Discoveries from New Zealand World Cinema

A crazy dream allows a young student to find out the real identity of the president

A stray dog in Russia is taken off of the streets and must learn to accept others in order to find a home.

Conservationist Sam the Trap Man brings to life the vision of "Recloaking Papatūānuku" - a bold initiative to restore and regenerate over 2 million hectares of Aotearoa's native bush and wetlands.

Dashing down to the local dairy has long been a Kiwi institution. This documentary examines the evolution of the dairy and the impact it has had on migrants looking to find their place in New Zealand.

Would-be novelist Jess Bartlett stages a "quiet night in" to finish her new book, fuelled by glasses of wine and her favourite board game, "Cluedo". Then all manner of odd friends and acquaintances show up with only one thing in common - they pay 'Cluedo'. As Jess moves her pieces into place, her life unravels as she becomes "trapped" in her house with a troubled footballer, a manic TV advice show host and a randy old author and an unseen chicken.

The short tells the story of a drunkard going through alcohol withdrawal, as personified by the Devil. Director Bob Stenhouse takes what could be a dark subject and makes it a funny madcap romp.

In a recuperation facility for people with a mysterious ailment, two women meet and establish a mystical connection.

Celebrating a birthday, a young boy and his exhausted babysitter wait for his unusually late parents.

After the end-of-year ball, several teens set out to shake off the dust of high school with quiet kick-ons in a palatial house outside Wellington. The vibes shift with the arrival of Yannick, a drop-out who’s determined to amp up the party, whose blustering insistence on more, more, more threatens to spill over into blind rage.

Portrait of a Knight is a musical romance about the way in which historic ideals inform contemporary urban life. Rachel is a young archivist living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. Feeling alone and disconnected from life, she projects her romantic fantasies onto the paintings she loves, until one day her song brings Reginald - a Knight of the Realm - to life. His carefree innocence and zest for life begin to open Rachel up to the beauty around her, but the fates have a way of making trouble when miracles occur...

A young woman receives a mysterious call in the night. After several strange events, she realises that she is not alone and that she may be in grave danger.

Chan and his older mate Kim prospect for gold in 1890s Otago. Marooned until they can pay off their debts and return to China; they’ve been fruitlessly working their claim for 12 and 27 years respectively. Chan faces racism, isolation, extreme weather, threatening surveyors, opium dens and a circus romance.

Thugs are hired to destroy a rival business, but the employees of Frankie's Orchid Glasshouse are willing to fight for their workplace.

Aotearoa, 1962. 19-year-old Te Puhi claims international fame overnight when she is crowned Miss New Zealand — the first Māori to win the title. Torn between duty and her dreams, Te Puhi navigates the disconnect from home when she moves to London against her family’s wishes.

A lonely scientist receives a surprise visit.

Detective Elias Christopher investigates a string of ritualistic murders with a haunting connection.

A women agrees to go back to a man's place for a post-first-date glass of wine. At first, he's charming, well-read, and seemingly harmless, then she starts to realise something's wrong.

What happens when you cross poor white trash with gangsta culture, then stick it on a horse? You get the Deadly Ponies Gang. Dwayne and Clint have been the "bestest of friends" forever. They love hip hop, and horses, but they don't like guns, and they can't afford cars, so the pair have taken to pimping out their ponies instead, blinging out their rides with pearls, glitter, and gold (all plastic, of course) eternally trying to impress the ladies.

Inept cops go on the trail of a music-related murder.

Two flatmates discover the couch of their dreams sitting on a street corner - only to find a second set of flatmates have called "dibs".

Isabel recalls a trio of relationships: one with a man in the middle of discovering he is gay, one with a man who doesn't like the smell of Isabel's pet dog, and the one with her friend Ruth.

Mark Hunt is a global superstar in kickboxing and mixed martial arts, the ‘Super Samoan’. This documentary charts his tumultuous career from childhood abuse at the hands of his father, to his lowly start in the ring and triumph in the UFC.

After spending three years in prison for the manslaughter of his best friend, a young man is released and knocks on the door of his best friend’s parents, desperately seeking forgiveness.

Ashton is part of changing the world just by taking some pills.

This story brings to life how fragile ‘grown up relationships’ are. The fact that marriage has a 50% chance of working out is concerning and we follow Josh on his journey to realising that.

A trio of pirates strike gold but things take a turn when they start squabbling over their plunder.

While retired New Zealand cardiac surgeon Dr Kerr is celebrated as the 'Father of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery' in Palestine, the film reveals that his remarkable achievements were made possible by the quiet but vital support of his wife, Hazel Kerr. Travelling alongside him, Hazel brought a different kind of healing, offering compassion and care to the people she met in Palestine.

A mysterious camera discovered outside an abandoned building in New Zealand is handed over to police after it’s found containing disturbing footage. Weeks later, the video leaks online, revealing a terrifying ritual performed by two friends attempting to bring someone back from the dead. As the footage spreads across the internet, viewers begin questioning whether what they witnessed was a hoax… or something far more real.

Reality begins to fray for a put-upon housewife in midcentury New Zealand.

A young and green police officer is implicated in the assault of an arrestee.

In 1981, the New Zealand government invited the South African rugby team to tour New Zealand. This effectively split the country in half. Patu! is the story of the protest movement, HART (halt all racist tours). This documentary shows footage of protester meetings, rugby games and various beatings meted out to protesters from police.

A girl named Tammy Torrance is in detention. Her teacher tells her that he needs to go to the bathroom as he goes about his business he gets killed by A.Marty. Tammy hears this and goes outside of the room then we see the teacher on the ground with blood on his face. A.Marty holds a book called Life is a Daring Adventure and says that it's his favourite book in the world he goes after Tammy she runs to the back room but gets stuck and he kills her with a ruler but then she wakes up and it turns out that it was a dream. She then talks to A.Marty not knowing he killed her in her own dream. After they talk he turns around to the camera and breaks the 4th wall by saying "You can't handle the truth."

This is Stake's entry for the ABC's of Death 2013 competition.

Two estranged siblings are interrupted while on a road trip to their parent's funeral.

Jack Lovelock won New Zealand’s first Olympic athletics gold medal. He did so in spectacular fashion, winning the 1500 meters at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In front of Hitler and 110,000 spectators, the famous ‘Lovelock kick’ unfurled into NZ’s sporting and collective consciousness: from Timaru to Oxford, to Berlin triumph. Yet Lovelock was an enigmatic achiever. In this short film, the race — the supremely judged apex of a sporting career — is contrasted with his mysterious and tragic death, in front of a train on the New York subway in 1949.

Demonically possessed hamsters terrorize a young babysitter and her boyfriend.

A multi-storyline film which follows the aftermath of a stalled movie project in Wellington. As the various members of the cast and crew resume their everyday lives, the intricacies of their relationships with one another become increasingly difficult, as their conflicting needs and desires become impossible to resolve.

The story of a guy who gets some hope & curry in his life, through love. It's the journey of 'Sid', who migrated from India to New Zealand, to have a life full of bikes & women, but reality hits when he comes to NZ.

‘The Siren’ is about a young siren woman who emerges from the water in the hopes of discovering a new world. As she does so however, she finds that those with dominion over the world wish only to possess her or worse. The world of men becomes a horror born from their fear of her power over them despite her pure intentions.

A documentary team in small town New Zealand investigate claims by scared locals that their kids have turned into devil worshipers, only to find out the truth has been grossly overstated.

A teenage punk band is tasked with writing a slow song for their upcoming school ball, to which they write it to be about how bad marriage is.

Revisit the events of 1984, when six female vigilantes kidnapped an Auckland University lecturer and assaulted him in a violent political action, triggering debates about gender politics that divided New Zealand and led to social change.

Danny’s weekend away from the chore of cat-sitting is about to turn weird.

A Tongan/Kiwi warrior who could run 100 metres in under 11 seconds. He was the youngest All Black to put on the jersey and still holds the record for the most tries scored in World Cup history.

Maurice and I is a feature-length documentary celebrating Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney’s hugely influential architectural partnership, and their legacy that was all but lost in the devastating Christchurch Earthquakes.

A search for the identity of a prolific street artist becomes a treatise on graffiti, cave painting and the human need to make a mark, no matter how impermanent.

Over a decade in the making, Swagger of Thieves follows rock band Head Like a Hole from the top of the charts to the bottom of a needle. Staring down their age, two pals and the main guts of HLAH, frontman Nigel Booga Beazley and 'co- conspirator' Nigel Regan strut the hard road out of hell, fighting to reconnect and return their band to past glory, amidst disgruntled band mates, a changed music industry, and disappointed wives. Struggling to place past addictions and sabotaged dreams behind them in their continuing quest for rock music relevance, the ever-collapsing binary stars of any Head Like a Hole lineup, are certain (not) to polish their legacy here. Swagger of Thieves captures what it means to be in a band with a reputation. Unrelentingly raw, wild and honest, to the point of being one of the most insightful music documentaries ever made. Essential viewing. New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival (MIDFF)

Are you ready for a night of some gay jokes?! I hope you enjoy my full comedy special: Give Me One Good Reason Why I Shouldn’t Throw My Phone Off this Bridge. Filmed at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand.

Documentary about big game fishing in New Zealand.

In this poetic short film, writer/director/songwriter Kararaina Rangihau tells a story of great significance to the Tūhoe people. Unfolding entirely in te reo Māori, the narrative follows a child (played by Te Ratauhina Tumarae) learning the origins to the waiata 'Taku Rākau E', from her great-grandmother (Menu Ripia). Flicking between the present day and 1873, the great-grandmother tells how Mihikitekapua, a blind women of Tūhoe (also played by Ripia), first sang this important waiata. Rangihau was mentored by prominent filmmaker Merata Mita, who produced the film with co-producer Chelsea Winstanley.

The sanity of two women is tested as they play a seemingly endless game of golf.

When a brother dies in a car accident, blame and bitterness take their toll as love and loyalty are tested amongst friends and family. Nevertheless, it is still possible to fall in love, to laugh again, to play soccer and to sing. But it takes courage to move on and unless you take the first step, you can't take the next.

Te Puhi prepares for the toughest day of her life—she must come to terms with her father’s dementia. But first, the two share a traditional meal.

Keskidee, a small Jamaican bird resilient in the face of hardship, is also the name of a self-help black arts centre in London, and the theatre group who work there. Keskidee's actors and musicians were brought to New Zealand to work with communities who face similar day-to-day dilemmas and who might be encouraged to express their frustrations and anger in drama, poetry and music. Keskidee were to act as a catalyst. the film shows some of their work and their response to the people they met. Tribal elders try to show keskidee the depth of Maori roots in the land, and the complexity and pain of their present struggles: against the loss of Aroha; against the laws of pen and paper; the alienation of their land; the suppression of their language; the devaluation of their people and culture.

Seven New Zealand women speak about their lives during World War II: some lost husbands, some got married, some went into service themselves. The director lets the women tell their stories simply, alternating between them talking and archival footage of the war years.

Journey of a Story follows the life of William Brown, a fictional New Zealand serviceman both physically and emotionally damaged by his tour of duty in Europe and time as a Prisoner of War during World War II. Returning home, William finds a very different world to the one he left behind. Forced to leave the home he planned to enjoy with his wife Lily and young son James, William struggles to cope until an observant War Pension medical officer convinces William to take up writing. Fueled with a new passion for life, William finally finds a road to success, in ways he could not possibly imagine. The story is told to from the elderly William's point of view, as he relays his story to a young theatre director attempting to bring William's life to the stage.

Farnick has been sent to execute a traitor of the cult-like organisation, "The Trade". However while in pursuit of this double-crosser, the hint of a larger truth becomes apparent and Farnick is left in the dark.

Can you ever fall in love with the perfect person?

A coming-of-age story that explores how money affects Pacific communities and their churches. The film follows a Samoan teenager who is coming to a realisation of struggle within his family, and in his attempt to support his parents, he winds up paying the price.