For our 2015 programme, the lives and musical careers of Amy Winehouse and Mavis Staples take centre stage in two powerful bio-pics. Asif Kapadia’s eagerly anticipated Amy and Jessica Edwards’ Mavis! bring two iconic songstresses to the screen, one a living legend and the other gone too soon.

Fans of The Who will want to add Lambert & Stamp to their must-see list: an entertaining look at the chaotic early days of Britain’s pop opera maestros. And the poetic From Scotland with Love teams archival footage with the stirring folk songs of King Creosote to resounding cinematic effect.

From director Asif Kapadia (Senna) comes Amy, an intimate, overwhelmingly moving tribute to great young British soul singer Amy Winehouse. Her talent and charisma brought her more fame than anyone might be able to handle, and this compelling portrait tells Amy’s story sensitively in all its highs and lows, with contributions from the key people in her life. It’s a seamless weaving of found documentary footage, interviews and the most inspiring and emotional music that Amy brought the world.

“I'll stop singing when I have nothing left to say”, said the great Mavis Staples. “And that's not gonna happen.” The life, music and passionate commitment of the irresistible Mavis Staples are lovingly chronicled in Mavis! A joyful tribute to a living legend, Ms. Staples is both star and consummate storyteller, revealing untold tales of her long life as a woman in music, both on stage and off. Director Jessica Edwards entwines material from the archives with new interviews and plenty of performance to glowing impact - from her youth as a Staples Singer in the Southern gospel circuit through decades of civil revolution and pop hits of the 1970s. Testimonies to Mavis Staples’ massive contribution to American music come from Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Chuck D, Prince, Jeff Tweedy, and more.

A rock n’ roll ride from beginning to end, Lambert & Stamp tells the candid, definitive and hugely entertaining tale of the rise of The Who. Including an astonishing plethora of black and white footage kept by the band’s film-making managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, director James D. Cooper brings together the frivolity and swinging chaos of London in the 1960s, and the world of rock music on the brink of explosion. “This isn’t myth-burnishing hokum… Lambert & Stamp just happens to illuminate the glory and tumult of the band’s rise with unexpected candour.” — Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

A vibrant, kaleidoscopic elegy for 20th century Scotland, From Scotland with Love is a collaboration between ex-pat New Zealand director Virginia Heath and prolific Scottish indie folksinger King Creosote (Kenny Anderson). Rather than use interviews or voiceover, the film pairs archival footage with poetic, original songs that tell stories and embellish a myriad of clips: industry, education, protest, housing, war, rural life, and, most stirringly, parties, parades, celebrations, holidays in the Highlands or at the beach. A stunning vignette depicting Scotland’s heart, it’s impossible to watch the lively throngs in this film without considering how massively the social contract has changed in decades past. “It’s like a new kind of history programme: immersive, lyrical and, in its way, beautiful.” — Mark Braxton, Radio Times

NZIFF programmes will be available in Auckland from Tuesday 23 June, in Wellington from Friday 26 June, in Dunedin from Tuesday 7 July, and in Christchurch from Tuesday 14 July.
NZIFF screens in Auckland from 16 July to 2 August, in Wellington from 24 July to 9 August, in Dunedin from 30 July to 16 August and in Christchurch from 7 to 23 August with other centres to follow.