I am on this planet to be entertained, so my selection of NZIFF18 titles are all this: great stories told with skill, or cinematic experiences that I will enjoy as mind echos for years to come. I enjoy a good scare, honest & real love stories and documentaries that help make sense of this messy life.
Films — by Collection
- Letterboxd
- Newshub: The 12 Most Exciting Films at NZIFF
- Staff Picks: Alice Vilardel
- Staff Picks: Ant Timpson
- Staff Picks: Bex Shannon
- Staff Picks: Bill Gosden
- Staff Picks: Camila Araos-Elevancini
- Staff Picks: Ina Kinski
- Staff Picks: Jane Simons
- Staff Picks: Jean Teng
- Staff Picks: Kailey Carruthers
- Staff Picks: Karen Cartwright
- Staff Picks: Liam Reid
- Staff Picks: Matt Wilshere
- Staff Picks: Megan Andrews
- Staff Picks: Michael McDonnell
- Staff Picks: Nick Paris
- Staff Picks: Rebecca McMillan
- Staff Picks: Sally Woodfield
- Staff Picks: Sandra Reid
- Staff Picks: Sharon Byrne
- Staff Picks: Tim Wong
- Staff Picks: Zoe Pattinson Fan
- Wellington Film Society
Staff Picks: Ina Kinski
American Animals
Rising stars Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and Evan Peters (American Horror Story) lead this enthralling true-crime thriller that is as thematically probing as it is straight-up propulsive.
Terrified
Aterrados
In a quiet suburban Buenos Aires street, three investigators dare to set foot in the most terrifying house imaginable. A top-drawer paranormal shocker from Argentinian scare maestro Demián Rugna.
In the Realm of Perfection
L’Empire de la perfection
The archival footage in this strange and striking doco-biopic documenting tennis hothead John McEnroe’s record-breaking 1984 season has lost none of its power to rattle and rouse.
3 Faces
Se rokh
“Charming Iranian cinema at its purest… Once more defying a filmmaking ban, Iranian director Jafar Panahi sounds the depths of traditional values in a road movie with actress Behnaz Jafari.” — Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter
Angie
Angie Meiklejohn, prominent and articulate Centrepoint survivor, is joined by her siblings in this lucid exploration of the legacy of sexual abuse, directed without a hint of sensationalism by Costa Botes.
Mega Time Squad
Writer/director Tim van Dammen’s follow-up to the trailer trash romance Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song is a wild smash-up of parochial Kiwi comedy and mind-bending time travel crime-thriller.
Apostasy
Himself a former Jehovah’s Witness, writer/director Daniel Kokotajlo provides an insider’s critique in this dramatic tale of mother and daughter torn between faith and instinct.
Holiday
In this shimmering, controversy-stoking debut from Danish director Isabella Eklöf a gangster’s trophy girlfriend puts her body on the line for an Aegean holiday, bling, boats – and maybe a hand on the tiller.
Orlando
Tilda Swinton strides through four centuries of history, switching genders as she goes, in Sally Potter’s gorgeous, playful subversion of British Heritage cinema. With Billy Zane, and Quentin Crisp as Elizabeth I.
Wings of Desire
Der Himmel über Berlin
Two angels watch over a divided Berlin in Wim Wenders’ visually astonishing city symphony from 1987 – restored 30 years later, under his direction, to look and sound better than ever in this glorious 4K presentation.
Birds of Passage
Pájaros de verano
The ancient traditions of Colombia’s indigenous Wayuu are shaped by an ambitious matriarch to stake a place for her clan in the burgeoning drug economy of the 1970s.
Pick of the Litter
“Puppies rule in Dana Nachman and Don Hardy’s seriously cute account of the breeding and training program that prepares service dogs to become guides for the visually impaired.” — Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter