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On the anniversary of his father’s suicide, Tama (Niwa Whatuira), a young man fuelled by drugs, alcohol and violence, spirals into anger and despair. As Tama travels the destructive road of no return, he becomes intertwined with five courageous...

DIRECTORS NOTES - Leo Woodhead “I remember the moment the idea for Cargo popped into my head. A friend of mine was writing a script about restorative justice, and we got to talking about amnesty international and current topics in Europe. It...

Gibson is a hardworking part Māori man living in Blenheim.  He starts the day early, hard at work in the vineyard. There is a stillness to the home he now dwells in, alone. We see the different parts of his life pieced together in images. Although...

Featuring extensive footage of Queen Street in 1988, this is a troubled - and troubling- romance for gay and straight audiences alike.

The police led by Inspector Bruce Hutton (DAVID HEMMINGS) had little to go on. No bodies, few clues, no motive. For three months a massive search operation concetrated on finding the victims - a local farmer and his wife. Suspicion focussed on the woman...

Starring Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata and Glen-Paul Waru, Housebound was funded by the NZFC’s Escalator scheme,  the film premiered to critical acclaim at Austin’s SXSW Festival in March 2014.  In April, Housebound won the...

Fifteen years ago, Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van Beek) discovered they were being two-timed by the same man. Bitter and cynical they became fast friends and formed The Breaker Upperers, a small-time business breaking up couples for cash....

Brightening up the nation's Easter Tuesday, the hilarious and eye opening trailer for new Kiwi film Nude Tuesday has been unveiled, ahead of its nationwide cinema release on 16 June. Described by The Hollywood Reporter as “one of the most...

Five screen storytellers have been matched with experienced New Zealand mentors in the 2022 round of Hunga Taunaki ā Rorohiko, the New Zealand Film Commission’s online mentorship programme.  Hunga Taunaki ā Rorohiko refers to working with others and...

Vigil was the first ever film from New Zealand to compete in Cannes (1984). Winner of the Best Film award at the Madrid Film Festival it is the first feature film of 30 year-old Vincent Ward. Vigil is a powerful atmospheric drama set in a primeval...

Trial Run is the first feature from Melanie Rodriga (nee Read), who wrote and directed the film. 

Came a Hot Friday is based on the novel of the same name by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, described by Maurice Shadbolt as "by far the funniest book ever written by a New Zealander." Producer Larry Parr had been a fan of Morrieson's novels...

Psychogenesis: We Can Make Your Dreams Come True. Sharon, Brian, Amanda and Angus read the advertisment. Sounds interesting. They apply. In a building that looks like a Rubic Cube on the outside and NASA control on the inside, they meet Mr Big. An...

In less than two decades, the world's southern-most capital has changed beyond recognition. Outside war or natural disaster, few cities anywhere have changed themselves so quickly or so completely. From one of New Zealand's leading filmmakers,...

Eric (TOM BRENNAN) is their natural leader. Older, urbane and persuasive, he instigates the walkout. Thomas (CTIBOR TURBA), an enigmatic European revolutionary who speaks little English, is frustrated in his mission and eventually finds himself stranded...

Tawhai Bennet's first job is helping Mrs Jones on the rural delivery round during the school holidays. Mrs Jones is a widow who is renown for her sharp tongue, but also her tremendous spirit and pride. Over the weeks that they are working together,...

This psychadelic animation follows the spirit of a person who dies in a car crash on the motorway.  On it's way to Te Rerenga (Cape Reinga), the life force (wairua) of the victim travels through forests and beaches, meeting other spirits and...

Directed by Bruce Morrison, the movie echoes the style of Hollywood melodrama, while simultaneously critiquing the dream.

In late May, 1978, 142 carpenters and labourers on the Mangere Bridge construction site in Auckland were sacked over a redundancy dispute.  The bridge workers declared the job 'black' and began to picket the site. The company retaliated by...

A car crashes on a lonely road in the early morning. The tow-truck driver who is called out to salvage the wreck is Al Shaw (BRUNO LAWRENCE). Once an international Grand Prix racing star, Al returned home to take over his father's business, a...

Harry and Pheno, both young people in dead-end jobs, meet by chance one day and decide to rebel. They embark on a freedom binge, first painting graffitti then moving on to more daring escapades. A cop is soon on their tail, but he starts to falter when...

Using Kingi's own memories, this film shows how the problems in his life led him into ineveitable conflict with the law. It is not until he is in the solitary confinement of a police cell that Kingi starts to think about his life. His relationship...

English conservationist Richard St Barbe Baker, here aged 92,  presents his ideas with a simple and desperate clarity: "We have to plant forest trees for our lives". He brings world attentiont to the alarming rate at which the world's...

Peter Young’s documentary celebrates the passionate artists and entrepreneurs who battled to protect the creative heart of their city amongst the ruins of post-quake Christchurch. After staid, conservative Christchurch was shaken to its...

Middle Age Spread was the feature debut from director John Reid (Carry Me Back), as well as the debut of cinematographer Alun Bollinger (Goodbye Pork Pie), writer Keith Aberdein (Utu) and editor Mike Horton (Once Were Warriors). Based on the 1977 play by...

Angel Mine is director David Blyth's first feature film, for which he wrote the script as well. Angel Mine explores the ways in which consumerism and materialism govern lives in middle class suburbia, and how this affects the dreams and fantasies of...

Rose's Tale is the debut short film from Michael Winkelman, a New Zealander who has been based in Bristol, England, for the last 15 years. The story is based on a friend's recounting of an actual experience with the location being transferred...

Two New Zealand feature films and one short film have been selected to screen at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TiFF).  Nic Gorman’s debut feature, Human Traces and anthology film, Waru, written and directed by nine Māori women will...

We are excited to announce the successful applicants for this year’s piloted Interactive Development Fund. The programme supports concept development of original narrative-focused interactive and games content delivered on any platform (including mobile...

The Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards (nicknamed Moas) were presented on Saturday 18 February in a glittering yet irreverent ceremony at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds. At times it was a roller-coaster of emotions for nominees as popular favourites cemented...

Seven films have been offered funding in the June Fresh Shorts round, four at the $10,000 level, and three at the $30,000. This is the first round of Fresh Shorts Funding in which the shortlisted teams were required to attend a three-day residential...

Following is a transcript of NZFC CEO Dave Gibson's 25 September presentation at the 2016 Big Screen Symposium. Today I want to talk about and pose some questions around In amongst this I want to talk about some things we are doing...