Discoveries from New Zealand World Cinema

Watch through the eyes of a masked serial killer as he hunts his final victim.

TO LOVE A MAORI tells the story of Tama and Riki, two young men who leave their country marae for Auckland and the racial discrimination they face once they arrive in the city.

A collector reveals the story behind his lifelong obsession.

As two girls go from being friends to maybe something more, one of them encounters a stranger who needs a place to stay the night.

Buzzing and clicking, light abstractions are made from slide footage.

Afghanistan's film history might well have have been lost forever, if not for the brave custodians who risked their lives to conceal films from the Taliban regime. This is a chronicle of their attempts to preserve and restore thousands of hours of film.

NZ’s most successful and funniest comedy duo are back with the DVD of their hit show Prettyfull Woman. All of the Laughing Samoans characters, such as Sam and Tony, Paul and Victor and Jonathan and Bryan, are back. Including the flamboyant and outspoken Aunty Tala who, in this show, enters a beauty contest! Hilarious ‘clean’ comedy for all nationalities and ages to enjoy.

A fascinating story of effort towards global peace, featuring eight peace people of Aotearoa New Zealand – spanning some seven decades – peacewalkers, petitioners, and folk in small boats and on the surfboards sailing out into the harbours in the face of huge warships. A unique documentary, bedded in the movement of aihe (dolphins), tohora (whales), kotuku (white herons), toroa (albatross) and with an original score blending contemporary waiata and traditional Maori musical instruments.

The Voyager 1 space probe has escaped the sun's heliosphere, bearing a golden record full of sounds and images from Earth. When it crashes into an alien vessel, its genocidal discoverers make haste toward Earth for a swift and efficient species-cleansing - only to discover their prey has already done their work for them.

A lonely women. She hears the Bells calling her. And so she follows.

How is Singapore's identity constructed in Singapore cinema?

Lala Rolls’ fascinating quest to examine what happens to a Tahitian high priest and navigator when he travels across the pacific – and further on towards England as a translator and guest (or is it as a living trophy?) – aboard Captain James Cook’s HMS Endeavour.

Anna is a young woman on the Autism Spectrum who enjoys living a life of rigorous routine. When someone unintentionally sits on her seat on her morning bus, her day is sent spinning out of control.

Shifter's life is a mess. His flatmates play "horrible un-music" and drink all the milk. He can't talk to his ex without arguing. He can't get his answerphone messages. His new flat is a tip, and he's having nightmares about killer rabbits -- but it gets worse... The second digital feature from the Wellington, New Zealand based Gordon Productions collective, Shifter is a paranoid black comedy about how the world is really out to get you...

As teenage couple David and Coney drive home, they unexpectedly find a bloodied young girl, standing alone by the side of the road.

Crowds watch the funeral cortege passing through Thorndon. The Marist priest, Charles Venning, died in a motorcycle accident in Hill Street, Thorndon on 21 November 1912. He was driving back to the Catholic presbytery on his motorcycle when he took the corner too sharply and hit a post, falling off the bike and fatally hitting his head.

Found Footage Horror. A camera is discovered showing all that happened to Mastertons famous missing 6

New Zealand's second talkie film, a fast moving original feature comedy filmed in Dunedin about the eccentric owner of famous race horse Phar Lap. Only 45 seconds of the film still exists.

A fisherman's widow is lost in grief. A work inspired by HP Lovecraft.

Closed New Zealand’s freezing plants have become ruins with wildlife growing through them. Once they were used by the country’s dominant industry processing livestock into meat and other products, but the industry has been in decline since Britain joined the EEC. Animation permeates the documentary film, with workers arising from archive footages.

Symbolized in the bird’s flight, a group of Māori, Pākehā and Colombian creatives explore life’s journey, the longing to return to the nest, and the life-giving connection with our ancestors.

In the film "The Truman Show", Truman lives in a world completely constructed around him by an intrepid television producer. At one point an interviewer asks the producer "Why do you think Truman has never come close to discovering the true nature of his world?" The producer replies "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented." "Umwelt" denotes an organism’s unique sensory world. In a self-centred world, organisms experience the same ecosystem in completely different ways according to what they can perceive. A blind and deaf worm experiences the world via vibrations in the earth. And presumably, each organism assumes its small sensorium to be the entire objective reality. How do we find our way beyond the limits of what we can sense?

A young Māori women is released from prison and not given the proper support she needs.

This documentary chronicles the story of Waikato women’s refuge Te Whakaruruhau, and shines a light on a subject not often shown in mainstream New Zealand media: family violence in rural areas.

In the turbulence of Auckland, Ska (Hunter) is a streetwise 19 year old, whose father is a drunkard and whose older sister works at a high-class massage parlour. When he decide to “rescue” her, he is thrown out. With some friends, he take revenge by trashing the place, but the reply results in Ska's best friend being killed. The massage parlour boss is also a crooked concert promoter, so Ska, and his gang, “hijack” a concert which incites the audience to riot.

From the world of BatFreak; Regular American Citizen must learn to either accept the life that's been forced upon him, or fight for a life of good that may not even exist.

Subtitled ‘A cautionary tale for the chemical age’, Toxic is an animated video in which a child encounters radioactive waste and is transformed into a monster baby. An army of toy soldiers arrive and attack the toddler who has grown to superhuman size, and easily overpowers them. A title appears onscreen: “How can they stop him? Obliterate or medicate?”

Shy Ali joins a group of zealous schoolgirls creating a stage challenge concept that will both wow audiences and distract the girls from their concerns for the future.

In 1999, "The Yin & Yang of HIV" was published by Dr Valendar Turner and investigative journalist Andrew McIntyre under the guidance of Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos. Eleni is the founder and leader of The Perth Group and her work has influenced virtually all of us today who question the HIV/AIDS dogma.

While leaving a funeral, two grieving hotheads crash into a shapeshifting alien.

In this award-winning children's adventure created by Ian Mune, Tony (Ian Templeton) and Suey (Julie Wilson) spend time on their uncle's farm and become country kids — riding horses to school and getting stick from mouthy classmate Harvey (Buddy Ruruku). The trio are fascinated by local drifter 'Rotten' Fred, whose dog Ratsguts is rumoured to be a sheep killer. They form the Mad Dog gang, uncovering Fred's history and protecting him from vindictive farmer Wilkie (John Bach). Directed by Ross Jennings, this telemovie combines three half-hour episodes. It was named Best Drama at the 1979 Feltex Television Awards.

Guy is curious. After his divorce he spends his nights alone in a spacious minimal apartment. That is, until he calls on Rob for a little company.

An old friend reunites with sculptor Andrew Lyons and discovers who the man truly is. Described as "delightfully eccentric" and "heartfelt", this documentary won the 2025 1 News & Current Affairs Best Documentary award.

Exceptional as the many; each guide shares the same journey – forcing you to choose a path.

WATCH: thegardenroom.nz The Garden Room is a deeply emotional and intimate documentary by Director Kirsty Cameron, following the story of Christchurch couple Ben and Kylie as they cope with the stillbirth of their fifth child, Grayson. Filmed over the span of three years, the film offers raw, heartfelt interviews with Ben, Kylie, and their children, portraying their journey through grief, healing, and hope. The documentary captures the fragility and resilience of the human spirit, providing a space for open conversations about loss, love, and the enduring strength of family.

Hands tap, tracing patterns on rocks. These mineral-rich instruments are collaborators for a sonic performance, the landscape in Aotearoa listens.

With shark attacks on the rise worldwide, surfers are taking the brunt of the bites. To understand why, a one hour SharkFest special relives the most harrowing of shark vs surfer stories from the world's deadliest shark infested surf beaches.

When a succession of ex-wives show up to out-do- each other at a tangi of a man who was beloved by many, a flamboyant display of karanga takes place.

A short thriller about the murder, and its aftermath, of a young girl.

When Mike, a paranoid young man, becomes convinced his fiancée is hiding a supernatural affliction, he risks destroying their relationship to uncover the truth before the next full moon.

"The Eight Hours Plan... acknowledges the histories of labour, capital, and changing urban design... Fraser celebrates Samuel Parnell, the founder of the eight-hour working day and, in her work, links a memorial and ode to him with images of twenty-first century office life: a keyboard and mouse, filing cabinets, and the commuters’ motorway between Wellington and the Hutt Valley. The video was reminder... of a moment when the familiar structure of the contemporary workday (as extolled in the song Fraser displays: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for play, and eight for sleep excel”) was not a given. The idea of limiting the number of hours a person could legally give to an employer, was, in fact, revolutionary, and a hard won right." - Thomasin Sleigh, 2018

By Sea tells the story of a fictional seaside apartment building. The architecture of the complex forms the words Par Mer, written in a bold, italic typeface. Most filming takes place inside an architectural model built out of cast salt.

Luke wakes up alone in his flat after a troubling dream. Someone has painted the phrase ‘See You in Hell’ on the wall and his three flatmates are nowhere to be found. As Luke relaxes in his newfound freedom, he is threatened by a man who is looking for two of the other flatmates and visited by an annoying friend Nick. As Luke ventures outside, elements from his dream replay themselves. He is drawn to a sinister old house in the neighbourhood and finds that clues to his flatmates’ disappearance may have been left on a camcorder.

Two quirky bush critters cut to the chase in a roadkill race around New Zealand. The game is fast, the stakes are high, the prize is a juicy dead possum.

In this experimental super-villain origin story, Oswald, a social outcast tries to find money to pay for his girlfriend's abortion.

This Documentary offers a poetic portrait of the film-maker’s grandmother, Shou Ai Xia, who suffers from dementia. It explores the fading memories of her ordinary life and the vivid hallucinations reflecting her decades of commitment to the Chinese Communist Party, providing a pathway beyond the traditional views of dementia.

Comedian Chris Parker presents this part stand-up, part documentary, one-of-a-kind special! He travels to Christchurch and the place he discovered his passion for making people laugh - his high school.

The story behind the music video 'Glare' by Sheep, Dog & Wolf.

An office romance.

Erua tells the story of an intriguing friendship between artist Toss Woollaston and a young Māori boy Erua who modelled for him each Wednesday evening in Greymouth, in the early 60s. Woollaston had seen the boy playing "like one dark bead shaken in a tray of pale ones". The image made him curious to find what Erua was like, and to try to draw "that".

Doug visits Doug for game night. Antics ensue.

A coming-of-age story of a teenage boy getting a new outlook in his life after he has a sudden encounter with his estranged father for the first time.

2010 on the Canterbury Plains and all is well. Lambs, blue skies and daffodils. In Cathedral Square choir boys sing to their God. Punts push new season's tourists along the Avon. They photograph the 'Garden city'; the 'most English city outside of England'. We get hit with a 7.1 earthquake. We stand up, wave our fists at the heavens and compliment ourselves on our ability to recover. And then we get hit even harder. Now the city has fallen. Many are dead. Many injured. Many narrowly escape. A fragile people reappear in the following days. We have learnt from the first earthquake and once again a response is growing. Once again adrenaline is taking over. Now the whole country is rallying for Christchurch. It's the energy of the people that's unprecedented. Communities are rising from the sand. People are holding tight to each other. A year later and the quakes keep rolling. Now the Canterbury earthquakes are the most ever quakes recorded in a series. And we're still counting....

A want to be a rapper "Yung Moocha" teams up with alleged DJ "Petty Theft" to impress their manager. However, an old colleague of the rapper makes an appearance...

An 18-year-old and his newly found camcorder go about on a stormy day, recording anything he sees or does.

Join us on a journey around Auckland oceans and beaches, uncovering the impacts of fisheries on ocean ecosystems in New Zealand. Discover the balance we need to protect ocean life and appreciate the beauty of our marine life.

Jamaica Moana, proud Māori (Ngāpuhi/Tainui) and Samoan, Ballroom icon and non-binary rapper is a cultural force, in this intimate portrait of her journey through creating her deeply personal debut EP.