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".
48 Hours 2005 (2005)
Officially New Zealand's largest filmmaking event with over 6000 movie maniacs attempting to make 270 short films in just 48 hours or die trying. From... Read more
48 Hours 2006 (2006)
Director: Various
Officially New Zealand's most successful short film competition. Thousands of kiwis work together and compete to be crowned the Grand National Winner... Read more
48 Hours 2007 (2007)
Director: Various
The motto is WRITE. SHOOT. CUT. SURVIVE. and in 2007 more than 10,000 committed people, in more than 400 teams, competed around New Zealand to be crow... Read more
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous (2005)
5.7/10
Director: Stewart Main
Starring: Andrew Patterson, Harriet Beattie, Jay Collins, Georgia McNeil, Michael Dorman,...
Growing up in Central Otago in 1975, 12-year-old Billy is a farmer's son out of step with the other kids at his school. He's not interested in farmin... Read more
6 Days (2017)
6.2/10
Director: Toa Fraser
Starring: Mark Strong, Martin Shaw, Jamie Bell, Abbie Cornish
In April 1980, a half-dozen armed Arab separatists stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took 26 of the occupants hostage. The tense hours that fo... Read more
A Flying Visit: Series 1 and 2 (2002)
Starring: Jim Hickey
Former TVNZ weatherman and pilot Jim Hickey flies his plane to some of the country's more unique and remote areas, in search of colourful characters a... Read more
A Soldier's Tale (1989)
6.3/10
Director: Larry Parr
Starring: Benoit Regent, Gabriel Byrne, Judge Reinhold, Maurice Garrel, Marianne Basler, P...
In wartime France a New Zealand soldier on a weekend leave meets a young French woman who is under suspicion of colluding with the occupying Germans t... Read more
A Song of Good (2008)
5.7/10
Director: Gregory King
Starring: Gareth Reeves, Matthew Sunderland, Ian Mune, Danielle Cormack, Johnathon Hendry
20-something slacker Gary Cradle (Gareth Reeves) has made a pig's ear of his life so far and after a series of botched attempts to get money for drugs... Read more
After the Waterfall (2010)
5.6/10
Director: Simone Horrocks
Starring: Peter McCauley, Sally Stockwell, Antony Starr, Cohen Holloway
Still grieving three years after the disappearance of his four-year-old daughter, forest ranger John (Antony Starr) has separated from his wife Ana (S... Read more