What does contemporary Australian and New Zealand cinema taste like? It’s a varied cocktail of feature films ranging from a historical drama to a family movie and a bold queer animated feature for adults and all these will be on offer at the 12th AUSSIE & KIWI FILM FESTIVAL that will take place 14–21 November, 2025 at Lucerna Cinema, Edison Filmhub and the Ponrepo cinema in Prague. There will also be a unique series of Czechoslovak archival documentaries, Koala is a Sparta Fan: To Australia in Search of Sport which will be jointly screened in collaboration with the National Film Archive and which will form a preliminary event to the main festival.
The festival will open with the New Zealand film Tinā (directed by Miki Magasiva), about a Samoan choirmaster who has to cope not only with grief but also questions of identity and cultural tension after the tragic loss of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquake. This film has been the highest-grossing New Zealand film of 2025.
Audiences can also look forward to Dangerous Animals, a dark, survival horror from director Sean Byrne that he presented at the Cannes Film Festival as a nod to Jaws which turns 50 this year. The historical New Zealand drama Ka Whawhai Tonu – Struggle Without End (directed by Mike Jonathan) and the award-winning workplace comedy Workmates will also bring powerful stories to the screen. Queer cinema will be represented by the over-the-top animated comedy feature for adults Lesbian Space Princess which will be screened on 17 November, the national Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day. And finally, the dark comedy Spit (Jonathan Teplitzky) will provide some quirky humour on the closing night of the festival.
Strong social themes in student screenings and a series of archival films
“Australian and New Zealand movies can be playful, poetic, gritty and politically incorrect. Every year we screen movies that audiences don’t normally see here. We really want to surprise and inspire audiences,” says festival director Martina Vacková.
The festival will also put on school screenings for students in the 2nd level of primary school along with secondary students who will all have the opportunity to see the documentary Blue which shines a spotlight on the disturbing causes of ocean pollution. And for younger children, there is the adventurous family movie The Mountain. “This year, we have also included school screenings for primary school children because we believe that it’s important to develop a connection to movies and topics such as protecting the environment and the search for identity from childhood,” explained Zuzana Stiborková who manages the school screenings.
Australia as a distant exotic country full of new possibilities, unique nature, a different lifestyle and a place of success for Czechoslovak athletes will be presented in the archival Koala is a Sparta Fan which consists of three short films by Czech filmmakers (Mila Třešňák, Jan Špáta and František Papoušek) that were filmed between 1956 and 1971. The short movie Koala is a Sparta Fan with a lively commentary by Jiřina Bohdalová, Josef Bek and footballer Andrej Kvašňák, brings to life the journey and stay of the Sparta players not just to Australia, but also New Zealand, Singapore and Cambodia. The poetic travelogue Australian Weekend documents the atmosphere of an ordinary Sunday for people living on the east coast of Australia which is spent on the beach, doing sport and going on trips to the countryside. And finally, the sports report Thirty Days in Melbourne takes viewers to the XVI Olympic Games in 1956, where Czechoslovak athletes won a total of six medals. This movie also reminds us that Australia became a new home for many immigrants and was a rapidly developing society after the war.
