• NZFC's Big Screen Symposium Presentation 2020

    News
    Issue date: 21 Dec 2020

    Below is a transcript of the presentation the NZFC gave at the 2020 Big Screen Symposium held 4-5 December 2020. Annabelle Sheehan "Ko Annabelle Sheehan Toku ingoa. From Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga E rau rangatira o te motu Kātahi te tau poro taikaha nei...

  • Internship Opportunity

    News
    Issue date: 21 Dec 2020

    The New Zealand Film Commission invites new and emerging filmmakers to register their interest in paid professional internships on domestic and international drama series. The definition of new and emerging can be found in the NZFC's Talent...

  • International Showreel

    News
    Issue date: 22 Dec 2020

    To mark the end of a successful and challenging year, we are sharing our international reel showcasing some of New Zealand’s fine film, TV and PDV work. Enjoy! Music: Aotearoa – Minuit, Karanga Ra - Herbs Editor: Greg Jennings...

  • Reunion

    Film

    Ivy is packing up an expansive old Victorian home after the recent death of her in-laws. Her husband Jack, wheelchair bound from a stroke, haunts the halls moaning and muttering incoherently. Ellie, Ivy’s estranged daughter, shows up at the front...

  • Screen Sector Gets $50M Boost to Tell New Zealand's Stories Globally

    News
    Issue date: 7 Dec 2020

    The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Hon Carmel Sepuloni launched the Premium Productions for International Audiences Fund over the weekend, making $50 million available in a unique opportunity for the screen sector to tell New Zealand’s...

  • McLaren

    Film

    They are one of the most successful racing teams in Formula 1 history. 182 races won.12 Driver's Championships. 8 Constructor's Championships. Some of the greatest drivers to ever compete in F1 made their names winning titles for them: Emerson...

  • My Year With Helen

    Film

    With unique access to high-ranking candidate Helen Clark, award-winning filmmaker Gaylene Preston casts a wry eye on proceedings as the United Nations chooses a new Secretary General. Her cameras explore the cracks between the diplomats, the embedded...

  • Sundance Premiere for Coming Home in the Dark

    News
    Issue date: 16 Dec 2020

    Coming Home in the Dark will have its World Premiere in the Midnight section of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Written by Eli Kent and James Ashcroft, and produced by Mike Minogue, Catherine Fitzgerald and Desray Armstrong, Coming Home in...

  • He Ara Development Funding Decisions December 2020

    News
    Issue date: 9 Dec 2020

    E rau rangatira mā o te Ao Kiriata,  tēnā koutou katoa, He Ara (Pathway) funding is intended to support Māori and/or Pacific Island filmmakers to further create a diverse range of quality New Zealand content using their own way of working....

  • NZFC Data Room Available Now

    News
    Issue date: 10 Dec 2020

    The New Zealand Film Commission is committed to transparency across its activities and has developed a Data Room designed to inform the industry and ensure information is readily available to anyone wishing to access it. The Data Room includes...

  • COVID Advisory #5 - Screen Recovery Package Update

    News
    Issue date: 13 Aug 2020

    The resurgence of COVID-19 in Auckland this week, shifting the Auckland region to Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country to Alert Level 2 until midnight Friday 14 August, has created uncertainty for all filmmakers living and working here. We...

  • One Thousand Ropes

    Film

    Shot in the Wellington suburb of Newtown in November and December of 2015, One Thousand Ropes is the second feature together for director Tusi Tamasese and producer Catherine Fitzgerald.

  • Daffodils

    Film

    Leaving her dying father’s bedside, singer Maisie rushes to perform at an indie music gig in town. But as she sings the opening song, it’s hard for her to ignore the heartfelt story she’s just been told – the story of how her dad...

  • Chasing Great

    Film

    Chasing Great follows Richie McCaw through his final season as he attempts the goal of captaining the All Blacks to the first ever-back-to back Rugby World Cup Wins. Woven through that final season the film tells the story of Richie’s life....

  • Mt Zion

    Film

    Mt. Zion is a family-oriented story starring Australian Idol winner Stan Walker in his acting debut and Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors, River Queen). Written and directed by Tearepa Kahi (writer/director of award-winning short film Taua), the...

  • The Girl On The Bridge

    Film

    The Girl On The Bridge is a feature documentary directed by award winning New Zealand filmmaker Leanne Pooley.  It is a glimpse into a world few of us comprehend and a response to our collective anguish about the suicide crisis in our communities...

  • 18 Teams Shortlisted for Kōpere Hou - Fresh Shorts 2020

    News
    Issue date: 24 Nov 2020

    New Zealand Film Commission and Script to Screen take great pleasure in announcing the 18 projects and teams who have been shortlisted for Kōpere Hou - Fresh Shorts 2020. A panel of external film industry assessors shortlisted 18 projects out...

  • Tim Roth to Star in New Local Feature Film Punch

    News
    Issue date: 11 Nov 2020

    Production has commenced in Auckland for Punch, a new local feature film starring British actor and Oscar-nominee Tim Roth (The Hateful Eight, Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction, Tin Star), alongside local actors Jordan Oosterhof (Cul de Sac) and Toi Whakaari...

  • Vale Bill Gosden

    News
    Issue date: 9 Nov 2020

    Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) is mourning the loss of an industry stalwart, long-time New Zealand International Film Festival director, Bill Gosden, and pleased to confirm on behalf of his whānau that Bill’s memorial...

  • Traffic Island

    Film

    In this disturbing drama, a group of tough young men walk down a deserted street at night.  They're drinking and boasting about a fight. Kev, the younger brother, is sober and is clearly uncomfortable with everything that is going on.  When...

  • Vermilion

    Film

  • Daniel

    Film

    Joan lives in an isolated convent in rural New Zealand where she finds comfort in the simplicity of routine and the promise of redemption. However - on the eve of her consecration - Joan’s world is challenged when one of the girls is dangerously...

  • International Premiere for This Town at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

    News
    Issue date: 4 Nov 2020

    This Town will have its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, one of Northern Europe’s largest film festivals.  The film will screen In Competition in the ‘Rebels with a Cause’ section which features films from...

  • 28 October Live Webinar with NZFC, NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho

    News
    Issue date: 3 Nov 2020

    On Wednesday 28 October the NZFC, NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho held a live webinar to give an update on the Premium Production for International Audience Fund (PKA the $50M premium drama fund). The Fund is designed to support the production of...

  • Join Six60 for the Premiere of the Film Six60: Till the Lights Go Out

    News
    Issue date: 22 Oct 2020

    Fans will have the chance to buy exclusive tickets to join New Zealand’s biggest band at the Auckland and Dunedin premieres, before its nationwide release. To celebrate the release of the feature film Till the Lights Go Out, SIX60 are giving fans the...

  • Dawn Raid - The Untold Story That Inspired a Kiwi Generation Hits the Big Screen in 2021

    News
    Issue date: 28 Oct 2020

    387 Distribution is excited to release the first trailer for local feature film Dawn Raid ahead of its nationwide release on January 21, 2021. Directed by Oscar Kightley and from the producers of McLaren and The Dead Lands, Dawn Raid is the...

  • Wednesday 28 October - Live Webinar with NZFC, NZOA & Te Māngai Pāho

    News
    Issue date: 23 Oct 2020

    Please join the New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand On Air and Te Māngai Pāho for a live webinar on Wednesday 28 October at 5pm for an update on the Premium Production for International Audience Fund (PKA the $50M premium drama fund). The Fund is...

  • Coffee & Allah

    Film

    Director’s Statement: Sima Urale “On reading Coffee & Allah, I was immediately attracted to the main character Abeba, a Muslim Ethiopian woman, and her journey in a strange new land. Beingan immigrant myself, I could easily relate to the...

  • Goodbye Pork Pie

    Film

    Gerry is young and restless and unemployed. He lives in an isolated small town in the far north of New Zealand, so when the car gives him the chance to head to a big city, he moves fast and starts looking for excitement. John is older and slightly...

  • New Zealand Film Starring Julia Ormond to Have US World Premiere

    News
    Issue date: 7 Oct 2020

    Jake Mahaffy’s Reunion will have its world premiere in the newly formed Nightstream Film Festival, an online collaboration between major US genre festivals Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, Overlook, and Popcorn Frights Festivals. ...

  • Behold the Ghost

    Film

    Siblings in a colonial New Zealand household discover one snowy night that they are orphans. Henry, the impressionable middle child is haunted by the ghost of their abusive father. He resists his cross-dressing older brother's attempt to mother the...

  • A Matter of Time

    Film

    A social commentary watching the lives of five 15 & 16 year olds as each “slice of their life” is revealed on the hour from 12 midnight until 5am. Sometimes real life needs no verbal explanation. Sometimes life gets in the way of...

  • Mouse

    Film

    A couple searches the West Coast bush for a wasps’ nest. He is a tracker of signals, but can’t seem to read what she wants. She cuts back a fallen tree to keep the fertile natural world at bay but when she comes across a dying mouse on her...

  • The Brother

    Film

    Dean returns to his small town home where he finds the tight-knit community is still against him. When his live-wire older brother Jon ignites local tensions the brothers retreat into the wilderness with their hunting gear.  As an old animosity...

  • The Messiah

    Film

    This urban coming-of-age story begins when Leke (14) runs away from home after yet another beating from his frustrated father. Alone in the early hours of the morning outside a shop in Manurewa, Leke is approached by a young accolyte who takes him to...

  • I Will Not Write Unless I Am Swaddled in Furs

    Film

    We follow a writers’ meticulous morning routine as he prepares to conceive a great work of art. His list of preparations grows longer and more specific, revealing his love and obsession with writing, until finally, he sits down to write, feeling...