FEBRUARY
15 FEB
Black Lives Matter
Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee | 1989
120 mins | USA | M
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
22 FEB
Classics
The Seduction of Mimi
Lina Wertmüller | 1972
108 mins | Italy | R18
Sicilian labourer Mimi falls foul of the Mafia and loses his job. He leaves his wife to flee to Turin and an affair with a lovely Trotskyist.
MARCH
01 MAR
Festival Faves
Brimstone and Glory
Viktor Jakovleski | 2017
67 mins | Mexico/USA | PG
Dazzling documentary capturing the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico. A week-long celebration of San Juan de Dios, the patron saint of firework makers.
Sun 07 – Wed 10 MAR
Queer Film Festival
All events open to public
In collaboration with Christchurch Heroes, this mini festival is an open event over four days with free entry to all screenings (koha/donations always appreciated).
Please note that, as always, censorship ratings apply to all screenings.
Sun 07 MAR
Queer FF
2pm at Chch Art Gallery
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Desiree Akhavan | 2018
90 mins | USA | M
In 1993, a teenage girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy centre by her conservative guardians.
Queer FF
Sun 07 MAR
8pm at Alice Cinemas
Moonlight
Barry Jenkins | 2016
111 mins | USA | M
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Mon 08 MAR
Queer FF
7.30pm at Chch Art Gallery
A transgender punk-rock girl tours the U.S. as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
John Cameron Mitchell | 2001
92 mins | USA | M
Queer FF
Tue 09 MAR
4pm at Lumière Cinemas
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Douglas Hickox | 1970
94 mins | UK | M
A woman and her brother invite a man to be a lodger, but their father recognises him as the killer of his old boss. Past sins could be forgiven if he agrees to the siblings' demands.
Wed 10 MAR
Queer FF
6.30pm at Chch Art Gallery
Leitis in Waiting
Hamer, Wilson, Wong-Kalu
2018 | 72 mins | Tonga/USA | M
An intrepid group of indigenous transgender women fight a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in Tonga.
Queer FF
Wed 10 MAR
8pm at Chch Art Gallery
Knife + Heart
Yann Gonzalez | 2018 | 102 mins France/Mexico/CH | R18
In the summer of 1979, gay porn producer Anne sets out to make her most ambitious film yet, but her actors are picked off, one by one, by a mysterious killer.
15 MAR
Festival Faves
I Am Love
Luca Guadagnino | 2009
120 mins | Italy | M
Emma is a respected wife and mother of three in a powerful Milanese family, but a fateful encounter with a handsome young chef changes everything.
22 MAR
Colonial Visions
Sweet Country
Warwick Thornton | 2017
113 mins | Australia | R16
After Sam Kelly kills a white ranch owner in self-defence, he goes on the run with his wife across the vast, desert-like Eastern Arrernte Nation lands of the Australian outback.
29 MAR
Classics
A Matter of Life and Death
E. Pressburger, M. Powell | 1946
104 mins | UK | PG
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court.
No screenings on 05 April Easter Monday or 26 April Anzac Day.
APRIL
12 APR
Post-Soviet Cinema
In the Fog
Sergei Loznitsa | 2012 | 125 mins
Belarus/DE/LV/NL/RU | M
In the German occupation of Belarus, a Russian man is given an impossible moral choice after he is accused of collaboration with the Nazis.
19 APR
Black Lives Matter
Bamboozled
Spike Lee | 2000
135 mins | USA | R16
A frustrated African-American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin it becomes a hit.
MAY
03 MAY
South American
Birds of Passage
C. Guerra, C. Gallego | 2018
125 mins | Colombia | M
An other-worldly reimagining of the origins of the Colombian drug trade, as seen through the eyes of an indigenous family that becomes involved in the booming business.
10 MAY
Post-Soviet Cinema
Leviathan
Andrey Zvyagintsev | 2014
141 mins | Russia | M
In a coastal town, Kolya is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help fight the corrupt mayor, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune.
17 MAY
Festival Faves
The Women on the 6th Floor
Philippe Le Guay | 2010
106 mins | France | M
In 1960s Paris, a conservative couple’s lives are turned upside down by a group of Spanish maids that live in the same building.
24 MAY
Colonial Visions
6pm DOUBLE FEATURE
Mauri
Merata Mita | 1988
90 mins | NZ | PG
A story set among the colourful characters of a once thriving settlement, Te Mata, upon whom the encroachment by Europeans spells disaster.
24 MAY
Colonial Visions
7.45pm DOUBLE FEATURE
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
Heperi Mita | 2018
95 mins | NZ | E
An examination of the life and work of filmmaker and activist Merata Mita by her son, intertwining family, film and activism.
31 MAY
Black Lives Matter
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Joe Talbot | 2019
121 mins | USA | M
Jimmie and his friend try to reclaim his childhood home, built by his grandfather. Their odyssey highlights what is lost through gentrification.
No screening on 07 June Queen's Birthday.
JUNE
14 JUN
South American
Bacurau
K. Mendonça, J. Dornelles | 2019
131 mins | Brazil/France | R16
In the near future, at a time of increasing water tensions, Teresa returns to her home village in Brazil’s remote interior to discover that it is literally disappearing off the map.
21 JUN
Classics
Dance, Girl, Dance
Dorothy Arzner | 1940
90 mins | USA | PG
An entertaining behind-the-footlights look at the ruthless world of show business, which follows the fate of two rival chorus girls.
28 JUN
Screen Queens
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Alexandra Dean | 2017
104 mins | USA | M
This documentary captures all of an extraordinary life – from erotic star of Ecstasy to an inventor whose system foreshadowed Bluetooth.
JULY
Celebrating the Māori New Year, this film festival showcases our home-grown talent. We’ve handpicked some of Aotearoa’s cinematic best to warm your hearts this winter.
Free entry to all screenings (koha/donations always appreciated).
Sun 04 JUL
Aotearoa FF
2pm at Chch Art Gallery
A fictional Wellington reggae band find their roots – both musical and personal – on a Kiwi road trip, playing East Coast and Northland pubs heading up to Cape Reinga.
The Pā Boys
Himiona Grace | 2014
93 mins | NZ | M
Sun 04 JUL
Aotearoa FF
8pm at Alice Cinemas
A seductive behind-the-scenes look at the cultural and creative process needed to transform Jane Campion's film The Piano into a new work for the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
The Heart Dances
Rebecca Tansley | 2018
99 mins | NZ | PG
Mon 05 JUL
Aotearoa FF
2pm at Chch Art Gallery
Ruby, an 83 year old trying to dodge a retirement home, rents a room to Rata, a solo mum with sidelines in music and benefit fraud.
Ruby and Rata
Gaylene Preston | 1990
111 mins | NZ | PG
Mon 05 JUL
Aotearoa FF
6.30pm at Chch Art Gallery
With humour, energy and emotion, Poi E is the story of how this iconic song has given pride to generations of New Zealanders.
Poi E: The Story of Our Song
Te Arepa Kahi | 2016
93 mins | NZ | G
Tue 06 JUL
Aotearoa FF
2pm at Lumière Cinemas
Ten-year-old twins Kimi and Melody live by the rugged Hokianga coast. When they befriend a teen drifter, tragedy strikes and Kimi must find a way to let go of what he loves most.
The Strength of Water
Armagan Ballantyne | 2009
86 mins | NZ/Germany | M
Wed 07 JUL
Aotearoa FF
6.30pm DOUBLE FEATURE
Sam Neill delivers a personal and perceptive reflection on Kiwi cinema – from its crude beginnings to the flowering of achievement in films by Jackson, Tamahori and Campion.
Cinema of Unease
Sam Neill, Judy Rymer | 1995
52 mins | UK/NZ | E
Wed 07 JUL
Aotearoa FF
7.30pm DOUBLE FEATURE
Scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) wakes up one morning to discover that he may be the last man on Earth, as he wanders the empty streets in this sci-fi cult classic.
The Quiet Earth
Geoff Murphy | 1985
91 mins | NZ | M
12 JUL
Festival Faves
Exhibition
Joanna Hogg | 2013
104 mins | UK | M
An artist couple's living and working patterns are disrupted by the imminent sale of their modernist dream home.
19 JUL
Modern Gothic
Border
Ali Abbasi | 2018 | 108 mins
Denmark/Sweden | R16
A customs officer who can smell fear develops an unusual attraction to a strange traveler while aiding a police investigation which will call into question her entire existence.
26 JUL
Three of the Best
The Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton | 1955
93 mins | USA | PG
In the American Deep South, a serial-killing preacher relentlessly pursues a widow and her two young children in the hunt for a stolen fortune.
AUGUST
The 2021 festival has been moved to 29 October to 14 November.
We have cancelled our Film Quiz.
2 AUG
Three of the Best
The Salt of the Earth
Saldago, Wenders | 2014
110 mins | FR/BR/IT | M
The life and work of Sebastião
Salgado, the undisputed
master of monumental
photojournalism, is explored in
this stunning documentary.
9 AUG
Three of the Best
Glam Night – dress up!
Phantom of the Paradise
Brian De Palma | 1974
91 mins | USA | M
Join us for a cult classic - comedy and horror mix in this glam rock fusion of Phantom of the Opera and Faust.
16 AUG
Screen Queens
Open to the public
Tokyo Story
Yasujirô Ozu | 1953
136 mins | Japan | PG
An elderly couple take the long journey to visit their adult children in Tokyo. It falls to their widowed daughter-in-law to keep them company.
23 AUG
French Thrills
Bloody Milk
Hubert Charuel | 2017
90 mins | France | M
A young dairy farmer realises that one of his cows is infected. To save his herd and his farm, he takes matters into his own hands in this suspenseful ‘agricultural thriller’.
30 AUG
Screen Queens
Orlando
Sally Potter | 1992
94 mins | UK/RU/IT/FR/NL | M
After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world over centuries of eternal youth.
SEPTEMBER
06 SEP
Modern Gothic
Zombi Child
Bertrand Bonello | 2019
103 mins | France | R13
A man is brought back from the dead to work on a sugar cane plantation. 55 years later, a Haitian teenager tells her friends her family secret – sparking a dangerous obsession.
13 SEP
Classics
Love and Anarchy
Lina Wertmüller | 1973
126 mins | Italy/France | R18
When a friend is murdered by the Fascists, a melancholy farmer takes up residence in a Roman brothel as he and an anarchist prostitute plot to assassinate Mussolini.
20 SEP
Screen Queens
Roman Holiday
William Wyler | 1953
119 mins | USA | G
A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
27 SEP
French Thrills
School's Out
Sébastien Marnier | 2018
104 mins | France | R16
A substitute teacher discovers that six of his students exert a strange influence over the rest of the school and they may have had a hand in the suicide of their previous teacher.
OCTOBER
04 OCT
South American
The Clan
Pablo Trapero | 2015 | 110 mins Spain/Argentina | R13
The true story of the Puccio Clan, a family who kidnapped and killed people in the 80s.
11 OCT
Colonial Visions
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Fred Schepisi | 1978
117 mins | Australia | R18
Jimmie Blacksmith grows up to a life of humiliating racial abuse and injustice until he is finally triggered to a violent response.
18 OCT
Modern Gothic
Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch | 2013
123 mins | UK/DE/GR/FR | M
Adam and Eve are elegant vampires of refined artistic and musical taste, who have been together since the beginning of time and are reunited in the decayed splendour of Detroit.
All screenings Mondays 7.30pm at the Christchurch Art Gallery unless otherwise stated.
Doors open 7pm for chat and the sale of food, drink and new memberships.
Most screenings are members only – please come early to join on the night.
Censorship ratings apply to all screenings.