The 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival has gotten under way, and there's still a chance to check out something new this weekend.

It’s a packed programme with screenings running all over the nation, but there's plenty of unconventional pieces made by directors from New Zealand and beyond.

Entertainment correspondent Steve Newall outlined his picks.

LISTEN ABOVE

The 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival has gotten under way, and there's still a chance to check out something new this weekend.
It’s a packed programme with screenings running all over the nation, but there's plenty of unconventional pieces made by directors from New Zealand and beyond.
Entertainment correspondent Steve Newall outlined his picks.
LISTEN ABOVE

News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your Sunday morning listening covered with The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on Newstalk ZB.

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Steve Newall: entertainment correspondent with 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival favourites

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/3c443b0b-8457-4da8-97ee-b4a00186346c/transcript

Australian actress Melissa George has been on our screens for years, and she's taking on a new Kiwi comedy-crime drama.

She started out as Angel Parrish on Home and Away, and she's made a name for herself in other international projects like Mulholland Drive, Grey’s Anatomy, Friends, The Slap, among others.

She's now starring in Ms. X, which is available on ThreeNow, and she's revealed she was into the show from the first script reading.

"It was the first time I had to adapt, to change who I was in order to get along with the person in front of me. And that was the sign that I knew I'd found my match." 

LISTEN ABOVE

Australian actress Melissa George has been on our screens for years, and she's taking on a new Kiwi comedy-crime drama.
She started out as Angel Parrish on Home and Away, and she's made a name for herself in other international projects like Mulholland Drive, Grey’s Anatomy, Friends, The Slap, among others.
She's now starring in Ms. X, which is available on ThreeNow, and she's revealed she was into the show from the first script reading.
"It was the first time I had to adapt, to change who I was in order to get along with the person in front of me. And that was the sign that I knew I'd found my match."&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Melissa George: Australian actress on her new TV project Ms X

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/9b89304f-897d-4d67-9739-b4a100199e28/transcript

Back in 2023, former Labour Minister Kiri Allan hit a low point - and had to step down from politics.

After crashing her car while over the alcohol limit, she resigned from Labour and her political career came to an end.

She's shared her story and opened up about what happened that night in Wellington in her new memoir, Go Hard or Go Home.

"I carried a lot of shame, guilt...as the book says, my world shattered down and it's all my fault. So I carried that for quite a long time, and it was very hard to come out of the cave, knowing that you'd let so many people down. So it was a long period of healing." 

LISTEN ABOVE

Back in 2023, former Labour Minister Kiri Allan hit a low point - and had to step down from politics.
After crashing her car while over the alcohol limit, she resigned from Labour and her political career came to an end.
She's shared her story and opened up about what happened that night in Wellington in her new memoir, Go Hard or Go Home.
"I carried a lot of shame, guilt...as the book says, my world shattered down and it's all my fault. So I carried that for quite a long time, and it was very hard to come out of the cave, knowing that you'd let so many people down. So it was a long period of healing."&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Kiri Allan: former Labour Minister talks memoir Go Hard or Go Home

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2f46ea74-6b0d-44bb-bcbb-b4a100141384/transcript

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. This was actually released last year, but has had huge word of mouth enthusiasm for many, many readers and was voted onto the new Whitcoulls Top 100 last month. It’s now out in a second format and is the story of a woman’s life told through letters which she writes to a number of people important to her - some of whom are well known writers with whom she has an affinity, such as Ann Patchett, Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry - but also letters to her friends, her son, her brother and many others. It’s warm, illuminating of a life well lived and I adored it. 

The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup. He was the author of Q and A which was made into the wildly successful movie Slumdog Millionaire, and he’s back with a similarly quirky story about Devi, a young woman being held at ransom by a masked man who insists that over the course of a single day she recounts the seven very different episodes in her life for which he holds her to blame, whilst threatening to sell her off to the highest bidder as people affected by her various actions over the course of her life seek revenge. It’s cleverly constructed and tells a very Indian story of the many lives lived by one woman.

LISTEN ABOVE

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. This was actually released last year, but has had huge word of mouth enthusiasm for many, many readers and was voted onto the new Whitcoulls Top 100 last month. It’s now out in a second format and is the story of a woman’s life told through letters which she writes to a number of people important to her - some of whom are well known writers with whom she has an affinity, such as Ann Patchett, Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry - but also letters to her friends, her son, her brother and many others. It’s warm, illuminating of a life well lived and I adored it.&nbsp;
The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup. He was the author of Q and A which was made into the wildly successful movie Slumdog Millionaire, and he’s back with a similarly quirky story about Devi, a young woman being held at ransom by a masked man who insists that over the course of a single day she recounts the seven very different episodes in her life for which he holds her to blame, whilst threatening to sell her off to the highest bidder as people affected by her various actions over the course of her life seek revenge. It’s cleverly constructed and tells a very Indian story of the many lives lived by one woman.
LISTEN ABOVE

Whitcoulls Recommends: The Correspondent and The Girl with the Seven Lives

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d39b5a22-d0e1-4b5c-87e5-b4a1000f5b54/transcript

Steve Newall: entertainment correspondent with 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival favourites

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