With programmes already browsed, checked, underlined and dotted since their release to the public earlier this week, our own personal must-sees from the 160+ strong lineup have invariable made their way into a handful of curated top ten lists. We consider the following essential viewing – or at the very least, films we hope will inspire, invigorate, surprise or provoke debate.

    Must-see
    Our pre-festival favourites, unmissables, and most wanted
    » Pulse
    » The Death of Mr Lazarescu
    » Mary
    » Mind Game
    » Waves
    » The Forsaken Land
    » Host & Guest*
    » Three Times*
    » Mutual Appreciation*
    » Linda Linda Linda*

    One-offs
    Special films unlikely ever to return – theatrically, or otherwise*
    » Offside
    » Battle in Heaven
    » Regular Lovers
    » A Lion in the House
    » A Tale of Cinema
    » Worldly Desires
    » Less is More
    » Who's Camus Anyway?
    » The Army of Shadows/Los Olvidados
    » Lust for Life: The Films of Maurice Pialat

    Event Movies
    Big-screen, big-hype pictures that demand to be seen live
    » Drawing Restraint 9
    » The New World
    » Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
    » The Wild Blue Yonder
    » Dave Chappelle's Block Party
    » Shortbus
    » A Scanner Darkly
    » Ten Canoes
    » The White Planet
    » Phantom of the Opera

    Primers
    Unpretentious sure-hits for the cautious/unfamiliar festival-goer
    » Thank You For Smoking
    » Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
    » Keane
    » Jindabyne
    » This Film is Not Yet Rated
    » An Inconvenient Truth
    » Brick
    » The Road to Guantánamo
    » The Science of Sleep
    » The Wind That Shakes the Barley

See the TNZIFF's own "Tour Guides" for a wider selection of categorised lists and film festival pointers.