The Europa Film Festival

John Daly-Peoples

Europa Film Festival

Bridgeway Cinemas, Auckland
Thu 19 Feb – Wed 4 March

John Daly-Peoples

The Europa Film Festival opens with Testament of Ann Lee, an ambitious musical drama that premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, earning one of the festival’s longest standing ovations.  

Featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance from Amanda Seyfried, the film presents a portrait of Ann Lee, founder of the religious Shakers movement, reimagining female leadership, faith and rebellion through unconventional cinematic and musical forms.  

The program spotlights new works from some of Europe’s most critically acclaimed filmmakers, whose influence continues to shape contemporary cinema.  

Locarno Leopard of Honour recipient Lav Diaz presents Magellan, a historical epic tracing the Portuguese explorer’s final voyage while interrogating the moral cost of colonial ambition, starring Gael García Bernal.  

French provocateur Quentin Dupieux returns with The Piano Accident, a satire on digital fame and spectacle, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) as an influencer famed for performing outrageous stunt videos because she cannot feel pain. 

Academy Award–winner László Nemes presents Orphan, a historical drama set in post-1956 Hungary that explores intergenerational trauma and patriarchal power, following a teenage boy confronting a violent surrogate father. 

Several of the films look at artists, shifting focus from public myth to private experience.  

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland presents Franz, a kaleidoscopic portrait of surrealist writer Franz Kafka, moving between eras to examine his enduring cultural legacy. It is a biopic of the author described as, non-linear, and free-wheeling film with a strong  visual style.  

Chopin, a Sonata in Paris, directed by Michał Kwieciński, follows composer Frédéric Chopin’s formative years after his move to Paris in the 1830s.  

Directed by Fabienne Godet, The One I Loved  recounts the tumultuous true love story of Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, a relationship shaped by artistic ambition, public scrutiny and Montand’s notorious affair with Marilyn Monroe.  

Damiano Michieletto presents Primavera, set within Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, where music, discipline and desire intersect under the mentorship of Antonio Vivaldi. This is  the same venue for the New Zealand National Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale featuring works by New Zealand artist Fiona Pardington.

From acclaimed director Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), comes Calle Málaga, a touching and life-affirming drama about age, independence and unexpected romance starring Almodóvar veteran Carmen Maura.  

Produced by Natalie Portman, Arco is a spectacular Golden Globe nominated animated adventure set in the year 2075 follows a young girl named Iris who discovers a boy in a rainbow suit has crash-landed near her home from a far-distant future. 

Karoline Herfurth’s Wunderschöner  interrogates beauty standards, ageing and personal autonomy.  Five women in Berlin: Frauke (Martina Gedeck) is approaching 60 and feels bored in her marriage. Julie (Emilia Schüle) is just under 25 and has spent the last few years working successfully as a model until her «look» suddenly falls out of favour. After Sonja’s (Karoline Herfurth) third pregnancy, it no longer looks the way she would like it to. Vicky (Nora Tschirner), a German teacher, does not want to commit to a relationship, and student Leyla (Dilara Aylin Ziem) is bullied because of her weight.

Set against the backdrop of a Transylvanian wedding in 1980, Hungarian Wedding combines romance and social satire, richly infused with traditional Hungarian folk music and dance.