• New Zealand Producer Premieres Two Films at Sundance 2016

    News
    Issue date: 18 Dec 2015

    New Zealand producer, Carthew Neal, will premiere two films at next year’s Sundance Film Festival. Tickled directed by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve will screen in the World Documentary section of the festival. Announced last week...

  • Mahana and Born to Dance to screen at Berlinale

    News
    Issue date: 21 Jan 2016

    Two New Zealand films have been included in the programme of the 2016 Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale). Lee Tamahori’s Mahana will have its world premiere at the festival, screening out of competition, and Tammy Davis’s...

  • New Zealand-Israel Film Co-Production Agreement Signed

    News
    Issue date: 3 Mar 2016

    A film co-production agreement between New Zealand and Israel was signed at the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) in Wellington earlier this week by New Zealand’s Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Hon. Maggie Barry and Israeli Ambassador, H...

  • We're Taking This Bloody Car To Invercargill...Too

    News
    Issue date: 9 Mar 2016

    A modern reimagining of the kiwi classic Goodbye Pork Pie is set to begin filming across New Zealand with Matt Murphy, son of the original film’s director, Geoff Murphy, announced as the reboot’s director.    As a fifteen-year-old,...

  • Animated feature 'Beast of Burden' approved as first official China/New Zealand feature film co-production

    News
    Issue date: 18 Mar 2016

    The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) and China Film Co-Production Corporation (CFCC) are delighted to announce the joint approval of 3D animated family film, Beast of Burden as the first official feature film co-production between the two countries. A...

  • Tickled Trailer released

    News
    Issue date: 23 Mar 2016

    Kiwi audiences will get their first look at the hotly anticipated documentary Tickled with the release of the films official trailer. Tickled - NZ Trailer Probing into the bizarre world of Competitive Endurance Tickling, Tickled follows...

  • Next Generation Blondini Gang announced

    News
    Issue date: 27 Mar 2016

    The next generation of “Blondini Gang” have been announced. Dean O’Gorman (The Hobbit, The Almighty Johnsons) James Rolleston (Boy, The Dark Horse) and Ashleigh Cummings (Puberty Blues, Tomorrow when the War Began) will star in Pork Pie...

  • Hunt for the Wilderpeople a box office smash!

    News
    Issue date: 4 Apr 2016

    Taika Waititi’s adventure comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople has broken New Zealand box office records by opening with largest opening weekend ever for a New Zealand film with a box office take of$1,300,000 NZD. “We’ve beat Boy’s opening...

  • Award-winning films to showcase in the New Zealand Film Festival in China

    News
    Issue date: 21 Apr 2016

    Ten New Zealand films are being screened at a biennial showcase of New Zealand cinema in China that should reach a theatrical audience of over 10,000 people in 42 screenings across three major cities. The ten films, six features and four short films,...

  • New NZFC Head of Production and Development announced

    News
    Issue date: 21 Apr 2016

    The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Leanne Saunders as Head of Production and Development. Leanne replaces Lisa Chatfield who recently left the NZFC for a role at Pukeko Pictures. Leanne has over 15 years’...

  • New Zealand Film Festival in Shanghai launched

    News
    Issue date: 22 Apr 2016

    The New Zealand Film Festival was launched in Shanghai on Thursday 21 April. Jointly hosted by the New Zealand Consulate General and the Shanghai Film Distribution and Exhibition Association, the festival opened with a screening of  Roger Donaldson'...

  • Record-breaking run for Hunt for The Wilderpeople

    News
    Issue date: 29 Apr 2016

    Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople continues to break box office records, taking the number two slot in the list of highest grossing local films at the New Zealand box office.  At the close of business on Wednesday 27 April, ...

  • Bumper year for New Zealand films at Annecy International Animation Film Festival

    News
    Issue date: 29 Apr 2016

    25 April will screen in competition at the highly regarded Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June. It will join eight other films in the competition line-up, only one of which is also a documentary. Directed by Leanne Pooley and produced...

  • NZ’s Best Shorts Guest Selector Announced

    News
    Issue date: 5 May 2016

    NZIFF continue to appoint prominent NZ filmmakers to select the latest and best in NZ short films with Lee Tamahori confirmed as Guest Selector for the 2016 New Zealand’s Best competition. Five to six selected New Zealand shorts will premiere in...

  • Tūhoe at the Venice Architecture Biennale

    News
    Issue date: 13 May 2016

    An acclaimed documentary about the design and construction of a unique cultural building for the Tūhoe iwi will be be screened in Venice this month at the beginning of the city’s famous Architecture Biennale.   Ever the Land tells...

  • Hunt for the Wilderpeople takes top spot at the Kiwi box office

    News
    Issue date: 16 May 2016

    Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople has cemented its place in the record books overtaking the 2010 Kiwi classic Boy (which Waititi also directed) to become the largest grossing local film at the New Zealand Box office. Already...

  • DEGNZ Announces Women Filmmaker Incubator

    News
    Issue date: 25 May 2016

    The Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ) is delighted to announce its year-long Women Filmmaker Incubator with financial assistance from the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC). The Incubator, launching in the second half of 2016, will...

  • New Zealand's Best Shorts Announced for NZIFF 2016

    News
    Issue date: 7 Jun 2016

    Six short films have been selected by Lee Tamahori (Mahana, Once Were Warriors) as finalists for the New Zealand International Film Festival’s annual New Zealand’s Best Short Film Competition. The New Zealand’s Best finalists will compete for a total of...

  • World Premiere of The Rehearsal Announced as NZIFF 2016 Centrepiece Presentation

    News
    Issue date: 9 Jun 2016

    NZIFF is thrilled to present the World Premiere of Alison Maclean’s hotly anticipated adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s debut novel The Rehearsal. The film stars James Rolleston in the role of Stanley, a naive newcomer drawn to the city by his passion to...

  • The Rehearsal Trailer Released

    News
    Issue date: 13 Jun 2016

    The theatrical trailer of The Rehearsal, Alison Maclean’s vibrant screen adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s debut novel has been released online. The Rehearsal Trailer The Rehearsal will have its world premiere at the Civic Theatre on 23...

  • New chair of NZ Film Commission appointed

    News
    Issue date: 22 Jun 2016

    Former Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast has been appointed chair of the New Zealand Film Commission, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry has announced. “Mayor of the capital from 2001-2010 and now chair of both the Environmental...

  • On An Unknown Beach premieres at the NZIFF

    News
    Issue date: 6 Jul 2016

    Filmmakers Adam Luxton and Summer Agnew worked across oceans and time zones to complete their second collaboration, On an Unknown Beach, for this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF). The film documents a scientist, a musician and...

  • Chasing Great trailer debuts

    News
    Issue date: 7 Jul 2016

    Transmission Films is proud to launch the official Chasing Great film trailer. The trailer is available now here. This emotive and explosive trailer gives New Zealanders their very first look into this highly anticipated film. Chasing Great takes...

  • DEGNZ Announces Women Filmmakers Incubator

    News
    Issue date: 18 Jul 2016

    The Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ) is delighted to announce the ten emerging women directors who will participate in its inaugural Women Filmmakers Incubator. They are: Catherine Bisley Nathalie Boltt Abigail Greenwood Kirsty...

  • Pork Pie announces release date

    News
    Issue date: 21 Jul 2016

    On your marks, get set, GO!  PORK PIE announces cinema release date. STUDIOCANAL and FOUR KNIGHTS FILM are all geared up to distribute their modern reimagining of the kiwi classic Goodbye Pork Pie to New Zealand Cinemas nationwide. PORK PIE will...

  • Disney’s Pete’s Dragon premieres in L.A.

    News
    Issue date: 5 Aug 2016

    The Hollywood premiere of Disney’s Pete’s Dragon on 8 August has provided another spectacular opportunity to showcase New Zealand as the ultimate film destination. The reimagining of the Disney classic was filmed entirely in New Zealand, with...

  • Gaylene Preston Directors' Award recipients announced

    News
    Issue date: 29 Aug 2016

    The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Gaylene Preston Directors’ Award. Armagan Ballantyne, Alyx Duncan and Gillian Ashurst will each receive $25,000 to further their commitment to feature filmmaking....

  • Poi E flies again

    News
    Issue date: 5 Sep 2016

    Movie reaches $1 million at NZ Box Office.  Soundtrack reaches No 4 on Music Charts The film about the origins of the song now referred to as New Zealand’s unofficial National Anthem, Poi E: The Story of Our Song, crossed the $1 million mark in...

  • Chasing Great: Richie McCaw soars to the top of the box office

    News
    Issue date: 2 Sep 2016

    Chasing Great has soared to the top of the New Zealand box office overnight, opening at number one spot ahead of Bad Moms. The opening day figure was $89,186 off 97 screens, a record breaking opening day for a NZ documentary. The cumulative gross box...

  • New Zealand films buoy box office

    News
    Issue date: 7 Sep 2016

    New Zealand box office figures show New Zealanders are going to local films in record numbers. In the last 12 months, New Zealand films have boosted the box office at local cinemas, breaking records and reaching larger numbers of people in more cinema...

  • Vale Brent Chambers

    News
    Issue date: 3 Oct 2016

    New Zealand Film Commission staff are saddened by news of Brent Chambers’ death from a heart attack over the weekend. Brent was the founder and creative director of Flux Animation, one of the major animation and production companies in...

  • Christchurch documentary wins awards at international film festivals

    News
    Issue date: 10 Oct 2016

    Christchurch feature documentary The Art of Recovery has taken top awards at two separate films festivals the US and Europe this past weekend. The film, directed by Peter Young, opened the New Urbanism Film Festival in Los Angeles where it won 'Best...

  • Farewell to Michael Firth

    News
    Issue date: 11 Oct 2016

    It is with much sadness that the NZFC acknowledges the death of writer and director Michael Firth on 9 October. Firth started his filmmaking career as a teenager, experimenting with an 8mm camera to make a documentary about a tribe of Brazilian Indians...

  • Ramai Hayward Scholarship announced

    News
    Issue date: 11 Oct 2016

    At the Ngā Aho Whakaari Hui on 7 and 8 October, NZFC CEO Dave Gibson announced the details of a third gender scholarship, following the awards supported by Jane Campion in 2015, and Gaylene Preston earlier this year. The 2017 scholarship is to support...

  • Gaylene Preston among national Women of Influence winners

    News
    Issue date: 14 Oct 2016

    Congratulations to Gaylene Preston on being named one of New Zealand's Women of Influence. Presented by Fairfax Media and Westpac, the New Zealand Women of Influence programme recognises and celebrates women from all walks of life who make a difference...

  • Pork Pie Trailer Released

    News
    Issue date: 18 Oct 2016

    Get ready for a rollicking, hilarious, heartwarming length-of-the-country-road-trip…. Pork Pie is coming! Kiwis get their first peek at the accidental outlaws better known as the Blondini Gang today, with the launch of the official trailer for the film...