Top of the Lake's second season is a big screen deal

If you want to be the first to see the next instalment of Jane Campion's Top of the Lake, you'd better buckle up and sort out some snacks.

That's because season two of the acclaimed series, China Girl, is debuting in full at the New Zealand International Film Festival - all six hours of it.

The film festival, which kicks off in July in Auckland, today confirmed the Elisabeth Moss police drama will play in one sitting that will screen all six episodes with two intermissions.

Festival director Bill Gosden has seen the series and called it "the most enthralling six hours" he'd spent in a movie theatre this year.

"We can promise you an immersive experience in Auckland and Wellington, and due to the six-hour duration the screenings will have two intermissions," Gosden said.

The first season of the show was set in Otago, but the murder mystery show is moving to Sydney for season two to focus on Moss' detective Robin Griffin investigating a body that washes up on Bondi Beach.

China Girl also stars Nicole Kidman and Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie.

Other films confirmed for the festival today include Toa Fraser's hostage drama 6 Days, Jackie van Beek's debut feature The Inland Road, Waru, and Nic Gorman's Human Traces.

They join documentaries My Year With Helen, Spookers, Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web, What Lies That Way, Team Tibet: Home Away From Home, Swagger of Thieves, No Ordinary Sheila, Free Theatre, The Free Man, Kobi and 100 Men.

The full film festival programme is revealed on June 26.