Kāinga

Whale Rider(en)

On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

In My Father's Den(en)

Paul (Macfadyen), a prize-winning war journalist, returns to his remote New Zealand hometown due to the death of his father, battle-scarred and world-weary. For the discontented sixteen-year-old Celia (Barclay) he opens up a world she has only dreamed of. She actively pursues a friendship with him, fascinated by his cynicism and experience of the world beyond her small-town existence. But many, including the members of both their families (Otto, Moy), frown upon the friendship and when Celia goes missing, Paul becomes the increasingly loathed and persecuted prime suspect in her disappearance. As the violent and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the family tragedy and betrayal that he ran from as a youth, and to face the grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his entire adult life.

Games of Love and Chance(fr)

A group of teenagers living in a housing project in the outskirts of Paris rehearse a scene from Marivaux's play of the same name. Krimo is determined not to take part, but after developing feelings for Lydia, he quickly assumes the main role and love interest in the play.

Angel Mine(en)

A young and affluent couple become fatally entangled in their own wish-fulfillment world.

Birdsong(en)

Amidst moving homes, a superstitious Indian American girl struggles to bury her pet bird in fear of it haunting her.

The Silence(it)

Fatma and her mother are Kurdish refugees living in Italy. One day at the hospital, Fatma learns her mother has breast cancer.

The Garden Left Behind(en)

Traces the relationship between Tina, a young Mexican trans woman, and Eliana, her grandmother, as they navigate Tina's transition and struggle to build a life for themselves as undocumented immigrants in New York City.

The World's Fastest Indian(en)

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle—a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

Assumptions(en)

According to Emma Pine (direction), Assumptions is a short film focusing on a young female point of view and her emotional behaviour. It aims to showcase the standards set for all women regarding appearance, emotion and attitude in everyday environments which ultimately condition them and the way they express themselves.

Shook(en)

After a run-in with his estranged father, aspiring writer Ashish or "Ash" learns a secret that will force him to balance family, love and success while navigating the divide between the exciting city life he wants and his suburban reality.

House of Sand and Fog(en)

Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an unfair legal dispute with the county, she is left with nowhere to go. Wanting her house back, she hires a lawyer and befriends a police officer. Neither Kathy nor Behrani have broken the law, so they find themselves involved in a difficult moral dilemma.

Aftershock(en)

Aftershock follows four groups of people in the minutes, hours and days after Wellington is struck by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Buried office workers must pull together. Strangers, caught by the tsunami on a ruined motorway, put themselves in danger to save others. A mother must reunite her family. And, at the centre of the rescue operation, a controller is bunkered down at Wellington’s Emergency Management Office.

Jean(en)

The true story of Jean Batten is of a daughter determined to live up to a powerful mother, desperate to leave a mark on the world – and prepared to go to the ends of the earth to do so. This is the story of JEAN.

Atali'i O Le Crezent (Sons of the Crezent)(en)

Crimson Romance(en)

After Fred von Bergen, a German immigrant in America, is forced from his job by anti-German hysteria before the first world war, he and his friend Bob Wilson leave America and join the German air force. There, both men fall in love with ambulance driver Alida Hoffman. When America enters the war, Bob is caught between loyalty to his home country and the threat of execution for desertion and treason to Germany. It remains for his friend Fred to extricate him from the dilemma - but at what cost?

Beautiful Boxer(th)

Based on the real life story of Parinya Charoenphol, a Muaythai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman.

EFC(en)

Riding off the heels of her sister Scarlett’s championship legacy, Cassady Jones is now the EFC Champion and the new face of women’s mixed martial arts. Alexa Star begins to rise quickly through the ranks with fervor to become the number one contender for the EFC championship. With ripples of excitement and anticipation, Cassady and Alexa collide for the first time only to find themselves in a melee that shocks the entire sports world, while leaving EFC in the most tumultuous period of its history. As Donna and Nikki fight to keep the floundering EFC alive, majority shareholder Frank Russo recruits John David for one last strike at liquidating and selling off the assets of the company while dissolving the only women’s mixed martial arts promotion in the country. With the future of the company at stake, the fight for EFC isn’t just another fight, it’s the fight for everything.

First Cow(en)

In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow – the first, and only, in the territory.

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?(en)

Five years have passed and Jake has turned his back on his family. He's still up to his usual tricks in McClutchy's Bar, unaware, as he downs his latest opponent, that his eldest son, Nig, has died in a gang fight. The uncomfortable family reunion at Nig's funeral sparks a confrontation with second son, Sonny, and sets Jake and Sonny on a downward spiral.

Two Loves(en)

American-born Anna Vorontosov teaches school in a remote, primitive section of northern New Zealand. Her experimental teaching methods have won her the love and affection of her pupils and their parents and the admiration of the unhappily married school inspector, Abercrombie. Her personal life, however, is less secure; frightened of love and sexually inhibited, she has always been aloof with men. Eager to break down this barrier is Englishman Paul Lathrope, a somewhat irrational and immature fellow teacher who aspires to be a singer. Though Anna is attracted to him, she refuses to submit to his advances.