Whānau Mārama NZIFF Celebrates 16 Years with 100(ish) Films

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is back for 2025 and is bigger than ever. This year will feature a selection of around 100 films across the four main cities and six regions across Aotearoa.

11 DEGANZ members have worked on eight films in the lineup this year, most of which make up the new Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best programme.

Artistic Director Paolo Bertolin comments on this year’s selections, saying,

NZIFF continues to be where audiences discover New Zealand films before the rest of the world. This year’s programme will […] include local stories that are ready to make their mark internationally.

Check out the films from DEGANZ members below and keep up to date with NZIFF to know when you can catch them on the big screen!

Māhutonga Strand

TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty

Editors: Cushla Dillon, Brendon Chan and Huhana Ruri-Panapa

Unprecedented insight into the curation of the Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art exhibition reveals the struggle for Māori artistic sovereignty within the structures of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural institutions.

Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best

Since 2012, NZIFF have curated both the New Zealand’s Best and the Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika short film programmes. This year, it has evolved to Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best, combining the two programmes. The films will screen in two parts: Programme One and Programme Two.

Chrysanthemum

Writer/Director: Jolin Lee

Editors: Jolin Lee and Steven Chow

When her child mysteriously vanishes in a garden centre, an anguished gardener develops an unhealthy relationship with a chrysanthemum plant.

Growing Still

Editors: Adam-Luka Turjak and Margot Francis

An elderly woman wilting away in a retirement home longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside. This magical short offers a positive spin on our impending mortality.

I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden

Writer/Director: Vea Mafile’o

Ala is a Samoan woman living with dissociative identity disorder. In therapy, she shifts between different versions of herself — from young Flo to fierce ancestor Puipui — and confronts her deepest trauma.

Let’s Settle This

Writer/Director and Editor: Jack Woon

Two kung fu masters meet in a Chinese diner via a dating app and turn to the art to settle scores.

Puti

Writer/Director: Aroha Awarau

It is a hard life on the street for Puti; perhaps she best not follow her mother’s footsteps. With hope, there is another journey, another possibility.

Stage Challenge

Writer/Director: Stella Reid

Shy Ali joins a group of zealous schoolgirls creating a stage challenge concept that will both wow audiences and distract the girls from their concerns for the future.

Womb

Writer/Director: Ira Hetaraka

A young filly struggles to break from the stable in this absurd and wildly original fable, starkly reminding us of the past dehumanisation of Indigenous whānau.

Last updated on 28 January 2026