Supplementing our main venue, Event Cinemas New Plymouth, NZIFF 2015 will host screenings at the recently opened Len Lye Centre – the latest addition to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. The 62-seat cinema at the Len Lye Centre will host 13 films in this year’s programme.

The full NZIFF programme is now available online, with printed programmes arriving throughout New Plymouth and at the venues in the coming days. NZIFF will open on Thursday 3 September with a screening of The Mafia Kills Only in Summer at 6.00pm at Event Cinemas.

This year’s Centrepiece screening is The Assassin, a beautiful foray into historical martial arts territory from Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien. The film won the Best Director Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

International documentary highlights include Asif Kapadia’s acclaimed Amy, a compelling portrait that tells Amy Winehouse’s story sensitively in all its highs and lows; Jennifer Peedom’s spectacular Sherpa captures the 2014 climbing season on Everest from the point of view of Sherpa Phurba Tashi, including the tragic avalanche and its aftermath; and The Wolfpack delves into the bizarrely sheltered lives of six brothers who were confined since birth to the tiny rooms of their Lower East Side apartment.

Aotearoa’s filmmakers have also delivered some striking additions to the programme.

Ever the Land and The Price of Peace are two strong documentaries marking the Crown Settlement with Tuhoe; Crossing Rachmaninoff is a winning portrait of Italian-born Auckland concert pianist Flavio Villani; The Art of Recovery celebrates the creative spirits that have brought life and community back to Christchurch; and three inspirational New Zealand artists are intimately portrayed in the documentaries Michael Smither: Prints, Philip Dadson: Sonics From Scratch, and Tom Who? The Enigma of Tom Kreisler.

The Lobster is a surreal English-language fable set in a world where singles are forced to couple up or be turned into animals. The Cannes 2015 Jury Prize winner will close NZIFF on Sunday 20 September.

NZIFF in New Plymouth screens from 3 September to 20 September.