Search

Fifteen years ago, Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van Beek) discovered they were being two-timed by the same man. Bitter and cynical they became fast friends and formed The Breaker Upperers, a small-time business breaking up couples for cash....

The submission checklist for the Early Develoment Fund.

The submission checklist for the Documentary Development Fund.

“I have a great idea for a film – where do I go from here?” This is one of the most common questions we get asked. Starting out as a writer in the film industry is tough and advice can be hard to find. We hope to shed some light on the process...

Vigil was the first ever film from New Zealand to compete in Cannes (1984). Winner of the Best Film award at the Madrid Film Festival it is the first feature film of 30 year-old Vincent Ward. Vigil is a powerful atmospheric drama set in a primeval...

Trial Run is the first feature from Melanie Rodriga (nee Read), who wrote and directed the film. 

Came a Hot Friday is based on the novel of the same name by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, described by Maurice Shadbolt as "by far the funniest book ever written by a New Zealander." Producer Larry Parr had been a fan of Morrieson's novels...

Psychogenesis: We Can Make Your Dreams Come True. Sharon, Brian, Amanda and Angus read the advertisment. Sounds interesting. They apply. In a building that looks like a Rubic Cube on the outside and NASA control on the inside, they meet Mr Big. An...

In less than two decades, the world's southern-most capital has changed beyond recognition. Outside war or natural disaster, few cities anywhere have changed themselves so quickly or so completely. From one of New Zealand's leading filmmakers,...

Eric (TOM BRENNAN) is their natural leader. Older, urbane and persuasive, he instigates the walkout. Thomas (CTIBOR TURBA), an enigmatic European revolutionary who speaks little English, is frustrated in his mission and eventually finds himself stranded...

Tawhai Bennet's first job is helping Mrs Jones on the rural delivery round during the school holidays. Mrs Jones is a widow who is renown for her sharp tongue, but also her tremendous spirit and pride. Over the weeks that they are working together,...

This psychadelic animation follows the spirit of a person who dies in a car crash on the motorway.  On it's way to Te Rerenga (Cape Reinga), the life force (wairua) of the victim travels through forests and beaches, meeting other spirits and...

Directed by Bruce Morrison, the movie echoes the style of Hollywood melodrama, while simultaneously critiquing the dream.

In late May, 1978, 142 carpenters and labourers on the Mangere Bridge construction site in Auckland were sacked over a redundancy dispute.  The bridge workers declared the job 'black' and began to picket the site. The company retaliated by...

A car crashes on a lonely road in the early morning. The tow-truck driver who is called out to salvage the wreck is Al Shaw (BRUNO LAWRENCE). Once an international Grand Prix racing star, Al returned home to take over his father's business, a...

Harry and Pheno, both young people in dead-end jobs, meet by chance one day and decide to rebel. They embark on a freedom binge, first painting graffitti then moving on to more daring escapades. A cop is soon on their tail, but he starts to falter when...

Using Kingi's own memories, this film shows how the problems in his life led him into ineveitable conflict with the law. It is not until he is in the solitary confinement of a police cell that Kingi starts to think about his life. His relationship...

English conservationist Richard St Barbe Baker, here aged 92,  presents his ideas with a simple and desperate clarity: "We have to plant forest trees for our lives". He brings world attentiont to the alarming rate at which the world's...

Peter Young’s documentary celebrates the passionate artists and entrepreneurs who battled to protect the creative heart of their city amongst the ruins of post-quake Christchurch. After staid, conservative Christchurch was shaken to its...

Middle Age Spread was the feature debut from director John Reid (Carry Me Back), as well as the debut of cinematographer Alun Bollinger (Goodbye Pork Pie), writer Keith Aberdein (Utu) and editor Mike Horton (Once Were Warriors). Based on the 1977 play by...

Angel Mine is director David Blyth's first feature film, for which he wrote the script as well. Angel Mine explores the ways in which consumerism and materialism govern lives in middle class suburbia, and how this affects the dreams and fantasies of...

Rose's Tale is the debut short film from Michael Winkelman, a New Zealander who has been based in Bristol, England, for the last 15 years. The story is based on a friend's recounting of an actual experience with the location being transferred...

Director’s Notes – Veialu Aila-Unsworth “I have eaten many a hot meal off this plate design - either at my Great Aunt’s or during a student-flat dinner. It still makes me laugh to think that such an elegant plate, with such a...

In his new movie, Spooked, Geoff Murphy takes an intriguing series of events from 1992 New Zealand as his starting point and, making a daring imaginative jump, spins it to where all good 21st century conspiracies lead – Osama Bin Laden and the CIA...

Director’s Notes - Nancy Brunning In 2004 I read an early draft of Journey to Ihipa. I said to myself, if I were a filmmaker, I’d want to direct this one. I had directed for theatre before but never for film, and what was important to me at...

DIRECTOR’S NOTES "To date, old New Zealand has been portrayed in cinema as a dark and cold land of deep foreboding; the final frontier, a savage place of no return. My aim was to show ancient Aotearoa as a green, and heat filled land full of...

Teenagers Zig and Jaffa get totally wasted, and as always take the broken path from the house to Jaffa’s shed to play Redemption. They have discovered a way to take the violence and pain in their young lives and transform it into pleasure, healing...

The boy’s anxiety is further increased by his mother’s self-absorption in the break up of her marriage and her hurried return home. But it seems that there are stronger powers at play.  This young boy has a gift, a gift of ‘seeing...

Celebrating their half century this year (2009), the Topp Twins have attained a unique status within New Zealand culture, and their fans range from hard core political activists, to sheep farmers and 'Ladies who Lunch'. Their ability to relate to...

DIRECTOR’S NOTES - Ainsley Gardiner The word ‘mokopuna’ has two meanings in the Māori language. Firstly, it is the physical reflection of your face, secondly it is the word for grandchild or descendent. It suggests that we are a...

Auckland based filmmakers Miriam Smith & Christopher Pryor lived and filmed in Jerusalem for a year, spanning 2010/2011.  How Far is Heaven follows the journey of Sister Margaret Mary, the newest Sister to Jerusalem, who is a regular volunteer...

The Most Fun You Can Have Dying is a debut feature for both writer/director Kirstin Marcon and producer Alex Cole-Baker. The film is based on the well-reviewed 2003 debut novel ‘Seraphim Blues’, written by Steven Gannaway. The film...

Set almost entirely in a petrol station, Fantail was shot on location in South Auckland, New Zealand. Fantail is the passion project of director Curtis Vowell, producer Sarah Cook and writer/actress Sophie Henderson.  It was funded through the New...

Like the Anzacs 100 years ago Sam Neill journeys across oceans, seeking an answer to why a legend was born in Turkey on 25 April, 1915. Why our two island nations, separated by sea, still celebrate a botched military expedition. Submerging...