Discoveries from New Zealand World Cinema

Kids on an outing in the forest come up against a mysterious hermit who lives on the other side of a bridge, and he is definitely not happy to see them.

An up-and-coming media executive has good reason to question the very facts of his existence in this micro-budget sci-fi chiller from director Jonathan King ( Black Sheep, Under the Mountain) and novelist Chad Taylor.

A successful city lawyer abandons his practice and heads out to the country. There he comes upon a stately, but neglected, homestead. He moves in, and during his first night a beautiful ghostly woman makes love to him, in his sleep. Soon his dreams become more engrossing than his everyday world and girlfriend. Gradually he unravels the tragedy of his spirit lovers' past. To respond to her call, he needs to embrace the hearafter.

A gripping film chronicling Māori in a defiant struggle against systemic racism and colonial injustice to reclaim their fishing rights. Through resilience and legal strategy, they secured their place in the industry, marking a landmark victory for Indigenous sovereignty. Thirty years later, the fight for equity and environmental stewardship continues.

In WWI, a pilot’s teddy bear and an infantryman’s lost photo drift through chaos, their fragile presence briefly disrupting the brutal rhythm of battle.

Constance is a bored, movie-loving schoolteacher in post-WW2 New Zealand who begins to fantasize that she's a Hollywood star - with tragic consequences.

In this powerful abstract film with a soundtrack of African drum music, Lye scratched "white ziggle-zag-splutter scratches" on to black leader, using a variety of tools from saw teeth to arrow heads. The first version of the film won a major award at the International Experimental Film Festival Held in Brussels in 1958 in association with the World's Fair. Stan Brakhage described the film as "an almost unbelievably immense masterpiece".

A mockumentary about a film crew making a New Zealand reality television show about a couple brought together by a dating service. However due to their being incompatible, the film crew tries to manipulate them to get the film they want for the show.

A caustically funny account of addict monomania.

In the near future, police detective Richard Manning is investigating the most difficult case of his career – the seemingly impossible locked room murder of a wealthy property investor. The more Richard investigates, the more complex the case seems to become. He soon realizes his own future and survival depend on him solving everything – and quickly.

The Feast is a live-action horror short film following siblings Lucy and Sam as they return to their childhood home where their reclusive mother resides. They soon discover that untold horrors have come to haunt her, and must face a vile demonic force before they lose their mother for good.

A contagious virus is turning everyone into zombies, and the only hope for survival lies in the hands of three couch potatoes.

A murderous black comedy set in the 1960s. Sam (McCauley) and his small band of hard-drinking and eccentric friends are having a night of it when a drunk truck driver, Jack (Bach), attacks Sam's Maori wife Sue (O'Brien). In the struggle, Sam and friends end up killing Jack. None of them regrets this, but it has been observed by Miriam (Gruar) who decides to blackmail Sam. Jack's brother Joe (Napier) comes looking for revenge and ends up being killed by Basil (Spence). Their jobs at the freezer works are terminated, and Basil has his own idea about how to get out of their troubles.

A powerful story about a swimming teacher dealing with the overwhelming effects of loss, grief, and guilt.

A comedy about a real estate agent who becomes the last chief of a sinking pacific island.

Inner peace and self-fulfillment are possible for each of us. Two modern day monks set off on an international journey to film a diverse range of people making the choice for a better life through meditation. Stunning cinematography combined with the power of people sharing from a place of profound peace delivers a palpable and moving experience. Available to rent or buy in 11 languages - English, Spanish, Portugese, Norwegian, Mandarin, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish. https://vimeo.com

Rewi Rapana returns to the small country town of Te Mata after his family has left the district. His arrival rekindles old tensions as well as renewing family ties. He is seeking an identity and a permanent place to call home yet desperately hiding a secret from his past. Oddly enough there is one person with whom he finds peace of mind. She is an old woman known as Kara. A special relationship develops between Rewi, Kara and Kara’s great granddaughter Awatea.

Inspired by films including "Rattle and Hum" and "Endless Summer," Fading West follows Grammy-winning alternative-rock band Switchfoot as they travel the globe in search of new musical inspiration and perfect waves. Filmed during Switchfoot's 2012 World Tour, Fading West charts the creation of the fivesome's upcoming album in its earliest and most unpredictable stages. As the band visits legendary surf breaks in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Bali, brothers Jon and Tim Foreman breathe fresh life into their songs by harnessing the spirit of their surroundings and mining new emotional depths. Part rock documentary, surf film, and travelogue, Fading West offers rare glimpses of the longtime surfers on their boards, captures the frenetic energy of their live shows, and portrays a journey both epic and intimate.

In 1942 Wellington, Daisy Edwards, 16 and pregnant, relies totally on her just-wed husband, Ed, who is little older than she. Ed is suddenly drafted into the army and is to be sent overseas to battle while Daisy is sent to her father in Auckland. When Ed's leave is cancelled at the last minute he takes the dangerous decision to go absent without leave to be with Daisy on her journey home. As a deserter, Ed is hunted, captured and imprisoned. Life inside is bad enought without the worry of what is going on outside. The film is based upon a true story.

Three orphaned boys - O'Malley, Rossi and Moir - become blood brothers. When they grow up, they plot revenge on the crooks who got away with shooting O'Malley's father. The crooks are doing very nicely importing heroin and laundering money. The boys begin by killing one of the crooks, stealing his indentification and cleaning out the guy's Swiss bank account. But their revenge does not stop here... And the American end of the operation is getting very curious.

A documentary about New Zealanders in Antarctica: researching International Geophysical Year, and supporting the Trans-Antarctic Expedition by laying supply depots for Vivian Fuchs’ overland crossing.

Roimata, a young Maori woman from the East Coast, travels to the city to meet her half-sister Girlie. Introduced to gang members, the scene is set for a major confrontation when Kevin, a young Salvation Army Officer, arrives. Part of the E Tipu Te Rea series.

Robert jumped. Or maybe he slipped. For his friends the truth is difficult to contemplate. A film about love.

Lucy and Tom are best mates running a tiny, broke theatre. But when an accident forces them to shut down and Tom threatens to leave, Lucy realises she would do anything to save the theatre and keep her friend... who she might be in love with.

For the last two years, Ben has watched his best friend Phil have a sickeningly fantastic relationship with Maryann, the woman Phil snatched from under his nose. When Phil says he’s moving to Australia, this ‘perfect’ relationship starts to fall apart. Maryann asks Ben to fix things up. Unfortunately the more time Ben spends with Maryann, the more he’s attracted to her.

Two brothers; Alama and Popo, arrive for the first time in NZ as Seasonal Workers, making plenty of money to take back home to their family in Samoa. But things take a turn for the worst when Popo steals Alamas' money and runs away. Alama is determined not to return home empty handed, but the only relative that answers his call for help is Bob Titilo; an aspiring private investigator in his 40s. Alama begins to doubt his decision when Bob's unconventional methods take them on a wild goose chase. This New Action Comedy is brought to you by the Makers of hit Comedies; Three Wise Cousins and Hibiscus and Ruthless.

Paul dreams of being a comedian but fears risking his reliable job: a stop/go Lollipop Man. Fate challenges him to keep a car crash survivor alive until the ambulance arrives – at least he's funny...

In China, there exists an astonishing place. A burial ground to rival Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, where pyramid tombs of stupendous size are full of astonishing riches. In 221 BC, China's first Emperor united warring kingdoms into a nation that still exists today. To memorialise this achievement, he bankrupted the national treasury and oppressed thousands of workers to build one of the world’s biggest mortuary complexes. China's second dynasty, the Han, inherited the daunting challenge of building larger tombs to command respect and establish their right to rule without running the nation into the ground. Although no Han emperor's tomb has been opened, the tombs of lesser Han aristocrats have revealed astonishing things: complete underground palaces (including kitchens and toilets) and at least one corpse so amazingly well-preserved some believe Han tomb-builders knew how to "engineer immortality".

A feisty young petrol station attendant attempts to figure out her place in the world.

Made on a wind-up Bolex camera, The Sound of Seeing announced the arrival of 21-year-old filmmaker Tony Williams. Based around a painter and a composer wandering the city (and beyond), the film meshes music and imagery to show the duo taking inspiration from their surroundings.

A portrait of a family, centred on 95-year old New Zealand actress, Dame Kate Harcourt and her life living with her daughter, acting coach Miranda Harcourt.

On the 7th of May 2009, Senior Constables Len Snee, Grant Diver and Bruce Miller arrived at 41 Chaucer Rd in Napier to serve a search warrant on Jan Molenaar for the growing of cannabis. This was just a routine warrant, something they had done countless times. What was meant to be an ordinary procedure turned into three of New Zealand’s darkest days and ended with one police officer dead, two officers critically injured and a member of the public fighting for his life. In some fifty hours Jan Molenaar made a permanent and devastating imprint upon the national psyche of New Zealand as he changed the lives of individuals, families, a police community, and a city. The siege was one of the worst and unexpected cases of violence both Napier and New Zealand had witnessed and it was all the more shocking because of its ordinary suburban backdrop.

Shot on 16mm celluloid across parts of New Zealand and Samoa, interdisciplinary artist Sam Hamilton’s ten-part experimental magnum opus makes thought-provoking connections between life on Earth and the cosmos, and, ultimately, art and science. Structured around the ten most significant celestial bodies of the Milky Way, Apple Pie’s inquiry begins with the furthest point in our solar system, Pluto, as a lens back towards our home planet and the ‘mechanisms by which certain aspects of scientific knowledge are digested, appropriated and subsequently manifest within the general human complex’. Christopher Francis Schiel’s dry, functional narration brings a network of ideas about our existence into focus, while Hamilton’s visual tableaux, as an extension of his multifaceted practice, veer imaginatively between psychedelic imagery and performance art.

The movie follows Lou, a gentle purple creature with an embarrassingly stretchy trunk, as he rescues Kiri, an ungrateful little dinosaur, from a flood — sweeping the pair into the greatest adventure in prehistory. Along the way, they discover that you can find friendship in the wildest places.

A random act of violence leaves eight people in crisis, searching for hope and new beginnings, as the Matariki constellation (Maori New Year) rises in the Southern skies.

A young novice at an isolated convent is confronted with the sudden desire to explore her sexual self in the wake of meeting a blue-tongued lizard. DANIEL is a religious erotic drama set in rural New Zealand.

It's 1892 and Kate Sheppard tells the story of the suffrage campaign - a pursuit that will continue until September 1893.

Stan is a hard working Kiwi bloke who is always on the move. When he comes into the small town 'Netherwood' he finds himself wound up in a web of Murder, Love, Lies, and betrayal.

Five years after being acquitted for the murder of his family, Sean (White) is finally ready to move on with life. But the bitter ex-cop (Malcolm) who led the investigation remains adamant that he's guilty - and will stop at nothing to bring him down.

On 15 May, 2006, double amputee Mark Inglis reached the summit of Mt Everest. It was a remarkable achievement and Inglis was feted by press and public alike. But only a few days later he was plunged into a storm of controversy when it was learned that he had passed an incapacitated climber, Englishman David Sharp, leaving him to a lonely end high in the Death Zone.

A 23-year-old revisits the family car he grew up with to experience the thrill of childhood again...

When the clubhouse of a group of country kids, known as the "Terrible ten" needs money for funding they invent numerous ways to make money. During their attempts at making puddings and selling mineral water they stumble on a formula for breeding coloured sheep.

The drama behind the scenes of the biggest Polynesian Dance festival in the world. Who has what it takes to stand in the front row, and who will win First Place?

Documentary from Kiwi filmmaker Florian Habicht on the most successful haunted attraction in the Southern Hemisphere, Auckland’s Spookers.

The Haunting of Barney Palmer is a fantasy film for children about a young boy who is haunted by his great uncle. Young Barney fears that he has inherited the Scholar family curse; a suite of 80s-era effects ramp up the supernatural suspense. The film was a co-production between PBS (United States) and Wellington's Gibson Group, which resulted in Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Network) being cast. It was written by Margaret Mahy, based on her Carnegie Award-winning novel The Haunting, and an early fruitful collaboration between her and director Yvonne Mackay.

Solidarity follows pioneering New Zealand rappers Upper Hutt Posse after they're invited to the United States by the Nation of Islam. They perform signature song 'E Tū' — about Māori resistance against oppression — and take their message of justice to Detroit community station WDTR. In New York, UHP are interviewed by veteran DJ Imhotep Gary Bryd. Later they meet Abiodun Oyewole, from rap pioneers The Last Poets. This is a street level view of urban artists spreading a message of Indigenous and Black unity, and social justice. Solidarity was directed by Rongotai Lomas and UHP lead vocalist Dean Hapeta.

True story of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone, inspired by his mother.

An East Coast community in Ruatōria, New Zealand attempts to live in autarchy according to the tenets of their movement. Bob Marley, a prophet of our electronic age, is the soundtrack to the everyday lives of these Māori who feel closer to their own roots by observing a blend of Afro-Carribean Rastafarianism and the Ringatū faith. Merata Mita's camera respectfully portrays this singular cultural dialogue. The outsider cultures of Jamaicans, Ethiopians and Māori have come together, vibrating to a common cosmic chord. They find an underground brotherhood, across continents and seas.

A gang member wakes up one morning and decides he needs a day off. Inspired by a newspaper advertisement he impulsively decides to take a short ferry trip between islands. With his tattooed face, black leather clothing, and prominent gang patch, the gangster is a fish out of water when he arrives in the idyllic small port town of Picton. The experience he has there will change his outlook on life forever.

What do they have in common a boy playing in a field of Villa Fiorito and the owner of a bar in Naples? What do they have in common 500 people celebrating Christmas on October 30 and 25 football fans showing their tattoos? They are all loving Maradona.

An innocent rubbish tip assistant, Gert, is given the task of escorting a beautiful mute "princess", Plum, on a perilous journey to meet her prospective husband. Their journey is fraught with danger, challenges, romance and discovery. In surreal action, they encounter a menagerie of characters and animals in far-flung corners of New Zealand.

Grace is a homeless teenager. She befriends an unemployed carpenter and he invites her to share his flat. She moves in and to her surprise a delicate relationship develops. He helps her repair her shattered self-esteem and she begins to feel loved and secure. But then she discovers his secret - he tells her he is Jesus Christ.

An animated documentary that speaks to immigrants' personal experiences living in Aotearoa, exploring themes of racism, discrimination, loss, loneliness, and maintaining cultural ties while living in another country.

'Suni Man' is a touching, yet brutal coming-of-age story of a young Samoan man who must find the courage to choose between a stable life with his loving and traditional family, or an exciting life with his delinquent and dangerous cousin.

Follows the night-time journey of 19-year-old Emma, cruising the city in search of love. But in this psycho-sexual drama, momentary joy in the arms of strangers does nothing to stop her terrible past from intruding.

On October 14th, 1941, in the rural West Coast town of Kowhitirangi, Stanley Graham is a financially struggling recluse. He is accused of poisoning his neighbour's cattle and threatening his neighbours with a rifle. Local Police Constable, Edward Best, arrives to resolve the situation. Graham soon threatens to shoot Best and so he retreats for backup. Best returns with three other Police officers from Hokitika to confront Stanley.

Evoking the style and pace of the Noir genre, the film is essentially a murder mystery with Stanley (Gareth Reeves) the prime suspect. Stanley's success as a novelist has been largely due to his style where he writes from the first person perspective of the central characters, who are always the killers in real-life cases. Troubled with writer's block, his agent suggests a tramping trip "to clear his mind". However, when he wakes up on the first morning of his tramp, he finds his fellow tramper dead.

Mike has the girl, the place and the time. The problem is he doesn't have the ring. Before Mike has an opportunity to propose his engagement ring is stolen. Mike is desperate to recover it, so he and his friends have one hour to get the ring back and make the date with his beloved Emma before all is lost.

The plague is already here. Pesticides, lies and Paranoia. Tractor beams in the vineyards. A yellow dust coats everything. Everyone is sleepwalking. Steam under the hood. Gravel in the mouth. Tom and Red are back on the road and Red tells Tom to pull over. Reagan delivers the State of the Union on the radio. A body was found next to the river. The sickness is growing.

A group of old friends go on a camping trip, confronting their differences and encountering strange occurrences in the wilderness.