, a policeman who plays both sides of the law. Embarking with the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist, both will have to navigate the twists and turns of corruption, treachery and deception.Special Presentation
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJune TrippIvor NovelloMarie AultA landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.Auckland Philharmonia Live Cinema
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.Retro
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsDennis PriceAlec GuinnessValerie HobsonA distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.Retro
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Apocalypse Now: Final Cut
Retro - DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsEdward AsnerPat BenatarJerry BrownA collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.Retro
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsLucien BossyLeance DebrossianMarcelle DebrossianPortraits of the people that occupy the small shops of the Rue Daguerre, Paris, where the filmmaker lived.Vive la Varda!
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsPhilippe MaronEdouard JoubeaudLaurent MonnierA boy growing up in Nantes during World War II around his father's auto shop has a love for puppet shows and cinema and develops it into his own art. Jacques Demy, the artist at the end of his life, reflects on his childhood influences.Vive la Varda!
- StarsAgnès VardaSandrine BonnaireHervé ChandèsAgnès Varda, photographer, installation artist and pioneer of the Nouvelle Vague, is an institution of French cinema. Taking a seat on a theatre stage, she uses photos and film excerpts to provide an insight into her unorthodox oeuvre.Vive la Varda!
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsJean-Claude DrouotMarie-France BoyerMarcelle Faure-BertinFrançois, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children. One day he meets Emilie, a clerk in the local post office.Vive la Varda!
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsSandrine BonnaireMacha MérilStéphane FreissA young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.Vive la Varda!
- DirectorMark Albiston
- DirectorBeatrice JoblinStarsAriadne BaltazarPaul BarrettTerry BindingOne family. One weekend. One hell of a home video. Births, Deaths and Marriages is a slice of life kiwi comedy about life, death and everything in between.
- DirectorHamish BennettStarsMarshall NapierAnnie WhittleKahukura RetimanaIn the wake of the loss of his beloved wife, a rural community rallies around a farmer to help him deal with his grief.
- DirectorJustin PembertonStarsMichael DouglasVanessa RedgraveRonald ReaganBased on Thomas Piketty's No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century explores one of the most important and controversial subjects of our time: wealth, and who gets a share of the dividends.
- DirectorVea Mafile'oJeremiah TauamitiStarsCrown Prince Tupouto'a 'UlukalalaElizabeth Mafile'oEmil Mafile'oDirector Vea Mafile'o creates a portrait of her father to better understand why he still tithes every cent possible back to his home church on the island of Tonga, exploring his culture and her roots along the way.
- DirectorSimon ColdrickCharlotte PurdyChristopher DudmanStarsLiam DixonRobert HannahDom LloydSport and politics most definitely do mix in this gripping look back at a brutal and turbulent time for New Zealand rugby, told from the point of view of the players themselves including David Kirk and Buck Shelford.World Premiere
- World Premiere
- DirectorPaloma SchneidemanStarsAlison BruceAndrew FosterA married middle-aged couple is shopping for a new bed, only to discover that their bed is not the only thing they have outgrown. Paloma Schneideman delivers an all too recognisable portrait of a fading relationship.Short Connections
- DirectorArmagan BallantyneStarsMarshayla ChristieAnthony CrumConan HayesShort Connections
- DirectorKeely MeechanStarsWilson DownesTaungaroa EmileBrady PeetiA young man's relationship with his straight boyfriend, his awkward dad and his burning desire to be a drag queen.New Zealand's Best 2019
Winner of the Creative New Zealand Emerging Talent Award - DirectorPrisca BouchetNick MayowA collector reveals the story behind his lifelong obsession.New Zealand's Best 2019
Winner of the Madman Entertainment Jury Prize - DirectorAlex PlumbStarsVictoria AbbottJarred BlakistonAmber-Rose HenshallA day in the life of a young man with a desire to be noticed.New Zealand's Best 2019
- DirectorBecs ArahangaStarsKahumako RamekaMere BoyntonAporonia ArahangaOn the day she gets her first menses, Hinekura is initiated into adulthood with ceremony and blessings. She's taken to a wananga where her role within the tribe is revealed to her.New Zealand's Best 2019
Winner of the Auckland Live Spirit of the Civic Award and the 2019 Audience Choice Award - DirectorJosephine Stewart-Te WhiuStarsIsabella EvansMaaka Pohatu9-year-old Ani drifts into a land of play and make believe after her mother runs out on the family - leaving Ani and her father to fend for themselves.Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2019
- DirectorJeremiah TauamitiStarsPeter HaydenUelese PetaiaBenjamin TamanikaiyaroiAn ambitious court interpreter risks everything when a wrongfully imprisoned Chief fights to get back to her stranded grandchildren.Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2019
- DirectorJessica SandersonStarsTroy KingiJodie HillockAwhina-Rose AshbyA young Maori girl tries to reconnect with her absent father. A beautiful woman, mysterious and otherworldly, comes for a visit.Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2019
- DirectorShahrbanoo SadatStarsKaran Jeet SinghQodratEshanullah KharotiA 15-year-old ticket scalper in Kabul dreams of Bollywood until the Soviets force him into a state facility.
- DirectorBen HackworthStarsRadha MitchellThomas CocquerelNadine GarnerCeleste is a love story set in the tropical splendor of far north Queensland. It is a story of a family falling apart coming together again and their last chance to keep a decaying world alive. Celeste is a renowned opera diva who retired early for the man she loved to live on a crumbling and beautiful estate in the heart of a rainforest in Far North Queensland. Ten years after the tragic death of her husband Celeste is set to return to the stage for her final performance. Her stepson Jack, still haunted by the past, arrives amidst the preparations for the performance and finds Celeste is as he remembered. Celeste wants Jack to stay at the estate, but needs him to perform one last request. Celeste is set in a bohemian world of opera and showcases a stunning and unseen part of the world.
- DirectorMariano LlinásStarsElisa CarricajoValeria CorreaPilar GamboaA film in six episodes, connected by the same four actresses, full of various subplots that play with narrative and different cinematic genres , everything structured in an unusual way.
- DirectorKriv StendersStarsTravis FimmelToby BlomeAlexander EnglandIn August 1966, in a Vietnamese rubber plantation called Long Tan, 108 young and inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers are fighting for their lives against 2500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers.Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
- DirectorKarim AïnouzStarsJulia StocklerCarol DuarteFlávia GusmãoIn 1950s Rio de Janeiro, two sisters live restricted lives with their conservative parents. After they are separated and forced to live apart, they take control of their destinies, while never giving up hope of finding one another.The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão
- DirectorAna KatzStarsMercedes MoránGustavo GarzónManuela Martínez MoránA recently separated Argentinian couple, along with their two teenage children, go on a family vacation to Florianópolis, Brazil, where they become delightfully and problematically involved with the family from whom they rent a house.
- DirectorPhilippe LesageStarsNoée AbitaThéodore PellerinPier-Luc FunkThree teenagers are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. At a time when others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.
- DirectorBi GanStarsTang WeiJue HuangSylvia ChangA man went back to Guizhou, found the tracks of a mysterious woman. He recalls the summer he spent with her twenty years ago.
- DirectorYi'nan DiaoStarsGe HuGwei Lun-MeiFan LiaoA gangster on the run sacrifices everything for his family and a woman he meets while on the lam.
- DirectorFrançois OzonStarsMelvil PoupaudDenis MénochetSwann ArlaudThree men, abused by the same priest during their childhood, engage in a fight for justice that will expose their personal experiences and question their life with their wife, family, and colleagues.
- DirectorLadj LyStarsDamien BonnardAlexis ManentiDjebril ZongaA cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm.
- DirectorOlivier AssayasStarsGuillaume CanetJuliette BinocheVincent MacaigneSet in the Parisian publishing world, an editor and an author find themselves in over their heads, as they cope with a middle-age crisis, the changing industry and their wives.
- DirectorJustine TrietStarsVirginie EfiraAdèle ExarchopoulosGaspard UllielA jaded psychotherapist returns to her first passion of becoming a writer. However, her life is complicated by a desperate film actress who wants her help, and who draws her into a world of questionable ethics.
- DirectorSafy NebbouStarsJuliette BinocheNicole GarciaFrançois CivilClaire, a 50-year-old divorced teacher, creates a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman to catfish Alex, the roommate of her former lover, Ludo.
- DirectorHlynur PálmasonStarsIngvar SigurdssonÍda Mekkín HlynsdóttirHilmir Snær GuðnasonAn off duty police begins to suspect a local man for having had an affair with his recently dead wife. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones.
- DirectorRitesh BatraStarsNawazuddin SiddiquiSanya MalhotraSachin KhedekarA struggling street photographer in Mumbai, pressured to marry by his grandmother, convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée. The pair develop a connection that transforms them in ways they could not expect.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsToni ServilloElena Sofia RicciRiccardo ScamarcioAn escort-service owner uses his girls to get close to politician/PM and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, but in 2006 he's preoccupied with his shaky marriage and losing an election.
- DirectorMaryam TouzaniStarsLubna AzabalNisrin ErradiDouae BelkhaoudaAbla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter, Warda. When Samia, a young pregnant woman, knocks on their door, Abla is far from imagining that her life will change forever.
- DirectorElia SuleimanStarsElia SuleimanTarik KoptyKareem GhneimFilmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsJames NortonVanessa KirbyPeter SarsgaardA Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.
- DirectorEmir BaigazinStarsZhalgas KlanovZhasulan UserbayevRuslan UserbayevA portrait of five brothers living on a farm on the Kazakh plains, where the sudden intrusion of the modern world brings corruption, temptation and deceit.
- DirectorZahir OmarStarsBront PalaraeJack TanFabian LooA Taxi driver uses his service as a front for an extortion racket, and when his younger brother's impulsive behaviour brings the cops and the triad to his doorstep, he stops at nothing to protect all who matter to him.
- DirectorAdrian NobleStarsVanessa RedgraveTimothy SpallWendy MorganA portrait of the artist L.S. Lowry and the relationship with his mother, who tries to dissuade him from pursuing his passion.
- DirectorRodrigo SorogoyenStarsAntonio de la TorreMónica LópezJosep Maria PouA Spanish politician whose high-class lifestyle is based on nefarious and illegal business threatens to break his entire party after a newspaper exposes him to the public eye.The Realm
- DirectorLee Won-taeStarsMa Dong-seokJeon Bae-sooKim Mu-yeolA crime boss teams up with a cop to track down a serial killer.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsRobert PattinsonJuliette BinocheAndré 3000A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.
- DirectorPeter StricklandStarsSidse Babett KnudsenMarianne Jean-BaptisteJulian BarrattIn Fabric is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsRory KinnearMaxine PeakeNeil BellThe story of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre in which British forces attacked a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Manchester.
- DirectorJake ScottStarsSienna MillerSky FerreiraKentucker AudleyA woman raises her young grandson after her daughter goes missing.
- DirectorRiley StearnsStarsJesse EisenbergAlessandro NivolaImogen PootsAfter being attacked on the street, a young man enlists at a local dojo, led by a charismatic and mysterious sensei, in an effort to learn how to defend himself from future threats.
- DirectorPaul Downs ColaizzoStarsJillian BellJennifer DundasPatch DarraghA young woman decides to make positive changes in her life by training for the New York City Marathon.
- DirectorDavid Robert MitchellStarsAndrew GarfieldRiley KeoughTopher GraceSam, a disenchanted young man, finds a mysterious woman swimming in his apartment's pool one night. The next morning, she disappears. Sam sets off across LA to find her, and along the way he uncovers a conspiracy far more bizarre.
- DirectorMarkus SchleinzerStarsMakita SambaAlba RohrwacherLarisa FaberIn early 18th century an African slave boy is chosen by a European Comtesse to be baptized and educated. Reaching adulthood, Angelo achieves prominence and becomes the Viennese court mascot until he decides to secretly marry a white woman.
- DirectorPella KagermanHugo LiljaStarsEmelie GarbersBianca CruzeiroArvin KananianA spaceship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe.
- DirectorSophie HydeStarsHolliday GraingerAlia ShawkatAmy MolloyBest friends Laura and Tyler fellow deviants, enablers and co-dependents. Laura is getting married and their booze and drug-fuelled Thelma and Louise life is in jeopardy and finds herself suspended between the two unable to give either up.
- DirectorBrian WelshStarsCristian OrtegaLorn MacdonaldLaura FraserTwo teenage boys in Scotland in 1994, best friends with no control over their lives, risk everything to attend an illegal rave, hoping for the best night of their boring lives.
- DirectorDarya ZhukStarsAlina NasibullinaIvan MulinYura BorisovIn 1990s Belarus, a wanderlust young DJ is derailed by a typo in a forged US Visa application, forcing her to a backwater village where she is determined to fake her way to the American dream.
- DirectorChristopher MorrisStarsAndrel McPhersonMiles RobbinsMarchánt DavisAn impoverished preacher who brings hope to the Miami projects is offered cash to save his family from eviction. He has no idea his sponsor works for the FBI who plan to turn him into a criminal by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams.
- DirectorÓliver LaxeStarsAmador AriasBenedicta SánchezInazio AbraoAmador returns home to his aging mother after serving a sentence for arson. He tries to adapt to daily farm life and coping with the villagers' memories of his past actions.
- DirectorTeona Strugar MitevskaStarsZorica NushevaLabina MitevskaStefan VujisicA Macedonian woman throws herself into a traditionally men-only ceremony, kicking up a ruckus and standing her ground.
- DirectorMirrah FoulkesStarsDaisy AxonDon BridgesMichael PapasSeaside (nowhere near the sea), puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show in an an anarchic town on the brink of mob rule.
- DirectorFranco LolliStarsAntonio MartinezAlejandra SarriaDavid RoaA single mother balances taking care of her mother during her fight with cancer while dealing with a corruption scandal at work.
- DirectorPhuttiphong AroonphengStarsAphisit HamaWanlop RungkumjadRasmee WayranaNear a coastal village of Thailand, by the sea where thousands of Rohingya refugees have drowned, a local fisherman finds an injured man lying unconscious in the forest. He rescues the stranger, who does not speak a word, offers him his friendship and names him Thongchai. But when the fisherman suddenly disappears at sea, Thongchai slowly begins to take over his friend's life - his house, his job and his ex-wife.
- DirectorJonah HillStarsSunny SuljicKatherine WaterstonLucas HedgesFollows Stevie, a thirteen-year-old in 1990s-era Los Angeles who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.
- DirectorAlejandro LandesStarsSofia BuenaventuraJulián GiraldoKaren QuinteroOn a remote mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
- DirectorMidi ZStarsKe-Xi WuVivian SungKimi HsiaNina Wu, a girl who leaves small theatre company in the country for the big city in pursuit of her actress dream. The wait seems to be endless, as she lives a lonely and repressed life combined with hereditary condition, she suffers from minor depression. One day, she gets a role as a heroine in a 70s espionage film. Having decided to devote herself completely to the character, she did everything she could to get the role and she did succeed. When she finally welcomes her long anticipation of fame, series of unfortunate events and threats start to haunt her. Having to struggle her way through gender and sexuality equality, can Nina, like many other minor individual fight against the odds in life and stand undefeated? Or is it just real life that no one can escape from endless hardships?
- DirectorRichard BillinghamStarsPatrick RomerRichard AshtonJustin SalingerPhotographer Richard Billingham returns to the squalid council flat outside of Birmingham where he and his brother were raised, in a confrontation and reconciliation with parents Ray and Liz.
- DirectorDanielle LessovitzStarsFionn WhiteheadLeyna BloomMcCaul LombardiPaul must confront his white boy realness after arriving in New York and getting involved with explosively divisive groups: the queer ballroom scene and some straight debt collectors, while falling in love with a trans woman.
- DirectorMelina LeónStarsPamela MendozaTommy PárragaLucio RojasGeorgina's newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where she meets a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation.
- DirectorVictoria HuntA dancer enters the liminal spaces between history and emotion to retell the story of her ancestral Maori meeting house Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito.Screening with Song Without a Name
- DirectorEna SendijarevicStarsSara Luna ZoricLazar DragojevicErnad PrnjavoracOn the edge of adulthood, Alma leaves her mother's home in the Netherlands and travels to her native Bosnia to visit the father she's never met. But from the start, nothing goes as planned.
- DirectorMilorad KrsticStarsIván KamarásCsaba MártonGabriella HámoriFour expert thieves attempt to steal every famous artwork that is haunting their mutual psychotherapist. A detective attempts to find out who the "Collector" is.
- DirectorMichal AviadStarsLiron Ben-ShlushMenashe NoyOshri CohenLife at work becomes unbearable for Orna. Her boss appreciates and promotes her, while making inappropriate advances. Her husband struggles to keep his new restaurant afloat, and Orna becomes the main breadwinner for their three children. When her world is finally shattered, she must pull herself together to fight, in her own way, for her job and a sense of self-worth.
- DirectorAsh MayfairStarsHong Chuong NguyenLong Le VuNu Yên-Khê TranIn 19th century rural Vietnam, May is ready to become the third wife of a wealthy landowner. Little does she know that her hidden desires will force her to decide between living in safety and being free.
- DirectorMakoto NagahisaStarsKeita NinomiyaMondo OkumuraSatoshi MizunoFour orphans meet at a funeral home and none of them are sad about the recent deaths of their parents. They decide to become friends and live on their own.
- DirectorYoshiyuki MomoseAkihiko YamashitaHiromasa YonebayashiStarsAlex CazaresJessica DiCiccoScarlett EstevezAn anthology of three original shorts written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiyuki Momose and Akihiko Yamashita.
- DirectorAyumu WatanabeStarsMana AshidaHiiro IshibashiSeishû UragamiA young girl is drawn into a mystery involving sealife around the world, in which two mysterious boys are somehow involved.
- DirectorMichel OcelotStarsPrunelle Charles-AmbronEnzo RatsitoNatalie DessayIn Belle Époque Paris, accompanied by a young scooter deliveryman, little Kanak Dilili investigates mysterious kidnappings of girls.
- DirectorLaura NixStarsMaya AjmeraAlmaNuha AnfaresiPassionate teenage innovators from around the globe who are creating cutting-edge solutions to confront the world's environmental threats.
- DirectorLamiaa DiabHend EsmatStarsGinny AdamsNeil FowlerJenny RobinsonFLIPPED explores the absurdity of a world where the roles of kids and adults are switched. The story follows a day full of bizarrely reversed interactions, unravelling the dynamics of this relationship, tackling topics about maturity and parenting in a comic way.Animation for Kids 4+
- DirectorNils HedingerA tadpole somehow misses out on becoming a frog and is left behind, alone. But there is much to discover in the pond and spring is sure to come again next year. A little story about growing up.Animation for Kids 4+
- DirectorNatalia GrofpelAnimation for Kids 4+
- DirectorSteven de BeulBen TesseurThe hectic life of Mister Paper who sleeps soundly every night.Mister Paper Goes Out for a Walk
Animation for Kids 4+