Even if you’re not a fan of heavy metal, you can’t help but admire Alien Weaponry. If not for their rise to fame on an international scale, then for being the first band of the genre to sing in te reo Māori.
Festival Programme
Films — by Genre
- Action
- Activism
- Americana
- Animals
- Animation
- Art
- Based on Books
- Body and Mind
- Cannes
- Comedy
- Coming of Age
- Crime
- Disability
- Documentary
- Education
- Environment
- Family Ties
- Feminism
- Films about Films
- Food and Beverage
- For All Ages
- Horror
- Human Rights
- Indigenous
- LGBTQIA+
- Love Stories
- Media and the Internet
- Music
- Māori/Pacific
- Politics
- Rebellion
- Refugee and Migrant Stories
- Religion
- Rural Life
- Sci-Fi
- Science & Technology
- Sports and Gaming
- Stylistic
- Theatre
- Thriller
- Travel
- WTF?
- War Zones
- Women Make Docs
- Women Make Features
- Youth
Activism
Black Box Diaries
Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.
Green Border
Zielona granica
Brutal, enraging and heartrending, Polish writer-director Agnieszka Holland’s controversial take on the Polish-Belarusian border crisis serves as a startling call to arms in the face of a little-seen humanitarian crisis.
The Haka Party Incident
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.
Marimari
Paul Wolffram’s urgent documentary takes us into the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea and one indigenous woman’s fight against the insidious influence of sanguma – sorcery violence.
Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
Defying the traditional rock ’n’ roll narrative, this is the story of how a young Australian hard rock band developed a political conscience and brought their audience along with them.
No Other Land
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.
Seeking Mavis Beacon
The first thing you should know is that Mavis Beacon doesn’t exist. This bright and fresh Generation Z-skewing documentary takes the viewer on a whirlwind cyber-journey to the ’90s and back.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
An intimate look at the man behind the cape, Super/Man charts actor Christopher Reeve’s journey from super-stardom to near-death injury and the difficult road to embracing a different kind of heroics.