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Prime Minister

Directed by Lindsay Utz, Michelle Walshe
United States
2025
102 mins
Unclassified 15+
This remarkably intimate portrait of Jacinda Ardern explores her challenging and transformative term as Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. Sundance 2025 Audience Award Winner.

At just 37, Ardern became the youngest Prime Minister in her country in over 150 years, and only the second world leader to give birth while in office. This documentary captures the defining moments of her leadership, from her compassionate response to the Christchurch mosque attacks to her swift, though controversial, COVID-19 strategy. Directors Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz perfectly combine public moments, news coverage, home videos filmed by Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, unheard audio from her time in office, and reflections from the Jacinda of today. A rare glimpse of a leader balancing empathy with authority, this is an up-close and personal exploration of leadership in a divided, complex world.

  • Guest filmmaker introduction and Q&A will take place at the State Theatre screening on Saturday 14 June.
  • Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.
“World leaders have rarely been captured with as much intimacy as in Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz’s Prime Minister.”
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety
“It would be a bit of an exaggeration, but just a bit, to say it trolls Donald Trump. It’s no accident that it includes deliberate, pointed contrasts that position Ardern as the American leader’s exact opposite in their approaches and objectives.”
Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter
“The documentary acts as an intimate study of what it means to serve others when it seems like the world is falling apart and to be a partner and mother at the same time.”
Harrison Richlin, IndieWire
“World leaders have rarely been captured with as much intimacy as in Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz’s Prime Minister.”
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

Tickets

Sat 14 June 2025, 2pm
Past Event
State Theatre
State Theatre
WheelchairAssisted Listening
Sun 15 June 2025, 6:10pm
Past Event
Ritz Cinemas Randwick - Cinema 1
Ritz Randwick - Cinema 1
WheelchairAssisted Listening
See more, save more with a Flexipass or Youth Pass

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking, or see our Access & Inclusion page for more information.

  • Program Strand
    Special Presentations
  • Year
    2025
  • Classification
    Unclassified 15+
  • Country
    USA
  • Language
    In English
  • Director
    Lindsay Utz, Michelle Walshe
  • Producer
    Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck, Clarke Gayford
  • Cinematographer
    Thorsten Thielow, Clarke Gayford, Leon Kirkbeck
  • Editor
    Grace Zahrah, Enat Sidi
  • Genre
    Documentary, Politics, Women Directors, Women’s Stories, History
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    World Sales: Creative Artists Agency
Aboriginal FlagTorres Strait Flag

Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.

We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

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