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DIRECTOR’S NOTES I intend this film to challenge audiences – the story is tense from the get go, the meeting of the characters is fraught with emotional strain, but Martin and Renee, while not always sympathetic, have charm. They are both...

Do No Harm explores the first corruption of a woman’s moral code. It is the short film prequel to a feature film project, Black Lotus. The strand pulled under pressure in Do No Harm leads to a more dangerous unravelling of humanity in the larger...

Everything in the universe is in a state of constant change; dynamic and infinite. Time, the seasons, nature itself; all are part of an eternal cycle. This is the basis of the ancient Chinese teachings of the Five Elements or “Wu Xing”; a...

Wayne is the near improbable true story of 1987 World Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner’s triumphant journey from riding a $5 dirt bike to the summit of his global sport. At its heart Wayne is also a love story, with girlfriend, Donna-Lee...

Toa Fraser's second English-set film (following 2008's quirky drama Dean Spanley) dramatises a real life siege at the Iranian Embassy in London, when gunmen held 26 people hostage in April 1980. Fraser and Dead Lands writer Glenn...

It’s hard enough being a teenager, working in the family falafel truck with her mother, who’s in the ninth year of grieving the loss of her husband, but fifteen-year-old Nofar Azrian sells falafel to soldiers perpetually ready for war,...

A Canadian/New Zealand co-production, Turbo Kid is the world’s first post-apocalyptic coming-of-age splatter actioner with a dash of romance. A bloody but sweet-natured love letter to 80s nostalgia and the tale of an orphaned outcast...

The story centres on 17 year old Jay who has travelled from Scotland to Colorado to be reunited with the woman with whom he is infatuated. He is quickly confronted by the dangers of the frontier and so teams up with a mysterious traveller named Silas (...

The Vintner’s Luck is a story of love, wine and angels; recounting the life of Sobran Jodeau, a peasant winemaker and his life-long ambition to produce a great wine - a wine that has never before been tasted. Set in Burgundy in the years spanning...

Released in Kiwi cinemas in August 2009 - after winning praise at festivals in Berlin and Rotterdam - The Strength of Water marks the big-screen debut of Māori playwright Briar Grace-Smith, and Pākehā director Armagan Ballantyne. The film centres on a 10...

The Ferryman, a classic horror film set in the South Pacific, commenced principal photography on March 31 and wrapped on May 13, 2006. Filming took place on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, Waiheke Island, Birkenhead Point and Kelly Park in Wainui north...

Perfect Creature is a highly original retelling of the vampire myth, set in an alternate version of the 1960’s. Science fiction and horror coalesce in a suspenseful, elegant, action film about race, serial killings and the capacity of human beings...

A co-production between New Zealand, Canada and the UK, Nemesis Game began as an idea by director Jesse Warn to write a screenplay around the idea that riddles are a metaphor for life. Warn and his producing partner Matthew Metcalfe teamed up with...

Bonjour Timothy is a comedic teenage love story from director Wayne Tourell. Timothy Taylor is your average teenage whose life is disrupted by the arrival of a French Canadian exchange student. Because of a simple spelling mistake on a fax, the...

John is having trouble with his ex-wife. He's also bankrupt. And he can't find buyers for his warehouse full of parrots. Because of all these troubles, he decides to blow his brains out. But his suicide attempt is interrupted by a cute young cop...

A young boy is afflicted by apocalyptic visions in medieval Cumbria. Believing he is divinely inspired to save his village from the Black Death, he persuades a group of men to follow him into a tunnel. They dig deep into the earth and emerge ... in...

Jade has joined her best friend Michelle for a day at the pools. She is in the throws of puberty, and she desperately wants to be older than her young thirteen years. Jade talks to a reluctant Michelle about sex, revealing she has heard her neighbours...

The following is a selection of annual film festivals in New Zealand that screen New Zealand films. Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival is a national event featuring a programme...

When we meet Flip she is living in a cycle of abuse with a beastlike soldier, Helmet. She has managed to keep her daughter Plug relatively safe, fed, alive and so far Helmet has not turned his attentions towards her. Plug is the light in her life, the...

Set in small town New Zealand in the 80’s, Midnight Till 8 follows Cam, a 10-year-old boy who’s having trouble connecting with his father. He joins his dad on the Midnight Till 8 shift where home rules don’t apply. Cam helps with the...

As two Irish workmen scale the scaffolding of a London high-rise, their jovial storytelling, kindly lessons imparted and joke sharing rapidly descends into distrust, as the boss suspects his young apprentice of being involved with his wife. Upset and...

In a world where a deadly virus is wiping out humanity, a 12-year-old girl with Down syndrome is left in the care of her survivalist uncle. Frank, at ease with a gun and living off the land, has little sympathy for a kid like Izzy. The frosty...

3 Māori cousins. Mata, introverted, watchful, a seer of spirits, the child of a Māori mother and an abusive Pākehā (white) father. Makareta, raised to be the princess of her tribe, spoilt and educated in both worlds. Missy, cheeky, insecure and often...

Honk if You’re Horny is a ribald comedy about tall stories and our bizarre need to pretend to be something we’re not, as well as the folly of being too quick to judge a book by its cover. On a rainy night in Auckland city, an enigmatic...

Inspired by a true story, Hot Mother is a is the tale of a single mother and her contemptuous daughter, who go to a spa retreat to spend time together. Set over the course of one afternoon, the pair seem unable to connect; the divide between them is too...

When arborists, Zoe and Tim find out they are having a baby, they resolve to not let parenthood change them. Tim runs towards being a Dad, while Zoe runs away from being a mum - trying to live out her long-deferred dreams. Terrified that her life won...

The deliverables, by format, for the Premium Fund Interim Production Round.

The submission checklist for the Premium Fund Interim Production Round.

Zoe and Ollie are in love, freshly engaged, and long distance. A couple of goofy creatives doing things their way. With two cold beds to fill and vows of undying commitment looming, both agree to cheat on the other. A risqué experiment in love and a...

Woodenhead is filmmaker Florian Habicht's first feature, in which he was not only director but also writer, producer, co-cinematographer and co-editor. The entire dialogue and soundtrack for Woodenhead was pre-recorded. The visuals...

An intimate story of the birth of indigenous cinema told from the perspective of Merata’s son Hepi Mita. The sudden death of pioneering Māori filmmaker Merata Mita in 2010 led her son on a journey to uncover a story of a mother’s love that...

Sir Edmund Hillary’s incredible achievement remains one of the greatest adventure stories of all time; the epic journey of a man from modest beginnings who overcame adversity to reach the highest point on Earth. Both a classic triumph of the...