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Kiwi musical Daffodils has taken over one million dollars at the New Zealand box office and, now in its fourth week of release, remains in the top ten chart of films currently in theatrical release.  Of the 150 films released in New...

Tackling the topics of representation, inclusion and belonging in today’s screen, entertainment and technology landscape, the summit will include local and international heavyweights as guests and speakers The Power of Inclusion will be hosted by New...

Award-winning filmmaker Leanne Pooley's feature film Beyond The Edge, about Sir Edmund Hillary’s legendary ascent of Mt. Everest, will have its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.  Pooley’s The Topp Twins: Untouchable...

Congratulations to the team behind Beyond The Edge, which was named runner-up in the People's Choice Award for Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival.  The People's Choice Award nod comes after a successful Toronto world premiere for...

Pietra Brettkelly’s A Flickering Truth is New Zealand’s submission for the best foreign language film category of the 89th Academy Awards. Each year the Academy invites countries to select and submit their best foreign language film for...

Tusi Tamasese’s One Thousand Ropes and Toa Fraser’s 6 Days will screen in October’s BFI London Film Festival. One Thousand Ropes, written and directed by Tusi Tamasese and produced by Catherine Fitzgerald is the story of a father re-connecting with his...

Los Angeles, March 13, 2017 – Toa Fraser’s thriller 6 Days, starring Jamie Bell, Abbie Cornish, and Mark Strong, has been acquired by Vertical Entertainment for North American rights with a target U.S. theatrical date in Fall 2017.  Additionally,...

The animated documentary 25 April about the WWI Gallipoli campaign is the first New Zealand movie to qualify for a Best Animated Feature Academy Award.    25 April was produced by Matthew Metcalfe, directed by Leanne Pooley and animated by...

The annual Statistics New Zealand screen industry survey was released today and shows that screen revenue eased since the record high level it saw in the 2016-17 financial year. Total screen industry revenue in the 2017-18 period was $3.3 billion. “...

DIRECTOR'S NOTES - Stephanie Donald "Henry lives a detatched, voyeuristic lifestyle - interpreting reality via her video camera. Josephine, a reporter, unknowingly becomes an object of Henry's study. The tables, however, are turned,...

The NZFC and the New Zealand screen industry sadly bid farewell to actor Anzac Wallace. Best known for his role as Te Wheke in Geoff Murphy’s Utu, Wallace’s first on-screen appearance was in The Bridge, a documentary by Merata Mita and Gerd Pohlmann...

Rabbit's loyalties to his delinquent brother and the eccentric Mr and Mrs G are put to the test when an unexpected order arrives to bake 330 dozen hot-cross buns by 6:30 the following morning. Familial relations are severely strained as the minutes...

The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) is looking for an experienced Māori producer to collaborate with an Australian Indigenous Producer (appointed by Screen Australia) on Ngā Pouwhenua, a one-off joint indigenous initiative. Two overarching...

One man's life is waylaid by a brief encounter. It will take his best friend to guide him back to love. Director Armagan Ballantyne's last film, Whistle She Rolls, was selected for the 1996 Venice Film Festival and went on to win second prize ar...

Phil Hearn is pushing 40 and feels every minute of it. He didn’t plan to have six kids and work a second job driving taxis to feed them all but that’s how his life is shaping up.   One stormy night in the city, Hatu...

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT - Robert Sarkies "I got to the movies to enjoy the movie. Others go to chat or eat or sleep or make out. Am I weird?" "We all love going to the movies. There's a romance to it (yes even when you go alone)....

Audrey Foggin is a sultry young Catholic woman living in the 1950s.  She tries to break free of her drab, conformist existence - dominated by religious guilt and fear - by idealising her postie, Barry. Reality, however, turns out to be rather more...

Malama  is one of six short films that screened as part of Tala Pasifika, a groundbreaking Pacific Island drama series that screened on TV One in 1996. Malama  tells the story of Malama, a young girl who lost her eyesight in a car crash that...

Ma Te Wa Film Productions - established in 1999 to develop Needles and Glass into a theatrical short. Adapted for the screen by Susan Thrasher from the remarkable short story by Fiona Kidman, Ma Te Wa has endeavoured to gather film industry professionals...

Philosophy is an award winning short film about life, death and electricity. Set in a surreal landscape a young student of philosophy hitches a ride in a hearse only to find himself trapped and desperate to escape.

Sacred land… or Tapu, as Maori put it. This is a world where ritual and prayer is the only formidable respect that will pave our way. Respect of where we are standing. Respect for the events of the past. Respect for whatever immortal spirit waits...

DIRECTOR'S NOTES - Ian Hughes "The Waiting Room was written in 1995 while I was living in the city of Prague. Hometown of Franz Kafka. It wasn’t until I lived there that I fully comprehended his work. Life was a constant spiral of...

Director’s Statement - Kirsty Cameron In The Lethal Innocents I wanted to create a suburban fable to tell the story of a girl who does not conform to the cliched ideas of teenage right and wrong. These girls can be called many things –...

This early short from Roger Donaldson is a sci-fi caper for kids.  A singing and dancing gang led by 'Evil Eva' holds Auckland to ransom.  If they don't get their five mil, Eva will drop a nuclear bomb into the crater of Rangitoto...

Fresh from a sell-out world premiere at the prestigious SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas, the debut trailer for The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps has been released. In cinemas nationwide on 2 May, the film is...

Based on industry feedback, the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air and Script to Screen have extended the deadline for applications for Raupapa Whakaari: Drama to the World by two weeks. NEW DEADLINE for RAUPAPA WHAKAARI: DRAMA TO THE WORLD -...

Aucklanders Sandra Kailahi and Anthony (Ant) Timpson have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “Both bring huge expertise and knowledge to the...

Production is underway in Auckland for Piki Films’ new feature film, Baby, Done staring Edinburgh Comedy Award-winner Rose Matafeo (The Breaker Upperers, Funny Girls) and English actor Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter,...

Daffodils, a bittersweet love story told with beautiful re-imaginings of iconic New Zealand songs will be able to be enjoyed in cinemas by the hearing impaired alongside their hearing friends. In a first for a New Zealand film, Daffodils distributor,...

October 2019 and April 2020 respectively mark the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) and Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department are partnering on a one-off...

The depth of talent in Wellington’s screen sector is once again on the global stage, with four participants joining Screen Canberra’s Accelerator Film Pod 2019, to develop and market-test feature film projects with strong commercial prospects. Screen...

With great sadness the NZFC and the New Zealand screen industry bids farewell to writer and director Peter Wells. A life-long lover of film, Peter’s first short film, Foolish Things (1980) was an experimental piece which screened in Australia and won...

Rialto Distribution are thrilled to share with you the full theatrical trailer for The Heart Dances - the journey of The Piano: the ballet. The Heart Dances tracks the creation of The Piano: the ballet, commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Ballet....

The New Zealand Film Commission in partnership with Louise Gough (Australia) is offering two opportunities for a select group of industry professionals to elevate and upskill their story assessment and development skills for screen storytelling. Script...

The New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air in conjunction with Script to Screen present RAUPAPA WHAKAARI, a new initiative designed to develop and package distinctive high-end series drama for the international market. The initiative supports writer/...