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Every culture has its stories and its heroes. In recent years Māori culture has also had its share of anti-heroes on the big screen and none more so than Jake the mus in Once Were Warriors. Whilst this film reflected the very real pressures on Māori...

Set at the East Coast town of Whāngārā, Whale Rider tells the tale of a young Māori girl, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), who challenges tradition and embraces the past in order to find the strength to lead her people forward. Niki Caro's second...

Writer and director Taika Waititi first came in contact with the Hunt for the Wilderpeople project in 2005, when executive producer Charlie McClellan employed the then “writer for hire” Waititi to adapt the Barry Crump classic Wild Pork and...

The Dead Lands is the fourth feature by acclaimed New Zealand director Toa Fraser (Dean Spanley, No. 2, Giselle) and is based on a script by Glenn Standring (Perfect Creature, The Irrefutable Truth About Demons). It was produced by Matthew Metcalfe (Dean...

Merata Mita’s documentary captures the mass civil disobedience that took place during the winter of 1981.

Now isolated by lack of numbers, time and distance, the remaining survivors form a tight-knit community which outsiders find impenetrable. Rewi's deceit forces him to become part of that community and his life is inextricably interwoven with those...

It's the year 2043. Political factions had come to a head after a war broke apart North America. In that process, Canada joined the United States, caving to the argument that the alliance was necessary for survival of the Government (previously,...

Punch is a contemporary film about love, loyalty and liberation. Jim is a seventeen-year old boxer in a small town. He is a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But...

The Aramoana tragedy is one of the more significant events in New Zealand's recent history. Says director Rob Sarkies, "These events highlight the positive side of the kiwi spirit as much as darkness of the actions of one man. The people of...

Jane Campion brings to the screen the harrowing true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most distinguished author.  The film follows Frame along her inspiring journey, from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia...

New Zealand, 1963. A year after the passing of her mother, eight year old Hine and her father Whai, still grieve. One Sunday morning the water stops flowing into the house so while her father fixes it, Hine does the washing at the river. While there she...

Steven, a closeted Chinese international student, is preparing to lose his virginity to a stranger he met online. With video calls from his emphatic mother half a world away about his fabricated girlfriend and the looming presence of his deceased father...

George the dog and his human August are the only two souls aboard a gigantic, dilapidated space station. They’re charged with keeping it running, but are overwhelmed by the scope of the task. They spend their days cleaning vents and throwing a well...

Seven year old Sarah idolises her Dad. Watching his indoor cricket game is one of her favourite pastimes. She wants to be just like him.  One afternoon, at what seems to be a routine game, Sarah is cheering Dad on from the sidelines when Dad...

Fiona Clark discovered the power of her art by taking portraits of her friends who happened to be drag queens in mid 1970s New Zealand. Giving visibility to the socially marginalised, dismantling prejudice and fighting for equality through the lens of...

Over breakfast one morning, Len’s family votes him out. With nowhere else to go, he packs his bags and heads to the office. And as it turns out, he’s not the only one sleeping over. When Len finds out his colleague Mary has also been exiled...

It is the year 2291e. The great warlord’s army are about to attack. Nothing will stand in his way if the Rebels cannot defeat them. Any man, woman or boglinoid willing to risk their life to stand against such tyranny is valued. Is this why...

The marriage of Laura and Bruno is on the rocks. They bicker constantly, their stress levels are sky high, and Laura’s gritted teeth determination to deliver the perfect client pitch leads to an arm laceration and immediate dismissal. At their...

During a rushed lesson from their father on butchering a stolen sheep, 15-year-old Hoss and his 11-year-old brother Blue notice that their act has orphaned a baby lamb. When Blue refuses to eat the resulting meal, his father’s temper ignites. Later...

Matt is your typical angst ridden fourteen-year-old boy. It’s just his Mum, Jo, and little brother Artie in the house after their Dad died, so Matt is often called the man of the house. Matt sets off when he learns of Jo’s plans to sell...

Sista is a coming of age story about Tiana (13) and Isabelle (11), two New Zealand/ Samoan sisters on the cusp of adolescence. As Tiana is drawn into the world of teenagerhood and seduced by the pressures it forces upon her, Isabelle feels left behind....

Thick, deadly smog blankets the globe, reducing visibility to less than a few metres. Living in a secluded farmhouse, a woman and her abusive husband attempt to survive by crafting trails with rope and stakes to guide them through the unseeable world....

A gothic horror film directed by Garth Maxwell.

Atawhai is a boy on the verge of manhood. He is a favorite of his Aunties, and he in turn adores them. But the Aunties have grown old and he fears they may lose their ability to keep the Marae, the communal gathering place of the tribe, alive. Atawhai...

It's a funny film. The setting is the fictitious New Zealand small town of Klynham in the early 1950s, where each day's trivial events and each character in the motley population serve to divert Ned and Prudence from the truth of what is going on...

An aged woman lives with her fully grown and wholly dependant son. This Vincent Ward film is a rare view of an enclosed world where an 82-year-old woman, alone, is 'The Burdened One'. Filmed over a period of one and a half years, this emerges as...

The conspiracy plot is mostly an excuse for chases, capers and crashes galore, all imbued with plenty of pell-mell shenanigans (this time heading north in a red Falcon) by Goodbye Pork Pie director Geoff Murphy. The movie marked Temuera...

White Lies is a story about the nature of identity:  those who deny it and those who strive to protect it. Paraiti (Whirimako Black) is a medicine woman.  She is the healer and midwife of her rural, tribal people – she believes in life....

Riven is the dark fantasy tale of a warrior's struggle to accept loss. Anguished by the death of his wife, he journeys into the darkness of the forest to seek redemption in bringing her back from the dead. Lost in the mist of his grief, he must face...

Fiji: In a modest dwelling in Fiji a 7 year-old girl with boundless energy tries to understand why she has to say goodbye to her home country and extended family as her mother prepares her to leave Fiji. Tonga: Vai, now 13, dreams of going to NZ to sing...

A family’s idyllic outing descends into terror when high school teacher Alan ‘Hoaggie’ Hoaganraad, his wife Jill and stepsons Maika and Jordon go exploring an isolated coastline. But an unexpected meeting with a pair of murderous...