Festival Programme

Films by Genre

Women Make Docs

Agent of Happiness

Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó

“Agent of happiness” Amber sets out on a cross-country road trip surveying the satisfaction of the Bhutanese public, as this crowd-pleasing doco questions whether the Himalayan country really is the happiest place on Earth.

Dahomey

Mati Diop

In 2021, 26 plundered artefacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey are returned to the modern day nation of Benin. Mati Diop’s dreamlike documentary skilfully examines the debate surrounding the repatriation of stolen cultural treasures.

The Haka Party Incident

Katie Wolfe

In 1979, group of young Māori and Pasifika activists sought to stop Pākehā students at the University of Auckland performing a parody of haka each capping week. Unfortunately, the consequences for those activists were severe – many were convicted of crimes. Director Katie Wolfe uncovers this largely forgotten event in our history with interviews from both in this resonant and thought-provoking documentary.

The Mother of All Lies

Kadib abyad

Asmae El Moudir

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir enlists her family and friends to help investigate the mysteries of her childhood and her family’s connection to their nation’s troubled past in this multi-award-winning documentary.

Never Look Away

Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless makes her directorial debut with a raucous documentary exploring the life of another warrior princess – fierce and fearless Kiwi war video journalist Margaret Moth.

No Other Land

Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

Filmed in Palestine between 2019 and 2023, No Other Land is a documentary film performing its calling. An urgent and irresistible reminder as to why we choose to understand the world, and others, through cinema.