T H U R S D A Y 1 1 D E C E M B E R -
W E D N E S D A Y 1 7 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5
t h e f i l m s
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The Wellington Film Society has completed it's 2025 programme, and will return for its 80th season at the Embassy on Monday 23 February at 6.00pm and 8.30pm with
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK Peter Weir, Australia, 1975
Members only.
Film Society Memberships available at any time on line.
Film Festivals to note:
Italian Film Festival 2025: Embassy and Roxy until 14 December. See the programme
here
If you have a festival due to run in Wellington and it's not listed here, contact the Cinemaster.
This site relies on the various cinemas having their own websites up to date to access their screening times.
The paragraphs describing the films starting this week are in most cases adapted from the linked reviews.
For comments and movie news, contact the Cinemaster at
filmster@gmail.com.
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s t a r t s t h i s w e e k!
ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL2025 -
In its 10th year - and final week. The "Reviews" tab goes to the individual cinema's schedule.
Also Roxy.
MY BROTHERS BAND -
Two long-lost brothers, separated by the messy circumstances of their early childhood, are reunited in this uplifting, music-driven French film by Emmanuel Courcol. The predictable elements are mitigated by lived-in performances from an engaging cast of French character actors, and a closing sequence so shamelessly and cheerfully manipulative that any resistance is entirely useless. Bring a family pack of tissues. From the French Film Festial.
Also Queensgate, Monterey, Reading and Coastlands.
ELLA McCAY -
At 34, the ambitious Ella McCay is about to become the governor of the state where she was born and raised, but her new role forces her to confront her relationships with her husband, father, and brother, and dealing with her family may be harder than running a state. It's a film made for the big screen that should definitely be watched with a group. You'll laugh, maybe (honestly, most likely...) cry, and definitely leave the theater feeling deeply.
Also Lighthouse, Monterey and Shoreline..
BEAT THE LOTTO -
One of the best stories from 1990s Ireland gets a big-screen outing in this charmer of a documentary from director Ross Whitaker who makes sure you remain watching his film with a newcomer's sense of anticipation. It's funny, pacy, and blessed with a better pitch than most Hollywood movies can manage. How has it taken 30-plus years to get this escapade into cinemas?
All Lighthouse and Shoreline.
DAVID -
This is certainly the best Bible-themed animated musical since DreamWorks's Prince of Egypt (1998), and arguably more biblically faithful and artistically rich. As family-friendly animated biblical epics go, it's one of the best.
Also Monterey and Coastlands.
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT -
There's nothing particularly original here, it could have just as easily been titled Venom in a Santa Suit, and a bizarre scene where the towns Nazi lovers are brutally slain feels like something straight out of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. But given that the whole thing is pretty much played for laughs, that can be forgiven.
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