Our 2026 season
This year's film selection is one of the most exciting we can recall. It's packed with bangers that span over 100 years of cinema and come from such exotic places as Japan, Iran and Winnipeg.
Like what you see? You'll need to become a member to come to our screenings. If you were a member last year you'll have the automatic right to renew. If not you'll need to join the waiting list – just send us a message ASAP on our contact form. If you add your name to the list before April there's a good chance your name will make it to the top of the list before the season starts.
28 April 2026
Run Lola Run
Tom Tykwer • Germany • 1998 • 80 mins • M violence & offensive language
Tom Tykwer's high-octane thriller of existential pop-art futurism sets Lola in a desperate race against time to save her boyfriend.
"More exhilarating than ever" - Variety
5 May 2026
3 Faces
Jafar Panahi • Iran • 2018 • 100 mins • M suicide references
Defying a ban on filmmaking, Jafar Panahi takes to the road with actress Behnaz Jafari for a funny and incisive film that questions traditional values.
"Artful, surprising… thrillingly intelligent " - LA Times
12 May 2026
Letter Never Sent
Mikhail Kalatozov • USSR • 1960 • 96 mins • PG violence
Four Soviet geologists discover a diamond cache in the remote Siberian wilderness, only to be trapped by a devastating forest fire in this cinematically adventurous tale of survival.
"Spectacular… unforgettable" - Richard Peña, BAMPFA
The first QFS prescreening dinner of the year will be this evening.
19 May 2026
Heat
Michael Mann • USA • 1995 • 170 mins • R16 violence & offensive language
Mann's epic crime thriller and meticulous character study pits a brilliant detective (Al Pacino) against a methodical career criminal (Robert De Niro) in a high-stakes, high-casualty battle across Los Angeles.
"Awesome, truly epic…wholly original" - Time
26 May 2026
Monster
Kore-eda Hirokazu • Japan • 2023 • 127 mins • M
Deservedly awarded Best Screenplay at Cannes 2023, this is a deeply affecting and morally complex drama told from multiple perspectives.
"A marvel… minutely observed, profoundly compassionate" - Nicholas Barber, BBC
2 June 2026
La Haine
Matthieu Kassovitz • France/Italy • 1995 • 98 mins • R18 violence & offensive language
Tensions between residents and police rise to boiling point in the banlieues of Paris. Kassovitz's cinematic sensation contrasts gritty atmosphere with poetic surrealism.
"The style and attitude of true rebellion" - Independent
Presented in cooperation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France.
9 June 2026
TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty
Chelsea Winstanley • New Zealand • 2025 • 101 mins • Exempt
This new documentary takes us inside the curation of the landmark Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art exhibition revealing the ongoing struggle for Māori artistic sovereignty.
"An important cinematic document" - RNZ
16 June 2026
Dogtooth
Yorgos Lanthimos • Greece • 2009 • 97 mins • R18 violence & sex scenes
Perverse parents take elaborate measures to shield their adult children from the outside world in this brilliantly demented fable - the breakout film for Yorgos Lanthimos.
"Profoundly original, deliciously surreal" - Dazed and Confused
23 June 2026
Él
Luis Buñuel • Mexico • 1953 • 84 mins
Possessive jealousy and paranoid delusion destroy a passionate marriage, in one of the strongest and most overlooked films of Buñuel's Mexican period.
"A blasphemous black comedy" - NY Times
30 June 2026
Nosferatu
FW Murnau • Germany • 1922 • 94 mins • M violence
Murnau's unauthorised adaptation of Dracula is an icon of German Expressionism, with Max Schreck embodying horror as the monstrous, terrifying Count.
"A visual and emotional treat" - Empire
Presented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, entry to the public by koha.
21 July 2026
City on Fire
Ringo Lam • Hong Kong • 1987 • 101 mins • R18 violence
An undercover cop infiltrates a gang planning a major jewellery heist in Ringo Lam's blistering crimeland classic, often cited as a major influence on Tarantino.
"Burns with grit and moral tension" - Steve Rose, Guardian
28 July 2026
The Blue Angel
Josef von Sternberg • Germany • 1930 • 104 mins • PG low level violence
In Weimar Germany, a respectable professor risks everything after venturing into a nightclub and falling for cabaret siren Lola Lola. Marlene Dietrich stars.
"A modern tragedy and an erotic masterpiece" - Philip French
Presented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, entry to the public by koha.
4 August 2026
Age of Panic
Justine Triet • France • 2013 • 94 mins • tbc
With political protests roiling the streets of Paris, a young mother tries to keep it together on the home front. Justine Triet's first feature mixes comedy with documentary-style energy.
"Funny, intense and alive" - Cahiers du Cinéma
Presented in cooperation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France.
11 August 2026
The Quiet Earth
Geoff Murphy • New Zealand • 1985 • 91 mins • M adult themes
Bruno Lawrence wakes up in a deserted Hamilton to discover he's the last person on Earth in Geoff Murphy's chilling apocalyptic classic.
"Quite simply the best science-fiction film of the 80s" - LA Daily News
18 August 2026
Don’t Look Now
Nicolas Roeg • USA • 1973 • 110 mins • M violence & sex scenes
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star as a married couple who relocate to a wintry, off-season Venice following a haunting trauma.
"One of the definitive mystery chillers of all time" - Radio Times
More about the film
25 August 2026
Evil Does Not Exist
Hamaguchi Ryūsuke • Japan • 2023 • 106 mins • PG violence
A modern eco-fable that provides a gorgeous meditation on humanity's relationship with nature, and an unnerving commentary on the price of progress.
"Mesmerises as much as it mystifies… Breathe in its secrets" - Total Film
1 September 2026
True Stories
David Byrne • USA • 1986 • 89 mins • PG
The Talking Heads frontman made his directorial debut with this satirical, musical portrait of American life, plumbing the uncanniness of the suburban everyday with 'aw-shucks' gusto.
"Deeply funny and free-spirited" - Rebecca Bengal, Criterion
8 September 2026
Universal Language
Matthew Rankin • Canada • 2024 • 89 mins • G
An absurdist homage to the humanist Iranian films of Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, relocated to an alternative universe somewhere between Teheran and Winnipeg.
"Bizarre and enchanting" - Hollywood Reporter
15 September 2026
Fallen Angels
Wong Kar-wai • Hong Kong • 1995 • 99 mins • M violence, offensive language & sex scenes
Neon-drenched '90s Hong Kong nights make a vibrant, sensual yet melancholy setting, as a taciturn contract killer falls for his elusive business partner.
"An exhilarating rush" - Kevin Thomas, LA Times
The AGM of Queenstown Film Society will take place at 7.45pm in the cinema before the screening.
22 September 2026
The Apartment
Billy Wilder • USA • 1960 • 125 mins • PG
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star in Wilder's heartwarming, cynical classic about an office worker who loans out his apartment for love - of his job.
"All-time classic comedy of corporate and sexual manners" - The Times
More about the film