2005 New Zealand International Film Festival

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love.

A young boy dreams that he is in an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano-playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano teacher who also mind-controls his mother.

Two pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.

Aviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.

Flama and Moko are fourteen years old; they have been best friends since they were kids. They have everything they need to survive yet another boring Sunday: an apartment without parents, videogames, porn magazines, soft drinks and pizza delivery. The electricity company, Rita, the neighbor, Ulises, a pizza deliveryman, eleven seconds, the Real Madrid-Manchester game, some chocolate brownies and a horrible painting of ducks, all combine to break the harmony of what promised to be a placid Sunday, and reveal issues such as the parents' divorce, loneliness, the confusion between adolescent love and friendship, as well as frustration in adult life. "Temporada de Patos" is a movie that shows that, when the lights go off, we can see the stars.

Newcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals.

Janitor Henry Darger spent decades creating a 15,000-page illustrated novel depicting an epic battle between good and evil. His fantasy world, combining religious imagery and heroic drama, remained undiscovered until his twilight years.

A young boy attempts to convince a woman that he is her dead husband reborn.

Built in the 40s to accommodate Forestry Department workers, the small town of Minginui in the North Island's Whirinaki Forest lost its sawmill in the 80s as the logging of native forests was brought to a halt and ownership of forestry moved to the private sector. In 1990 the government gifted the land and buildings to Ngati Whare. Now 280 people inhabit the run-down village, living off the land and their benefit payments. Adam Luxton and Summer Agnew's remarkable and disquietingly aestheticised documentary portrait of the town is the antithesis of Florian Habicht's Kaikohe Demolition, interacting only fleetingly with the inhabitants. When there's social activity - a powhiri, the haka before a rugby match, or just kids clambering on and off a roof - these filmmakers evince something like historical distance, framing ritual and play in the eternal overarching melancholy of mist and forest. Theirs is an eerily beautiful picture of torpor, isolation and decay - and of Maori culture enduring on the land, inhabiting the detritus of a western economy.

Follows representatives of Nokia as they examine working conditions at a Chinese factory that manufacturers products for the company.

Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain the favor of their affectionate but strict, Bible-toting father as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.

A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8 film, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more - culled from nineteen years of his life.

An examination of the infamous pornographic film Deep Throat (1972), covering aspects from the film's creation to its cultural impact.

An itinerant worker, engaged by a farm couple, finds interest in their little child, giving it loving protection when the parents split up.

Helen is suffering from chronic depression and uses self inflicted pain as a means of escape. Alex loves her so keeps trying to care for her.

Bruno and Sonia, a young couple living off her benefit and the thefts committed by his gang, have a new source of money: their newborn son.

In a decript apartment, a young man watches as his father and a friend shoot an amateur porn film. Issues of morality, reality TV and friendship are explored.

An intimate portrait of a Chinese-European couple in New Zealand, and their journey to get a blessing for marriage from traditional Chinese parents.

When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.

A version of Georges Bizet's Carmen, set in a modern-day South African township.

Tyrannical Love is a film about the quirkiness of life and love when you are no longer a kid but not quite an adult. There is something for everyone in this ensemble piece about a close knit group of friends and the events that take place on New Years 1999. There's NICK the young filmmaker who has to make the choice between two women, one is his best friend who he has known for years, and the other is his first love who just walked back into his life. He unfortunately takes some ill-conceived advice and administers a series of love tests to help him decide. There's MADDI the best friend, she's just broken it off with her long-term boyfriend. Now she's all confused, not sure of her feelings for Nick. DAMMON; he's firstly in love with Maddi but hasn't got the confidence to tell her, because he feels he is a failure at everything he does, especially in the eyes of his father. VICKY; she's the mother figure of the group, always has the answers for everyone's problems but her own. Her dream is to be an actress and her up-coming audition may be her shot. DARYL; everyone knows one of these guys he's slack, tactless, sex obsessed and of course has a heart of gold. His big goal is to be having sex at the turn of the millennium. As new years eve rapidly counts down events unfold that will put their friendships to the test, and eventually bring everything into perspective. But by then it may already be too late!

In London, intense sexual encounters take place between an American college student, named Lisa, and an English scientist, named Matt, between attending rock concerts.

A wheelchair bound man goes on a killing spree to ease his hurt when a local college coed rebuffs his amorous advances.