The Dark Horse

“Bravery is contagious”

Genesis Potini (Cliff Curtis), a former Maori speed-chess champion living with bipolar disorder, wants to save the struggling chess club he runs for kids in a rough part of New Zealand. Writer-director James Napier Robertson puts him up against prejudice and violence, and a gang father who would sooner keep his son at home. Mana (James Rolleston), caught between that father and Genesis's tournament table, is who the film keeps coming back to.