Europa! Europa Film Festival Reveals 2026 Program

Europa! Europa Film Festival will make its New Zealand debut in 2026, bringing a major showcase of contemporary European films to Bridgeway Cinemas, Auckland from 19 February to 4 March 2026.

“We’re excited to introduce Europa! Europa to Auckland audiences for the first time,” saidArtistic Director Spiro Economopoulos. “With 23 films representing 16 countries across Europe, our festival brings the most distinctive voices of a diverse continent to audiences across Australia and New Zealand. From awards contender The Testament of Ann LeestarringAmanda Seyfried to new films from Europe’s boldest auteurs such as Agnieszka Holland, László Nemes and QuentinDupieux, theprogram reflects the diversity, audacity, and quality of contemporary European cinema.”

OPENING NIGHTFILM

The 2026 festival opens with the Australian premiere ofThe Testament of Ann Lee, an ambitious musical drama that premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, earning one of the festival’s longest standing ovations.

Featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance fromAmanda Seyfried, the film presents a bold, subversive portrait of Ann Lee, founder of the religious Shakers movement, reimagining female leadership,faithand rebellion through unconventional cinematic and musical forms.

MODERN MASTERS

The program spotlights new works from some of Europe’s most critically acclaimed filmmakers, whose influence continues to shape contemporary cinema.

Locarno Leopard of Honour recipient Lav Diaz presentsMagellan, a historical epic tracing the Portuguese explorer’s final voyage while interrogating the moral cost of colonial ambition,starringGael García Bernal.

French provocateur QuentinDupieuxreturns withThe Piano Accident, a sharp satire on digital fame and spectacle, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos(Blue is the Warmest Colour) as an influencer famed for performing outrageous stunt videos because she cannot feel pain.

Academy Award–winner László Nemes presents Orphan, a historical drama set in post-1956 Hungary that explores intergenerational trauma and patriarchal power, following a teenage boy confronting a violent surrogate father.

UNTOLD HISTORIES

This year’s dramatic selections reframe well-known historical figures, shifting focus from public myth to private experience.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland presentsFranz,a kaleidoscopic portrait of surrealist writer Franz Kafka, moving between eras to examine his enduring cultural legacy.

Chopin, a Sonata in Paris, directed by MichałKwieciński, follows composer Frédéric Chopin’s formative years after his move to Paris in the 1830s.

Directed by Fabienne Godet,The One I Loved recounts the tumultuous true love story of Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, a relationship shaped by artistic ambition, publicscrutinyand Montand’s notorious affair with Marilyn Monroe.

Making his feature debut, acclaimed opera director DamianoMichielettopresentsPrimavera, set within Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, where music, discipline and desire intersect under the mentorship of Antonio Vivaldi.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

The 2026 program also includes a selection of high-profile European titles that have made a strong impact on the international festival circuit and at the box office.

From acclaimed director Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), comes CalleMálaga, a touching and life-affirming drama about age, independenceand unexpected romance starring Almodóvar veteran Carmen Maura.

Produced by Natalie Portman, Arco is a spectacular Golden Globe-nominated animated adventure set in the year 2075 follows a young girl named Iris who discovers a boy in a rainbow suit has crash-landed near her home from a far-distant future.

Wunderschöneris Karoline Herfurth’s follow-up German box-office smash Wunderschön, expanding its ensemble story to further interrogate beauty standards,ageingand personal autonomy.

Set against the backdrop of a Transylvanian wedding in 1980,Hungarian Weddingcombines romance and social satire, richly infused with traditional Hungarian folk music and dance.

FESTIVALDETAILS

Bridgeway Cinemas, Auckland 
Thu 19 Feb - Wed 4 March

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