Film Festival 2017 lineup

It's that time again! As with last year's festival, I've decided to limit myself to 20 films, and no more than two per day. That still leaves plenty of scope for world-straddling and genre-spanning films of all varieties, including Swedish black comedies, gonzo samurai tales, stirring documentaries from New Zealand and around the world, a Soviet-era classic, a top-flight feminist remake, powerfully affecting British animation, not to mention six wonderful female-directed films.

I'm particularly looking forward to a swathe of unmissable documentaries, led by Gaylene Preston's fascinating glimpse into Helen Clark's bid for the United Nations' top job, My Year with Helen, and the powerful vision of American race relations in I Am Not Your Negro. In Julian Rosenfeldt's Manifesto there's the opportunity to savour Cate Blanchett's tour-de-force performance as 13 different characters, which I first witnessed in an impressive video art installation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in November. Bring on the festival's opening night on 28 July - I can hardly wait!

The Party (dir. Sally Potter, UK, 2017)
A political dinner party extravaganza from hell :: Embassy Theatre 71 mins

The Square (dir. Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 2017)
A brutal, biting satire of the Swedish ruling classes :: Embassy Theatre 147 mins

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (dir. Matt Tyrnauer, USA, 2016)
One woman's lifelong quest for human-centred urban design :: Embassy Theatre 92 mins

Blade of the Immortal (dir. Miike Takashi, Japan, 2017)
Mugen no junin
Mental limb-regrowing samurai nonsense :: Embassy Theatre 141 mins

The Farthest (dir. Emer Reynolds, Ireland, 2017)
The Voyager probes get their own doco! :: Embassy Theatre 121 mins

My Year with Helen (dir. Gaylene Preston, New Zealand, 2017)
Veteran director shadows doyen NZ stateswoman :: Embassy Theatre 93 mins + director Q&A to follow

I Am Not Your Negro (dir. Raoul Peck, USA, 2016)
American identity, American racial politics :: Penthouse Cinema 93 mins

The Lost City of Z (dir. James Gray, USA, 2016)
Part of the twin-pronged Pattinson NZIFF assault :: Embassy Theatre 141 mins

Manifesto (dir. Julian Rosenfeldt, Germany, 2017)
Blanchett x13 is just fine with me :: Paramount 94 mins

Stalker (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1979)
Paranoid Soviet-era sci-fi weirdness :: Embassy Theatre 161 mins

Kedi (dir. Ceyda Torun, Turkey, 2016)
Turkish street cats! :: Penthouse Cinema 79 mins + short

A Date for Mad Mary (dir. Darren Thornton, Ireland, 2016)
Rambunctious young Irish comedy :: Paramount 82 mins + short

6 Days (dir. Toa Fraser, New Zealand/UK, 2017)
NZ-directed actioner, on the 1980 Iranian embassy siege :: Embassy Theatre 95 mins + journalist Kate Adie Q&A to follow

Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web (dir. Annie Goldson, New Zealand, 2017)
Quite possibly conjuring both loving and loathing :: Paramount 112 mins + director Q&A to follow

Human Traces (dir. Nic Gorman, New Zealand, 2017)
NZ ends-of-the-Earth drama :: Embassy Theatre 87 mins + director Q&A to follow

Patti Cake$ (dir. Geremy Jasper, USA, 2017)
The year's stand-out performance? :: Embassy Theatre 108 mins

Summer 1993 (dir. Carla Simon, Spain, 2017)
Estiu 1993
An intensely personal Spanish childhood tale :: Embassy Theatre 97 mins

The Beguiled (dir. Sofia Coppola, USA, 2017)
Coppola re-imagines a sexist 70s romp :: Embassy Theatre 94 mins

Ethel & Ernest (dir. Roger Mainwood, UK, 2016)
No heartstrings unplucked in this timeless animated tale of British family life :: Paramount 94 mins + short

The Other Side of Hope (dir. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2017)
Toivon tuolla puolen
Another examination of the immigrant's life from the Finnish master :: Penthouse Cinema 98 mins