Show Me Shorts Film Festival is celebrating 20 years of bringing short films to movie lovers.
This October, audiences can choose from a massive 127 screenings and events taking place at 40 cinemas and community venues across New Zealand. There are 83 short films in the programme, which have been divided into 11 themed collections.
To mark the occasion, Show Me Shorts is presenting a 20th Anniversary Retrospective collection of shorts from iconic New Zealand filmmakers. They are also throwing three massive opening night parties at The Civic in Auckland, The Embassy in Wellington and Alice Cinemas in Christchurch – promising premieres galore, opportunities to meet the filmmakers and hear their stories.
The country of focus for this year’s festival is China. A richly creative collection of short films is included in the Chinese Focus, with several filmmakers travelling here to present their work and take part in panel discussions, meetings and networking events – including writer/director Hanlin Liu, whose comedy about a man navigating an AI phone service 转人工 (Representative, Please) will make its world premiere at Auckland Opening Night.
Highlight films in The Sampler collection, which travels the widest, include stories of a boxing nun in Sister Josephine, a melancholic robot in Help Me Tom, an overwhelmed teacher in A Sisyphean Task, and a persistent Palestinian man trying to return home in Qaher. Much-loved stars Hugh Bonneville, Marlon Williams, Thomas Sainsbury and Alison Bruce make an appearance here.
The Whānau Friendly section of the programme for primary school-aged children and their families continues to be one of the most popular. This year features a heart-warming new DreamWorks animation about a teenage boy and his grandfather, called Wednesdays with Gramps.
The 20th Anniversary Retrospective collection offers a chance to revisit or discover for the first time some of our most successful and best-loved Kiwi short films, from acclaimed filmmakers who have built enviable careers. The films include Rosanne Liang’s Take3, Jackie van Beek’s Uphill, Sima Urale’s Coffee & Allah, Hamish Bennett’s Ross & Beth, and The Six Dollar Fifty Man by Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland.
Fifteen world premieres will be celebrated during the festival, where the filmmakers will introduce their work, including 转人工 (Representative, Please) (China), Farm (NZ), Flagfall (NZ), Regarding Our Previous Conversation (NZ), Toad in the Hole (United Kingdom), Temporal (NZ), The Charm of the Magpies (NZ) and all eight of the Day One Shorts.
Celebrated local musician turned director Joe Lonie debuts his third short film, Flagfall – a thriller about a troubled taxi driver who is haunted by voices and visions.
Direct from the world premiere in Melbourne last month, Ray Edwards’ iconic Kiwi coming-of-age story Ace will make its New Zealand premiere. Both Lonie and Edwards will introduce their films at the Auckland Opening Night, and Edwards will also speak about how his self-funded film was made at the Auckland Filmmaker Talk.
Interesting trends that the programming team noticed this year from filmmakers worldwide are stories about people coming together to rise up (e.g. Bringing His Spirit Home, Mau Moko – Alien Weaponry, Earth Defender, Naked Lights); Magical realism seems to be a new favourite genre (e.g. Moti, A Bear Remembers, Open Looks, Farm, Chrysanthemum); There was also a continuation of the surge in production of high quality animated films for both adults and children worldwide.
Aspiring filmmakers can take advantage of several educational industry events running as part of Show Me Shorts. Show Me Shorts provides collections of short films with Audio Descriptions and Closed Captions at Show Me Shorts On Demand for people with hearing or vision impairments. Screenings with Closed Captions will also take place at cinemas in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Show Me Shorts Film Festival is one of the most widely available festivals, with forty locations screening short films from the 7th to the 27th of October 2025.
