First films announced for NZ’s inaugural Indian Film Festival
This year New Zealand, where almost 5 percent of its population is of Indian origin, will finally get its first Indian Film Festival, with opening night taking place on October 22 and the festival running from October 23 to 25, 2026 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Spread across 3 days and 3 cities, The Indian Film Festival of New Zealand promises 30 film screenings, industry panels, Q&A post-screenings, networking events, and an awards evening.
The first edition will showcase 10 features, 16 shorts, and 4 special screenings. With 11 languages, including Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, French, Japanese, Hindi, English, Nepali, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Kumaoni and even a silent film, the festival is celebrating languages and storytelling from across India.
The first two films announced for the inaugural festival is screenings of restored films Teesri Kasam and Pakeezah as the opening and closing films respectively. Waheeda Rahman, the legendary star of Teesri Kasam, will attend the opening ceremony of the Indian Film Festival of New Zealand on 22nd October, and watch her restored film (restored by Film Heritage Foundation and NFAI-NFDC) for the first time as the festival honours her contribution to Indian cinema.
“Cinema has always had the power to bring people and cultures closer. I am delighted to see TIFFNZ celebrating the richness and diversity of Indian cinema in New Zealand. Teesri Kasam is a film very close to my heart, and I am especially pleased that it will open the festival, allowing a new generation of audiences to discover its timeless story and poetry.” says Waheeda Rehman.
Festival director Petrina D’Rozario said, ”For the closing, Pakeezah, which was restored by the Film Heritage Foundation and founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, has kindly given us the film for the New Zealand audience. Our festival would be the second festival in the world to have screened the film after it’s been restored. We are excited to be one of the first audiences to watch this iconic film from 1972. Many of whom may have never seen these films before.”
Petrina D’Rozario further adds, “TIFFNZ is more than a celebration of Indian cinema; it’s a bridge between India and NZ! Through the festival we want the NZ audience to discover India, and our extraordinary stories to travel to the furthest part of the world. At its heart, TIFFNZ is about bringing people, stories, cultures, languages together through cinema.”
The festival will be a one-of-a-kind annual event for discussions that bridge the screen industries and geographies, fostering collaboration and driving more screen opportunities and cultural exchange between New Zealand and India.
Keep an eye out as TIFFNZ reveal the list of directors, actors, and films attending the festival over the next few weeks.
