Christian Petzold braids desire, artistic insecurity and the looming threat of climate change in his smouldering comedy of manners set over the course of a hot summer holiday on a Baltic coastline beset with forest fires.
Festival Programme
Films — by Genre
- Action
- Animals
- Animation
- Artists
- Award-winners
- Based on Books
- Body and Mind
- Comedy
- Coming of Age
- Crime
- Education
- Environment
- Family Lives
- Fantasy
- Films about Films
- Finding Home
- Historical
- Horror
- Indigenous
- LGBTQIA+
- Love Stories
- Media and the Internet
- Music
- Māori/Pacific
- Photography
- Politics
- Religion
- Sci-Fi
- Stylistic
- Travel
- WTF?
- War Zones
- Writers and Theatre
Award-winners
![Beyond Utopia](/assets/resized/sm/upload/q6/vt/t3/e0/B_Y41TaY-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=ea4ddb4179)
Beyond Utopia
In this astonishing, edge-of-the-seat chronicle, the camera follows audacious, high-risk quests to escape from North Korea, and the man who plans them, with a rare intimacy and emotional power.
![EO](/assets/resized/sm/upload/ol/8n/93/wo/EO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=a178184cd1)
EO
Hi-han
Strap in for an unforgettable, visionary trip, an Oscar-nominated journey that stunned Cannes with its cinematic flair. Your hosts? An octogenarian Polish auteur – and a donkey.
![The Eternal Memory](/assets/resized/sm/upload/5z/ff/wx/k9/HERO_LMI_1-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=5f60575483)
The Eternal Memory
La memoria infinita
Oscar-nominated Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi documents a love story for the ages as a woman struggles to preserve the brilliant mind of her partner of 25 years who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
![Fallen Leaves](/assets/resized/sm/upload/bw/6g/lj/os/HERO_LESFEUILLESMORTES_Photo1_Malla_Hukkanen_c_Sputnik-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=d8d098c039)
Fallen Leaves
Kuolleet lehdet
We close this year’s festival with the most delightful film from Cannes. Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki returns with a deadpan romantic crowdpleaser about two lost souls on a bumpy road to finding each other.
![Holy Spider](/assets/resized/sm/upload/us/yu/7s/gi/HERO_11982-holy-spider-still-2-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=fadde0fd21)
Holy Spider
A profoundly disturbing crime thriller about the so-called Spider Killer who terrorised sex workers in Iran and the lone journalist who strives for justice in a thoroughly misogynistic society.
![How to Have Sex](/assets/resized/sm/upload/zc/my/n2/wx/HERO_HTHS_Still1-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=d217174967)
How to Have Sex
This stunning, neon-drenched debut from cinematographer-turned-director Molly Manning Walker about a trio of British teen girls on a wild booze-fuelled holiday wowed all comers at Cannes.
![Monster](/assets/resized/sm/upload/db/03/ln/33/HERO_KBX7174_4h_S_C_R%20(c)2023%20Monster%20Film%20Committee-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=b417095a41)
Monster
Kaibutsu
Straight from Cannes where its intricately composed script was deservedly awarded, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest is a deeply affecting and morally complex drama told from multiple perspectives.
![On The Adamant](/assets/resized/sm/upload/d9/m8/lq/hs/HERO_ON%20THE%20ADAMANT%20(1)-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=eaaad5c385)
On The Adamant
Sur l'Adamant
Acclaimed French documentarian Nicolas Philibert (To Be and To Have NZIFF 2002) takes us aboard a floating day care centre for adults with mental health challenges in this quietly observed yet unflinching Golden Bear winner.
![Perfect Days](/assets/resized/sm/upload/my/mv/jv/68/HERO_01_perfectdays_koji-yakusho_arisa-nakano_2023-master-mind-ltd-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=ba863779f8)
Perfect Days
Wim Wenders hits the sweet spot with this deceptively simple character study chronicling the daily life of a Tokyo cleaner, which is emotionally resonant in its stunning attention to detail and filmic poetry.
![Radical](/assets/resized/sm/upload/nd/wo/uw/wo/Radical%20-%20Photo%20Credit%20Mateo%20Londono-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=00db9b4694)
Radical
This rousing crowdpleaser starring Eugenio Derbez (CODA) as a Mexican teacher who thinks outside the box picked up the top Audience Award at this year’s Sundance film festival.
![Riceboy Sleeps](/assets/resized/sm/upload/gj/ud/9w/nb/IMG_4137_HEROweb-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=80d3a02e9d)
Riceboy Sleeps
A Korean single mother immigrates to Canada with her young son in the 1990s and must navigate the challenges of motherhood and adapting to a new world in this poignant award-winning coming of age drama.
![Saint Omer](/assets/resized/sm/upload/4c/lc/93/vi/XM0Cy85E-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=853cb421b7)
Saint Omer
Drawing on a tragic true event, this multi-awarded and mesmerising, stately courtroom drama upends notions of race, cultural heritage, class and female agency, and the mythologies and social prejudices underpinning received ideas.