New Zealand Film
Welcome to the New Zealand Film archive. Most New Zealand films have been made by small independent film-makers, often on a low budget and sometimes with sponsorship from the private sector or the NZ Film Commission. Only recently have international film companies used the New Zealand film industry as a source of feature films. However, the independent tradition of filmmaking in New Zealand dates back to the end of the 19th century, when film was first shot in New Zealand. The first feature film made in Godzone was "Hinemoa". It premiered on August 1, 1914 at the Lyric Theatre, Auckland.
The documentary film Cinema of Unease, by Sam Neill, presents an accessible history of film in New Zealand.
Most films are able to be accessed below, however some Films have been seperated into sub-categories, ie "New Zealand Documentaries", "Short Films" and "Peter Jackson Directs". The mother-lode can be prospected below.
Right: An artists rendition of Geoff Murphy's "Goodbye Pork Pie".
Whale Rider (2002)
7.6/10
Director: Niki Caro
Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Cliff Curtis, Vicky Haughton, Rawiri Paratene, Grant Roa,...
There is a legend that Paikea rode on the back of a whale and led his people to New Zealand. Since that time tradition has decreed that the first-born... Read more
Whale Rider ( Blu-ray ) (2002)
7.6/10
Director: Niki Caro
Starring: Rawiri Paratene, Cliff Curtis, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Vicky Haughton, Grant Roa,...
There is a legend that Paikea rode on the back of a whale and led his people to New Zealand. Since that time tradition has decreed that the first-born... Read more
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999)
6.4/10
Director: Ian Mune
Starring: Temuera Morrison, Clint Eruera, Nancy Brunning, Pete Smith, Rena Owen
This sequel to "Once Were Warriors" again stars Temuera Morrison as Jake Heke, who having turned his back on his family, must deal with a new set of c... Read more
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
7.6/10
Director: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Jonathan Brugh, Taika Waititi, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Ruther...
Flatmates Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonny Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) are three vampires who are just trying to get by in modern soci... Read more
When a City Falls (2012)
8.7/10
Director: Gerald Smyth
The Canterbury earthquakes, shot in the streets of Christchurch. What happens to half a million New Zealanders the year their lives change forever. Read more
When Love Comes (1999)
7.2/10
Director: Garth Maxwell
Starring: Nancy Brunning, Rena Owen, Dean O'Gorman, Simon Prast, Sophia Hawthorne
Six people from very different backgrounds journey through the ins and outs and ups and downs of love and destiny. It is a film that touches your hear... Read more
When Night Falls (2007)
6/10
Director: Alex Galvin
Starring: Sylvia Rands, Tania Nolan, Rosella Hart, Kevin Keys
Wairarapa, New Zealand, 1932. One evening, two nurses are caring for an invalid patient at his isolated country home. Over the past few weeks, a kille... Read more
White Lies (2013)
6.7/10
Director: Dana Rotberg
Starring: Antonia Prebble, Rachel House, Whirimako Black
"White Lies" is about the nature of identity: those who deny it and those who strive to protect it. Paraiti (Whirimako Black) is a medicine woman. She... Read more
Wild South: Volume 7 (2009)
7.8/10
Contains three episodes: 'Invaders in Paradise' - A thousand years ago the first invaders into our delicate eco-system arrived, and now the conservati... Read more
Will It Fly? (2013)
Director: Wayne Johnson
New Zealand's greatest historical aviation mystery is that of Richard Pearse and his early 1900's flying machine. There were many eyewitness accounts... Read more