New Zealand International Film Festival 2022

This Thursday, Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2022 officially opens in Ōtepoti Dunedin. The festival will screen an outstanding selection of critically acclaimed films from around the globe, as well as world-class Aotearoa films at Rialto Cinemas Dunedin from 11 August to 21 August.

NZIFF 2022 festivities will commence with the Dunedin premiere of Tearepa Kahi’s action-drama Muru. Starring Cliff Curtis, Tame Iti and Jay Ryan and set against the backdrop of the stunning Tūhoe bush, the film plunges us into one of the most charged episodes of Aotearoa’s history: the Tūhoe raids of October 2007.

Other New Zealand titles audiences can enjoy include the coming-of-age drama Punch, starring Academy-Award nominee Tim Roth, anthology film We Are Still Here, powerful documentaries A Boy Called Piano: The Story of Fa’amoana John Luafutu and Gloriavale, as well as short film competitions Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts and New Zealand’s Best, celebrating the best from local filmmakers around the motu.

Music fans will be delighted with documentaries Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, a film exploring the legendary singer-songwriter’s life through the prism of his most renowned song, and Meet Me in the Bathroom, a thrilling examination of New York’s rambunctious ’00s rock scene. Other documentaries include a tribute to the extraordinary life of American author Kurt Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time and the jaw-dropping documentary Navalny which follows the attempted assassination of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Direct from Cannes Film Festival comes Aftersun, starring Normal People’s breakout star Paul Mescal, David Cronenberg’s sci-fi spellbinder Crimes of the Future, staring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, Queer Palm winner Joyland, a trans love story from first-time Pakistani director Saim Sadiq, and blacker-than-black Norwegian comedy Sick of Myself, directed by Kristoffer Borgli and from the producers of The Worst Person in the World.

Other Cannes highlights include Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave and celebrated French director Mia Hansen-Løve’s enchanting slice-of-life feature One Fine Morning.

Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s eagerly anticipated satire on the mega-rich, Triangle of Sadness will be the festival’s closing night film. A biting attack on the one percent, the film earned Östlund his second Palme d'Or for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year.

For the youngest cinephiles and those young at heart, NZIFF presents curated short film collections Animation NOW and Animation for Kids, as well as the unmissable stop motion delight Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

From the other end of the spectrum, in NZIFF’s Incredibly Strange strand – a collection that promises to burrow into your mind, haunt your waking moments and ward off any chance of a peaceful night’s sleep – comes vacation-from-hell thriller Speak No Evil from Danish director Christian Tafdrup and a double-dose of absurdism from French director Quentin Dupieux with his twisted mind-bender Incredible but True and wacky super hero parody Smoking Causes Coughing direct from Cannes. There truly is something for everyone!

Browse the full programme at nziff.co.nz and pick up a printed programme from Rialto Cinemas. Tickets are on sale now.