Tarik Saleh deftly explores the tangled state of modern-day Egypt through his firebrand thriller set in Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the country’s most respected religious teaching institution.
Festival Programme
Films — by Genre
- Animals
- Animation
- Artists
- Award-winners
- Based on Books
- Comedy
- Coming of Age
- Crime
- Documentary
- Environment
- Family Lives
- Fantasy
- Films about Films
- Historical
- Horror
- Human Rights
- Indigenous
- LGBTQIA+
- Love Stories
- Masters
- Migration
- Music
- Māori/Pacific
- Photography
- Politics
- Religion
- Sci-Fi
- Science & Technology
- Sports and Gaming
- Stylistic
- Theatre
- Thriller
- Travel
- WTF?
- War Zones
- Writers
Thriller
![Decision to Leave](/assets/resized/sm/upload/o1/gz/cl/a0/Decision%20to%20Leave-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=9f8118ce06)
Decision to Leave
Heojil kyolshim
Park Chan-wook makes a welcome return to NZIFF with this masterful and seductive romantic thriller about an insomniac detective investigating a mysterious widow oddly unconcerned with her husband’s death.
![Emily the Criminal](/assets/resized/sm/upload/yv/no/r5/ei/_ETC%20Approved%20Main%20Still%20(1)%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=874c394cb0)
Emily the Criminal
An art-school-dropout drowning in student debt, Aubrey Plaza discovers she has a talent for credit card fraud in this gripping Sundance breakout from first-time writer/director John Patton Ford.
![Muru](/assets/resized/sm/upload/nd/kt/1m/vz/_Muru_Final%20Hero_Cliff%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=411a79fb61)
Muru
We are delighted to open this year’s edition with the World Premiere of Tearepa Kahi’s film Muru.
![Navalny](/assets/resized/sm/upload/t3/nn/yp/r5/__ocxm9tkjfUntitled%20LP9%20Still%20copy%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=f0a6b6294a)
Navalny
This staggering, fly-on-the-wall portrait of the charismatic anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, filmed in secret following an assassination attempt on his life, is one of the year’s most electrifying films.
![](/assets/resized/sm/upload/gb/l6/vh/72/_RESURRECTION_Still01%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=559f4aea2a)
Resurrection
Andrew Semans’ deliciously unhinged thriller stars Rebecca Hall as a single mom with a dark secret that threatens to overwhelm her cosy corporate lifestyle.
![Speak No Evil](/assets/resized/sm/upload/1b/wt/ru/ld/_Speak_2000x1157%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=344b4e8a9b)
Speak No Evil
Gæsterne
A weekend getaway becomes a holiday from hell for a Danish family in this mercilessly unnerving horror flick from Danish director Christian Tafdrup.
![The Stranger](/assets/resized/sm/upload/u8/4n/qz/tm/_TS_ir_D4_Sc37_1072_Joel%20Edgerton%20(Mark),%20Sean%20Harris%20(Henry)%20%E2%94%AC%C2%AESee-Saw%20Films%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=dc0299d3d6)
The Stranger
Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris deliver brooding performances as predator becomes prey in up-and-coming director Thomas M. Wright’s dark and intense Australian true crime drama.
![Watcher](/assets/resized/sm/upload/me/7y/oz/wz/_Watcher_4%20HERO-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=f21dbe6961)
Watcher
Director Chloe Okuno and lead actress Maika Monroe bring a fresh femme perspective to this heart-stopping 70s-style psychological thriller dripping with Hitchcockian voyeurism and rampant paranoia.