New Zealand Fest Sees Big Audience Growth In Major Cities

The Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) has closed its Auckland and Wellington seasons with major increases in audience numbers.

NZIFF Artistic Director Paolo Bertolin says that this year’s edition saw an almost 40% increase in Auckland audiences and more than 30% in Wellington compared to 2024.The festival continues across other parts of the country until September 10, with screenings in Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Nelson, Napier, New Plymouth, Tauranga, and Masterton.

Both Auckland and Wellington opened with Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident from Jafar Panahi and closed with Joachim Trier’s acclaimed Sentimental Value.Organizers said that New Zealand films and co-productions performed especially well this year, with local doc Prime Minister ranking among the festival’s best-selling titles of all time.

Other domestic titles included music documentary Anchor Me: The Don McGlashan Story, horror-comedy The Weed Eaters, romantic comedy Workmates, music documentary Life in One Chord, and art documentaries Grace: A Prayer for Peace and Toitū: Visual Sovereignty.

In the festival’s “Fresh” competition section dedicated to debut features, Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow and Murat Firatoğlu’s One of Those Days When Hemme Dies shared Best Film honors. Austria-Germany co-production Peacock took home the Audience Award.

In the documentary competition, best documentary honors were presented to Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyri’s Cutting Through Rocks, and Peter and Seth Scriver’s Canadian film Endless Cookie. Iran-USA-Canada-Qatar-Netherlands co-production Cutting Through Rocks received the Audience Award.

The festival also held a 30th anniversary screening of iconic New Zealand mockumentary Forgotten Silver, which also featured a speech from co-director Costa Botes. Botes co-directed the 1995 film alongside Peter Jackson, who directed and wrote films in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises.

“These results reflect the momentum of NZIFF and the way audiences across New Zealand, including larger numbers of younger filmgoers, are embracing great international and local cinema,” said Bertolin. “They give us real confidence as we look ahead to building an even more exciting programme for Kiwi audiences next year.”