Veteran actress Waheeda Rehman has said that cinema holds the power to unite people across cultures and geographies, as her 1966 classic 'Teesri Kasam' is set to open the inaugural Indian Film Festival of New Zealand (TIFFNZ). The screening is scheduled for 22 October 2026, marking a landmark moment for Indian cinema's reach in the southern hemisphere.

Waheeda Rehman on the Festival

'Teesri Kasam', which featured Waheeda Rehman and Raj Kapoor in the lead roles, holds deep personal significance for the actress. “Cinema has always had the power to bring people and cultures closer. I am delighted to see TIFFNZ celebrating the richness and diversity of Indian cinema in New Zealand,” she said. “'Teesri Kasam' is a film very close to my heart, and I am especially pleased that it will open the festival, allowing a new generation of audiences to discover its timeless story and poetry.”

Festival Scale and Programme

The first edition of TIFFNZ spans 3 days across 3 cities, featuring 30 film screenings — comprising 10 features, 16 shorts, and 4 special screenings. The programme includes industry panels, post-screening Q&A sessions, networking events, and an awards evening. Notably, the festival will present films in 11 languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi, Nepali, Kashmiri, Kumaoni, French, Japanese, and English, alongside a silent film.

Restored Classics at the Spotlight

A defining highlight of this edition is the showcase of films restored by the Film Heritage Foundation and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI)-NFDC. The closing film will be the restored version of 'Pakeezah' (1972), restored by the Film Heritage Foundation under founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. Festival director Petrina D'Rozario noted that TIFFNZ would be “the second festival in the world” to screen the restored 'Pakeezah'. “We are excited to be one of the first audiences to watch this iconic film from 1972. Many of whom may have never seen these films before,” she said.

A Bridge Between India and New Zealand

Petrina D'Rozario described TIFFNZ as more than a cinema celebration. “TIFFNZ is more than a celebration of Indian cinema; it’s a bridge between India and NZ! Through the festival we want the NZ audience to discover India, and our extraordinary stories to travel to the furthest part of the world,” she said. “At its heart, TIFFNZ is about bringing people, stories, cultures, languages together through cinema.”

With its eclectic mix of restored classics, contemporary shorts, and multilingual features, the inaugural TIFFNZ is poised to introduce New Zealand audiences to the full spectrum of Indian storytelling — and 'Teesri Kasam' will be the first frame they see.