Festival Scope Selects has highlighted a new selection of international films and filmmakers under its “Feels Like Home” theme, bringing together titles from New Zealand, Slovenia, Canada, Germany, Ukraine, Nigeria and Italy. The selection includes award-winning features, emerging voices and films exploring identity, relationships, creativity and the changing realities of contemporary life.
New Zealand International Film Festival Highlights Diverse Cinema
Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival is a national event dedicated to making a diverse range of high-quality films accessible to audiences throughout New Zealand.
Among this year’s programme is CROCODILE, co-directed by Pietra Brettkelly and the homemade collective The Critics. The hybrid docufiction, which celebrates creativity while exploring personal yet universal experiences, received the Viewpoints Award at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Youth Jury Award at Sheffield DocFest.
Another featured title is IN SEARCH OF MY MOEHAU, a mockumentary directed by Kieran Charnock and Jonathan Watt. Presented as “found footage,” the film follows a man who ventures into the New Zealand bush in search of his missing father, who is supposedly kidnapped by a mythical creature.
Gwen Isaac’s BE MERRY combines elements of investigation, escape and reclamation in a tragi-comic exploration of the tensions and fascinations within a mother-daughter relationship.
Also included is Conor Bowden’s THE UNGRATEFUL TENANT, a black-and-white expressionist feature centred on an anxiety-ridden millennial renter who dreams of eventually buying his own home.
These films are among the titles available through Festival Scope Pro.
Slovenian Cinema in Focus
The Slovenian Film Centre supports film development in Slovenia through funding and training programmes, while collaborating with international institutions, festivals and Slovenian National Radio and Television to support films throughout their development.
The selection includes Kosara Mitic’s 17, which has received three awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival, as well as Dina Duma’s SKATEBOARDING IS NOT FOR GIRLS, winner of the Nora Ephron Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Urša Menart’s latest feature, EVERYTHING THAT’S WRONG WITH YOU, is also among the highlighted Slovenian titles. The film offers a contemporary exploration of friendship and online relationships through a female perspective.
Films in Focus
Manhunt
Directed by Wayne Wapeemukwa
Canada
Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Manhunt has been described by the International Cinephile Society as “A harrowing glimpse into the inner psychology of a generation struggling to find a place in the modern world.”
The film screened at the Locarno Film Festival, where it received the Third Prize in the Junior Jury Awards, and was also selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival. It is supported by Telefilm Canada.
Contact: Aspect Ratio
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming
Directed by Isabelle Stever
Germany, Ukraine
Isabelle Stever’s I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming examines love against the backdrop of war. Cineuropa described the film as “An aesthetically powerful, moving and courageous film that sets love against the brutality of war.”
The film received the “The Environment is Quality of Life” Prize in the Junior Jury Awards at the Locarno Film Festival. It is also associated with German Films and Stand with Ukraine.
Contact: Outplay Films
Crocodile
Directed by Pietra Brettkelly and The Critics
Nigeria, New Zealand
Crocodile chronicles a story of persistence, imagination and self-determination. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as a work that “chronicles a remarkable story of persistence, imagination and self-determination.”
The film was presented at the Berlinale and received the Viewpoints Award at the Tribeca Festival and the Youth Jury Award at Sheffield DocFest. It was also selected for the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Contact: Mediawan
Sacred Creatures
Directed by Frieda Luk
Canada, Italy
Frieda Luk’s Sacred Creatures follows Canadian siblings on an unusual journey to Italy. Screen Daily described it as a “bizarre trip to Italy” in an ambitious and erratic magical realist debut.
The film was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival and is supported by Telefilm Canada.
Contact: Frirange Films
Everything That’s Wrong With You
Directed by Urša Menart
Slovenia, Germany, Serbia
Urša Menart’s Everything That’s Wrong With You explores friendship, online relationships and the boundaries between digital and real-world connections.
Variety described the film as “A luminous two-hander from Slovenia about online pals navigating the waters of IRL friendship.”
The film was selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival and is associated with the Slovenian Film Centre and Film Center Serbia.
Contact: Symbioz Films
Director in Focus: Urša Menart
Slovenian filmmaker Urša Menart began her career as a documentarian with the feature THERE ONCE WAS A LAND OF HARDWORKING PEOPLE (2012), which examined Slovenia’s independence and the transformations that followed. She later worked as an assistant director before moving into feature-film writing and directing.
Speaking about the perspective that informs her work, Menart said:
“I’m a woman, and that’s the perspective that feels like home, and, to be honest, I think women live more interesting lives. We have it harder, but our lives are very rich and unexamined still. We’ve had wonderful films and novels in the past decades dealing with the interior lives of women, but I still feel like there is still so much that is left unexplored and so many interesting characters that still haven’t been able to speak to the audience.”
Her latest feature, EVERYTHING THAT’S WRONG WITH YOU (2026), centres on Maruša, a young woman dealing with the death of her mother. Through an online acquaintance, she develops a relationship with Alja, opening the door to an exploration of online culture, female experience and increasing social disconnection.
The film premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival and represents a project developed over seven years. Among its key creative elements were the use of Slovenian actors and the decision to film in the German coastal town of Heringsdorf, a setting chosen to emphasise the differences between Maruša and Alja.
Through its “Feels Like Home” selection, Festival Scope places these films alongside a broader range of international cinema, highlighting filmmakers whose work examines personal experiences through distinctive cultural and artistic perspectives.