Arman, a 33-year-old Parisian slacker (and self-deprecating livewire), is out running when he collides with the stunning, oddly impassive Amelie. There’s a seductive undertow of gravity to this engagingly self-aware romcom.

Filling the giant screen with stunning time-lapse vistas of Antarctica, and detailing year-round life at McMurdo and Scott Base, Anthony Powell’s documentary is a potent hymn to the icy continent and the heavens above.

Soprano Natalie Dessay, acclaimed for her dramatic brilliance, rehearses La Traviata in intense creative collaboration with director Jean-Franois Sivadier. “Ravishing... Time with Dessay is worth treasuring.” — Village Voice

Michael Douglas becomes a glittering colossus of kitsch as Liberace, the most flamboyantly gay, closeted entertainer in Las Vegas, while Matt Damon is achingly right as the young hunk who became his companion in the late 70s.

Direct from Cannes. Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) delivers a coolly satirical take on the true story of Californian rich kids who found media fame breaking into the houses of celebrities. With Emma Watson.

This is a short synopsis

“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here. This is the War Room.”

In Paolo Sorrentino’s intoxicating cinematic fresco of contemporary Rome, Toni Servillo plays Jep, a long-stalled writer and wealthy bon vivant whom we first meet turning 65 in grand style. A visit from the widower of an old girlfriend provokes unexpected invigoration of his dormant creative instincts.

Joss Whedon and a cast of his TV regulars breathe fresh life into Shakespeare’s comedy of romantic gamesmanship. “The first great contemporary Shakespeare since Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.” — The Guardian

NZIFF’s only cash-prize competition section sets out to identify and reward the year’s best local shorts. Sample the best of homegrown talent as we line up the six finalists guest-selected by filmmaker Alison Maclean.

The year’s most tantalising cinematic whatsit from writer/director/editor/composer/star Shane Carruth (Primer). “An out-there yet undeniably gripping tale that's part romance, part sci-fi and utterly original.” — LA Times

Kiwi-born Daniel Joseph Borgman returns to NZ, after a string of successful Danish shorts, with this piercing insight into the world of children, centred on a lonely, imaginative 11-year-old boy’s search for friendship.