Bring on the sheep jokes... Following a rousing reception at this year's Toronto Film Festival, NZ film Black Sheep has sparked a "bidding frenzy" amongst distributors in Asia, Latin America and Europe. The film was recently acquired by IFC Entertainment and The Weinstein Company for theatrical release in North America, after equally intense negotiations. A horror-comedy in the vein of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste and Braindead, Black Sheep is about a murderous pack of genetically mutated sheep. It is written and directed by Jonathan King and features special effects by Wellington's Weta Workshop. 
(11 November 2006)

Conchords take flight in US
America's HBO network has commissioned a 12-part series based on Kiwi folk music parody duo Flight of the Conchords. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are to star in the series, which will feature original songs from their award-winning comedy act. A pilot episode has already been shot, with the help of Ali G director James Bobin and Everybody Loves Raymond executive producer Stu Smiley. The Conchords have previously appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC), The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (CBS) and One Night Stand (HBO), and starred in their own BBC2 radio series. HBO is renowned for producing high-risk hits such as Sex & the City and The Sopranos. 
(11 September 2006)

Another classic set for Edge treatment 
Peter Jackson is heading a big budget remake of classic British war film, The Dam Busters. Jackson will produce the movie, with fellow Kiwi and long time collaborator, Christian Rivers, making his directing debut. The 1954 film told the true story of how British forces developed bouncing bombs to destroy German dams in World War II. Jackson fell in love with the film after seeing it as a child. "There's that wonderful mentality of the British during the war - that heads-down, persevering, keep-on-plugging-away mentality which is the spirit of Dam Busters," he told industry trade paper, Screen Daily. The US$30-40 million project is due to start filming next year. 
(31 August 2006)

From screen to stage, Henderson impresses 
Kiwi actor Martin Henderson is currently walking the boards at London's Apollo Theatre with a lead role in Sam Shepard's Fool For Love. Henderson stars alongside American actress Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers) in the bleak story of sexual desperation, which shocked American audiences on its original 1983 release. Henderson's performance is the strongest of the cast, according to Guardian critic Michael Billington. "There's a telltale moment when Eddie lassoes a bedpost in a demonstration of macho power: Henderson does it with the negligent ease of a man who has spent half his life in the saddle. But he also implies that Eddie, for all his imposing authority, is fundamentally weak: however much he may lust after May or bully her date, he is reduced to a quivering wreck when his current meal ticket comes in pursuit of him in a black Mercedes." 
(16 June 2006)

Too much too soon? 
The release of United 93 - the first Hollywood film about 9/11 - has sparked controversy in the US, as well as further afield in NZ. Directed by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy), United 93 follows in real time the one flight which failed to reach its intended target, instead crashing in a Pennsylvania field and killing all on board. Subsequent cockpit voice recordings reveal an attempt to overpower the terrorists by a group of passengers. One of these passengers was Alan Beaven, a NZ environmental lawyer played in the film by British actor Simon Poland. "For me personally, I'm not sure I'd go [to the film.] I think it would be a little too close to home," says brother Ralph Beaven in Stuff. "I don't want to go down that track again. It would be very emotionally charged, especially seeing someone else represent your brother." United 93 opens in the US April 28. 
(16 April 2006)

Flux flexes its global muscle
Auckland-based Flux Animation has signed a $US5.7 million contract to work on the eagerly anticipated Singaporean children's series, Master Raindrop. Flux joins Singapore's Big Communications and German television company Yoram Gross-EM on the project, which has already been sold to Australia's Seven Network, TVNZ and Nickleodeon Asia. A 2D/3D animated action adventure comedy series, Master Raindrop is based on classic Asian myths and legends. "This will be the first official co-production between NZ and Singapore," says Flux managing director Brent Chambers. "It represents a huge step forward for the NZ industry." 
(29 April 2006)

 

Kiwi contributes to Anger canon
Auckland University graduate Alice Hutchison has written an internationally acclaimed book on cult 1960s filmmaker Kenneth Anger, the artist who many believed defined the Age of Aquarius with such iconic works as Invocation of My Demon Brother (scored by Mick Jagger), Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (which anticipated 60's psychedelia), and Lucifer Rising (the final piece in the acclaimed Magick Lantern cycle). Titled simply Kenneth Anger, the book has already been hailed as one of the definitive pieces on the notoriously difficult and reclusive artist. A Film Journal review describes Hutchison's work as "stunningly produced … Gaining permission [from Anger] to reproduce a huge range of film stills, many of them not previously published, is Hutchison's triumph." Read the Listener story on Hutchison's book here. 
(November 2005)

No.2 No.1 
Toa Fraser's debut feature No.2 won the World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in February. "[From] a humble backyard in Mt. Roskill in the Pacific, on behalf of the hundreds of people that worked on and invested in the movie, we want to thank the audiences of the Sundance Film Festival, for coming and celebrating life with us," said Fraser in his acceptance speech. "God bless Mt. Roskill." Two World Cinema Audience awards are bestowed at Sundance each year, one for dramatic film the other for documentary. 
(10 February 2006)

Keith gets the Grammy
Whangarei-born country music sensation, Keith Urban, has won his first Grammy Award. Urban was named best male country vocal performer ahead of Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Delbert McClinton and Brad Paisley. This follows his best entertainer and male vocalist trophies at last year's Country Music Awards. Urban's Grammy win was nearly overshadowed by his date to the awards - actress Nicole Kidman, the first public appearance by the couple.
(17 February 2006)

All features great and small 
Debate over the effects of big budget US films such as King Kong and the Narnia series being filmed in NZ continues, with most in favour of the Hollywood blockbusters. "The blockbusters have been phenomenally helpful for people like us trying to get a film made," says Toa Fraser, whose debut feature No.2 recently won an audience award at Sundance. "I embrace the blockbusters and the Hollywood back lot as long as we can use it to tell our own stories." Hollywood funded films have boosted local production financing to a record NZ$596 million ($406 million) in the year ended 31 March 2005, from roughly NZ$300 million in 1999. "That two of the biggest films in the world were made in NZ is an extraordinary achievement,'' says NZ Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley. "Our industry is the most vibrant it has ever been."
(9 February 2006)

Juggling juggernauts with local stories 
NY Times piece entitled 'Spunky NZ film Industry Takes on the Hollywood Juggernaut' ponders the pros and cons of NZ's bold new presence in the international film community. Interviewees such as director Vincent Ward and producer John Barnett worry that big budget Hollywood projects shot in NZ have driven up production costs for more modest, local films. "You get six years of Xena and Hercules, three or four years of Lord of the Rings or a year or two of King Kong, and you have a whole generation of film crews who have worked only on big-budget productions," says Barnett. "And they say, 'This is what I get paid, and it's your problem if it's a low-budget job.'" NZ Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley opposes the view that big budget projects stifle their local counterparts, pointing out that "the year under review has been one of the most successful in the organization's 27-year history, with more local films being made than ever and more local films winning awards and acclaim overseas." Producer Tim White, production designer Phil Ivey and OnFilm editor Nick Gant also support the new balancing act between an international and national film industry. "Those big films provide some continuity of work for local film crews," says White. "Then those people bring skills they've honed to smaller productions like [Toa Fraser's] No.2." 
(2 January 2006)

The lion, the witch and the evangelicals 
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will not only be doing battle at the box-office but also for the souls of mankind, according to an article published in the Guardian. US groups such as Catholic Outreach and the National Association of Evangelicals intend to use the film - and its projected sequels - as a preaching tool to reach the masses, due to its overtly Christian themes and symbolism. Bill Pullman, acclaimed fantasy author and vocal critic of Narnia's creator, C.S Lewis, describes the popular series as "a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice; but of love, of Christian charity, [there is] not a trace." Disney's marketing campaign for the first Narnia instalment - filmed in NZ by Kiwi Andrew Adamson - is one of the biggest in recent cinema history. 
(16 October 2005)

Local epic lures Donaldson home
An interview with The World's Fastest Indian director Roger Donaldson is the cover story for the October issue of Inside Film. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, the feature is described as the culmination of a 30-year dream for Donaldson, who made a documentary about the film's subject - Invercargill land speed record holder Burt Munro - back in 1971. As well as speaking about the movie itself, the US-based director talks about the present state of the NZ film industry ("pretty impressive… NZ seems to make a fair mark for itself") and his own desire to make more films back home. "I've got some [films] in development and some more movies I'd like to make in NZ," he says. "If I had a great science fiction movie to make or something like that I'd definitely think about making it in NZ … I'm always looking for some excuse to come back." 
(October 2005)

The sweet sound of success
Dilworth School alum Mark Petrie (above right) is carving an impressive career in film and television scoring in LA. Petrie completed a degree in film composing at Boston’s Berklee School of Music in 1999. He is now working for the company which creates music for reality TV shows The Apprentice, Rock Star INXS and The Biggest Loser, as well as running his own music production house, MX IN. Last year Petrie won the award for Best Score for his work on Cuban-American film Café and Tobacco at the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado.
(August 2005)
  

Hot property
Actor Martin Csokas is hailed as “the new Russell Crowe” in the July issue of Australian Vogue. Csokas’ recent projects include The Bourne Supremacy with Matt Damon, Asylum with Natasha Richardson and Sir Ian McKellen, Ridley Scott blockbuster Kingdom of Heaven, WW2 action flick The Great Raid, and the hotly anticipated Aeon Flux with Charlize Theron. “I’ve had a run of films, now I’m getting myself together,” he says. “[LA] is as nice a place as anywhere and it’s practical.”
(July 2005)
   

Cinderella Man
Russell Crowe won widespread acclaim for his role in Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “At the centre of all [its] richness is another irresistible star turn by Crowe. As his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator proved, no contemporary actor is better at conveying an uncluttered personal integrity and nobility of spirit. You just want to hug the guy.” Kansas City Star: “If there were ever any doubt that Russell Crowe is the greatest screen actor of his generation, Cinderella Man should put matters to rest." Read Interview's pre-phone fracas profile here.
(June 2005)

Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens are to develop the Alice Sebold novel The Lovely Bones as their next film after King Kong. Though "The Lovely Bones" is not on the order of a major fantasy trilogy, Jackson said the book has its own complexities. The book opens with the revelation that 14-year old narrator and main character Susie Salmon was raped and murdered. From heaven, she watches how the people left behind handle her tragedy. "It's the best kind of fantasy in that it has a lot to say about the real world," Jackson said. "You have an experience when you read the book that is unlike any other. I don't want the tone or the mood to be different or lost in the film." The most perplexing problem, said Jackson, is how to convey Susie in heaven. "It's cleverly not described that well in the book, because Alice wanted your imagination to do the work and decide what Susie's heaven looks and feels like," Jackson said. "We will have to show something on film. It has to be somehow ethereal and emotional."
(18 January 2005)

Breaking new ground
Phil Keoghan’s US profile continues to climb, with a hit TV series and inspirational book - No Opportunity Wasted: Creating a List for Life – under his belt. Currently in his fifth season presenting Emmy Award-winning reality show, The Amazing Race, Keoghan’s next starring role is fronting the highly anticipated serialised TV adaptation of No Opportunity Wasted for the Discovery Channel.
(16 November 2004)

Two for Parr
Larry Parr’s Fracture scooped two major awards at the St Tropez Film Festival in October. Auckland’s Kate Elliot won Best Actress and the film was voted most popular festival entry by the audience. “We are delighted by Fracture's success,” says NZ Film spokeswoman Kathleen Drumm in Stuff. “These awards have substantially increased its chances of being picked up by a US distributor in Los Angeles.”
(28 October 2004)

Comedy with a conscience
The Ball, an Australian spoof of The Piano by Anny Slater, has been nominated by the UN for a Media Peace Prize. According to Canada’s St Johns Film Festival, “The Ball is a hilarious homage to and critique of Jane Campion's The Piano … In a few brilliantly crafted images, The Ball manages to score major laughs of recognition, as the mute heroine, Ada, travels to NZ to meet her new husband with her Scottish terrier and her soccer ball. Mistaking refugee-challenged Australian Prime Minister John Howard for her husband, Ada must deal with his strange demands and the loss of her precious ball.”
(12 September 2004)

Just don’t ask him to assume the brace position
Auckland armour maker, Warren Ormsby-Green, made Web India’s ‘What in the Weird’ equivalent with his air travel exploits. Ormsby-Green, who created pieces for LotR and The Last Samurai, wears a full set of armour when travelling by plane to avoid excess baggage charges. “The reactions I get can be pretty amusing,” he says. “Some people are very interested, some people laugh and some people can't even look at me.”
(30 September 2004)
   

King of the jungle
20-year-old Turanga Merito has assumed the lead role of Simba in the Sydney production of The Lion King, after fellow Kiwi Vincent Harder bowed out for family reasons. The Disney blockbuster draws a minimum of 16,000 viewers a week. “I'm so humbled by all of it but it gets a little scary sometimes,” said Merito to the NZ Herald. “Sometimes I wonder how did this Maori boy from Okere Falls in Rotorua get here?” NZ performers play five of the nine principal roles in the show, as well as two ensemble parts.
(14 August 2004)

Snakes alive
NZ company Silverscreen is collaborating with British and Taiwanese financiers on a film version of an ancient Chinese legend. Lady White Snake will be filmed in English with a budget of US$40 million. Cast and crew are at present under wraps, but a "leading-edge woman from New Zealand" is rumoured to be in the director's seat.
(13 July 2004)

“The estimable John Clarke”
Telemovie adaptations of Shane Maloney’s novels Stiff and The Brush Off by NZ comic John Clarke were a critical and ratings success in Australia, the former netting more than 1.3 million viewers on its one-off screening. Age: “Both films exhibit an infectious sense of the absurd and are graced by the especially tasty flavour of Clarke's distinctive writing. Not only does it spice both films but much of the time [David] Wenham even appears to be channelling Clarke in his performance (in much the same way that Kenneth Branagh does Woody Allen in Celebrity).” Clarke scripted both films and directed Stiff; fellow Kiwi Sam Neill directed The Brush Off.
(29 June 2004)

Kiwi cuisine
The NZ Film Commission party provided the best food at Cannes, according to a festival in the Age. The NZFC flew in six top chefs from Auckland for the event.
(23 May 2004)

Jane and the Weta
Weta Workshop is collaborating with Toronto-based animation house Nelvana to produce a CGI television series of Martin Baynton's popular Jane and the Dragon books. The 26-episode series is Weta's first foray into children's programming. "We have enjoyed a wonderful opportunity to create a fantastical world around the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien," says Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor. "It is therefore a great treat to be able to create our own world for Jane and her Dragon."
(2 April 2004)

Taking Maori stories to the world
Whale Rider star Rawiri Paratene visited Hawaii in mid-April to discuss cultural themes in the film and NZ as a tourist destination. “Whale Rider has been a boom for Maori filmmakers,” said Paratene, who is now writing dramatic segments for the newly instated Maori television network. “It’s a validation that our stories can reach the world and affect people.” To conclude his Star Bulletin interview Paratene described co-star and Oscar nominee, Keisha Castle-Hughes, as “New Zealand’s best marketing tool.”
(14 April 2004)

Stopping traffic
Cliff Curtis is one of the key protagonists in the US miniseries Traffic - an adaptation of the Oscar-nominated film by the same name. Ever the ethnic chameleon (previous roles include Cuban, Iraqi, and Colombian characters), Curtis plays an illegal immigrant from one of the former Soviet states. Indy Star: "This is an explosive role, cast with a strong actor."
(25 January 2004)
 

Taranaki’s Hollywood ambassador
Tom Cruise sang the praises of Aotearoa to the US on his promotional tour for The Last Samurai, the Japanese military epic filmed largely in Taranaki. As well as the beautiful scenery and friendly locals, he was particularly taken with the adventure tourism the region had to offer, namely surfing, caving and sea kayaking. Age: “Qantas has John Travolta as its Hollywood face. Perhaps New Zealand should sign up Tom Cruise.”
(12 January 2004)
 

Xena and her sisters
Ex-Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless, was the obvious choice to front a Discovery Channel documentary series on women fighters in history. Warrior Woman features Joan of Arc, China’s Wang Cong’er (the inspiration behind Disney flick, Mulan), Boudica of Britain, Irish pirate Grace O’Malley, and Apache warrior, Lozan. “These women have been written out of history, largely,” says Lawless, who shows off her own impressive sword skills in a duel with an Irish weapons master. Toronto Star: “… who better to present these unsung heroines than the woman who became an international icon as their fictional sword-swinging sister, Xena?”
(18 November 2003)
 

Bell Jar blues
Sylvia, Christine Jeffs’ high-profile biopic of poet Sylvia Plath starring Gwyneth Paltrow and filmed partly in NZ, described by New York Times' critic A.O. Scott as “emotionally rich … Ms Jeffs has a lyrical sensibility that matches her subject”. Andrew Sarris in the New York Observer calls it as "one of the most graceful and beautiful films of the year." IndieWire, who interviewed Jeffs, hailed the film as an all-around success: “In addition to the performances, the direction is top-notch, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who saw NZ director Christine Jeffs’ debut feature, 2002’s Rain.” Guardian feature, 'Breaking the celluloid ceiling' notes that this year's London Film Festival was for the first time ever, opened and closed by films from (NZ) female directors - Jane Campion (In the Cut) and Jeffs. Still, the question is asked: "[W]hy - in the 75-year history of the Oscars - have only two women ever been nominated for Best Director (Italian Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties in 1976 and New Zealander Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993?"
(October 2003)
  

A star is Bourne
NZ actor Karl Urban, currently galloping across screens as Eomer in the LotR trilogy, will next appear in two major Hollywood sequels – for cult sci-fi / horror flick, Pitch Black, and as Matt Damon’s nemesis in the follow up to 2002 hit, The Bourne Identity. The second installment in Robert Ludlam’s Bourne series - adapted from novel to screen by Tony Gilroy - begins shooting later this year.
(7 October 2003)
   

Multi-layered myth-making
Japan Times review places Niki Caro’s Whale Rider alongside Once Were Warriors and The Piano as one of the pivotal moments in NZ cinema. “…Caro presents myth both as a connection with a deeper, mystical understanding of the world as well as a pragmatic parable, a code for living that transcends generations, providing stability and continuity, a metaphor for understanding our lives.” The film's lead Keisha Castle Hughes, has recently been cast as a “regal leader” in the latest Star Wars instalment,
(10 September 2003)
    

Making Hollywood inroads
NZ actor Martin Csokas (Rain, Shortland Street, XXX) is in the running for the lead role in Ridley’s Scott’s next film, Kingdom of Heaven. The epic period drama centres on a young peasant-turned-knight who falls in love with a queen during the Crusades. Paul Bettany, Orlando Bloom, and Daniel Day-Lewis have also been mentioned for the part.
(1 October 2003)
  

Tamahori's triple-X factor
Lee Tamahori is going from Bond to Bond-inspired as the new director of xXx. The second instalment in the lucrative franchise – in which Ice Cube replaces Vin Diesel as the titular extreme athlete-turned-secret agent – will be released in 2005.
(3 October 2003)
  

Here's to you Ms Hunter
Rachel Hunter subject of a Sky One documentary and two-part interview with The Sun in early August. She describes the documentary as an attempt to "draw a line under the whole Rod thing" and return the focus to her own successful career as a model, actress, and animal rights campaigner. Hunter's UK profile is soon to be boosted by the screening of Denial - dubbed British TV's answer to Sex & the City - in which she has a starring role.
(10 August 2003)

A view from Down Under
A forum for ex-pat NZ, Australian, and South African amateur filmmakers living in London - the UpOverDownUnder film festival - is now in its third year. Over that time, the festival has gone from a one-off show to a five-night event, which showcases recent Australasian and South African cinema releases as well as short films by the up-and-coming. The event was set up to promote "fresh perspectives on life in English capital."
(19 July 2003)

Euphoria against the odds
The world premiere of Jane Campion's An Angel at My Table was listed as one of the 50 greatest moments in the Sydney Film Festival's first 50 years of running in a Sydney Morning Herald feature. Despite being interrupted three times by projector problems - "just the worst thing you can do to a director" - the film received a "euphoric" standing ovation and caused "an unseemly rush by distributors to get to Jane."
(6 June 2003)

NYNZ - Ihimaera on Whale Rider muse
Whale Rider author and ex-diplomat to the US Witi Ihimaera interviewed in New York - the city where he penned the story behind the award-winning film. "One morning I woke up to the sound of helicopters. A whale had come up the Hudson River. My thoughts went back to Whangara, on the east coast of the North Island, where my mother's family came from, where we believe our first ancestor came to New Zealand on the back of a whale."
(1 June 2003)
  

Queen of the castle
Exuding star quality while remaining "refreshingly down-to-earth", Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes, feted in the New York Post, The State, and the Seattle Times and is cover-girl in Hawaii's Weekend Star Bulletin. Meanwhile director Niki Caro's script was awarded a US$10,000 Humanitas Prize as the film continues to ride high in North American theatres. The LA Times calls it the "most lyrical and unique film … so far this year," and the Toronto Star demands that director Niki Caro "be added to any list of emerging talent." 
(June 2003)

Everest: The Next Generation
Peter Hillary and Jamling Norgay have collaborated on a National Geographic documentary about Mount Everest to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their fathers' pioneering climb. Both have reached the famous summit themselves, and are currently touring the U.S with a series of talks entitled "Revisiting Mount Everest." 
(16 March 2003)

Hollywood hits the west coast
A charity screening of Andrew Niccol's Simone was held in his hometown of Paraparaumu, March 24. According to father Don Niccol, Simone "cocks a snook" at Hollywood by attacking "several dearly held Hollywood clichés." Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.
(12 March 2003)

Cruisin' Taranaki
Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow are both currently on location in NZ. Paltrow is in Dunedin filming scenes for Christine Jeff's adaptation of the life of Sylvia Plath, while Cruise has set up home in Taranaki, where The Last Samurai is being shot. Cruise is already befriending the locals. Said one neighbour: "We were down in the paddock and he yelled out to the kids and introduced himself. We had a little natter and he said what a wonderful spot it was."
(7 January 2003)

Giving new meaning to wildlife
NZ production The Most Extreme has proved a hit with international Animal Planet viewers. The series, made by Dunedin-based Natural History New Zealand, involves a countdown of the world's weirdest animal trivia. Due to the quirky show's immense popularity, Animal Planet has commissioned a further 13 episodes, making Most Extreme NHNZ's largest and most successful series to date.
(November 2002)

UN Children's Television Workshop
A New Zealand production features in the International Children's Television Festival in Manhattan this month. The Kiwi entry in the UN sponsored exhibition, The Dress-Up Box Wonder, was written on the morning of the Sept 11 attack. The program "never addresses the events directly but presents an antidote to despair." Says curator, Jenna Alden: "It's about preserving the wonder and curiosity in life."
(1 November 2002)

Xenites unite! 
7th Xena Fest held at the University of Hawaii-Manoa June 9. Activities included martial arts demonstrations, auctions, and battle-cry contests. See the NZEDGE hot story on Lucy Lawless for the person behind the breast plate.
(7 June 2002)

Scene stealing
The LA Times surveys an "invasion of American films by directors and stars from Down Under. The biggest star now working in American films who began in his native New Zealand is Russell Crowe [...] . New Zealand's Temuera Morrison has a more important role as Obi-Wan's foe [in Star Wars]. It was perhaps only logical that Peter Jackson, a native New Zealander, would celebrate the beauty of his country, Australia's neighbour, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy."
(June 2002)

Rain brightens reviews
Christine Jeff's "sexually potent yet understated" feature debut Rain continues to make splashes as it opens across North America. The Boston Herald reports that Jeffs "easily captures the rhythm of a summer break where drinking through lazy days leads to raucous parties at night". The review's warning on content could also serve as a pithy plot summary: "sexual suggestiveness and frequent scenes of drunkenness".
(24 May 2002)

Rain: "under the surreal glare of a sunburnt hangover"
"A detached study of sleepy domestic torpor seizing up into tragic desperation, Christine Jeffs's debut feature, Rain, bears resemblance to The Virgin Suicides and Ratcatcher […] Jeffs's compositions are clean and evocative; and aided by John Toon's cinematography, the film transpires under the surreal glare of a sunburnt hangover".
(30 April 2002)

Vanity Fair enough
Ex-Shorties original Martin Henderson, after a stint across the ditch, goes west to LA and hits the big-time featuring in Vanity Fair's annual hyping Hollywood photo essay for his part in the upcoming Windtalkers. And Lee Tamahori, (currently helming the latest Bond installment), features in veteran producer Art Linson's candid account of the trials, tribulations and ego clashes involved in producing Tamahori's 1997 film The Edge. "Lee looked back at me as if to say, "I'm from New Zealand. Don't leave me here alone."
(April 2002)

Don't bank on it
"Maverick film producer" Kiwi John Maynard, (All Men Are Liars, An Angel At My Table co-produced with Jane Campion) is nominated for Best Film by the Film Critics Circle of Australia for The Bank - a movie said "to inspire as much faith in banks as George Dubya Bush does in world peace". Check the official movie site here for stills, links and reviews.
(March 2002)

Dawson's return
Australian media personality and regular on The Bert Newton Show, NZer Charlotte Dawson packs up her Louis Vuitton trunks to return home to her native country. "There are just so many more opportunities for me over there ...There is an absolutely fantastic lifestyle in New Zealand", says the former model once married to Aussie Olympian Scott Millar. "And am I so ready to live that life". 
(17 February 2002)

Film Success at Montreal
Still Life, a short film that tells the story of an elderly couple who discover that love defies even death, took out top honours in its category at the Montreal Film Festival. It is the first New Zealand short to win the top award. "I am absolutely thrilled and overwhelmed with the news of the film's success" says director Sima Urale.
(11 September 2001)

      
Fox judging
Award winning edge-actress Kerry Fox sits in the judging seat for the 54th Locarno International Film Festival.
Pdf Copy
(19 July 2001)

Fairytale victory
Kiwi co-directed  Shrek is "a computer-generated miracle. Based on William Steig’s 28-page book, the film puts forward the most marvellous case for the craziness of repressing fairytales since Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods." But, in Salon, not everyone buys the computer hype.
(28 June 2001)
 

Ancient forest
Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World filmed in New Zealand "where there are still forests that resemble those of the Cretaceous Period when the great dinosaurs walked the land".
(18 June 2001)
 

Goodbye Xena
Xena, shown in 120 countries, focus of fan-mania and Star Trek-like devotion, comes to an end. "We tried to take people on journeys that you won't go through in your real life," says Lucy Lawless, musing on the source of the Xena phenomenon. "You're not going to battle the Hindu god of death, but we'll all battle the theme of death at some stage of life". 
(17 May 2001) 

Curtain falls for Nyree Dawn Porter
"Forsyte sex symbol who conquered the world", Kiwi-born and raised star of the 60's TV show The Forsyte Saga (watched by 100 milllion people in 26 countries) remembered in The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times. As Irene, the wronged wife of a Victorian 'man of property', Dorothy Porter's "classical good looks" became known world-wide and her performances "gripped a generation of viewers".
(12 April 2001)

Actress remembered
International tributes continue for "cucumber-cool" New Zealand-born Forsyte star Nyree Dawn Porter.
(12 April 2001)
 

Along came Lee
Along Came a Spider, edge-director Lee Tamahori's Kiss the Girls
follow-up "skillfully builds the action" and "gives sequels a good name".
(6 April 2001)

Milk in Hawaii
Price of Milk plays at the Hawaii International Film Festival.
(19 March 2001)

Lost in Te Anau
New Zealand-filmed BBC production of sci-fi dino classic The Lost  World set to be "a ripping yarn with some of the most exotic locations we've seen in television drama".
(8 February 2001)

Political thrills
"I felt that this picture was made for me, because I love politics and I love making thrillers," says Kiwi-spawned director Roger Donaldson of  missile-drama Thirteen Days, reviewed as "a sleek, fast and clean race through the facts".
(29 January 2001)
 

Cultural resonance
''Everything I saw in this film I see in my own country,'' says Maori Jillian White, speaking of Native Canadian films screened at Canada's Sundance festival.
(26 January 2001)

Greenstone hit
New Zealand historical drama Greenstone infiltrates Canada's Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
(15 January 2001)

Rogue Anna Paquin is  Premiere Cover mutant
Playing the character of 'Rogue' in Bryan Singer's (Usual Suspects) blockbuster adaptation of comic legend X-Men, Anna Paquin makes the special edition cover of July's Premiere. Like Paquin's Oscar winning acting talent, Rogue is known for her ability to 'absorb'. Find out how Paquin's 'endowment' became a point of controversy on the set.
(July 2000)
  

Jesus and the second coming
Kiwi director Alison Maclean wowed Cannes with the moody Crush, then took a seven year maturing process, through Sex and the City, Homicide and a Natalie Imbruglia music video, to release the indie-hit Jesus' Son. The seven year itch has been redeemed by critical and popular success. Ripe affirmation for Maclean (and the nzedge) who, "feels happiest on the avant-garde edge of the film industry".
(2 July 2000)

From one edge to another to take up the Haka challenge
From Vancouver on the edge of the Atlantic, director Jonathan Tammuz will continue a global roll to the edge of the Pacific to direct "Haka" an 1850s-set $30million British production. The production will be filmed in New Zealand later this year.
(30 June 2000) 

Alison Maclean gives Jesus' Son the Kitchen Sink treatment
The story of a grunged out herion addict 'FH' (Billy Cudrup), based on the stories of Dennis Johnson and inspired by the Lou Reed lyric, also stars Oscar nominated Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter and Dennis Hopper. "A story of levity and grace", it is directed by acclaimed New Zealand director Alison Maclean.
(6 June 2000)

Maclean movie puts the art before the horse
Feed gets a shot in the arm from director Alison Maclean. "We all know what to expect from '70s smack movies. So why is Jesus' Son so unexpectedly good? Maclean's movie, like the much revered short story collection on which it is based, happens to be a real work of art..."
(23 June 2000)

Short Infection bugs Cannes Festival
New Zealand director James Cunningham's short film - a digital action thriller about a mutant hero that invades a computer system to destroy student loans - has been selected to compete in the prestigious 53rd Cannes Film Festival.
(May 2000) 

Spider pic hatched - New Zealander to direct
Hollywood: the duo behind Independence Day and Godzilla are producing "Arch Attack", an f/x driven comedic thriller about a toxic waste spill that causes giant spiders to go on a rampage.  Will shoot in Australia and be directed by New Zealander Ellroy Elkayem, who co-wrote the script.
(30 March 2000) 

Demon talent 
NZ's Emily Barclay was named Best Lead Actress for her role in Suburban Mayhem at the Australian Film Industry (AFI) awards, December 7. The 22-year-old beat heavyweights Laura Linney (Jindabyne), Abbie Cornish (Candy) and Teresa Palmer (2:37) for the honour. "Emily is very, very brave and the performance needed to be slightly reckless - a demon that possesses your soul for a while," said Suburban Mayhem director Paul Goldman in the Herald Sun. The film itself was nominated for 12 AFI's and won three - for Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hayes) and Best Original Music Score (Mick Harvey). 
(8 December 2006)

Maori Mary's Nativity
Keisha Castle-Hughes' new film The Nativity Story opened to praise from the Vatican at its world premiere, when the film was greeted with applause by an audience of more than 7,000 at the Vatican's Pope Paul VI auditorium. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, described the film as a faithful representation of the gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus Christ: "It is well done. It reproposes this event which changed history with realism but also with a sense of great respect of the mystery of the Nativity." The Vatican's endorsement of the film is seen as significant in light of 16-year old Castle-Hughes' pregnancy, announced in October. The Maori actress of Whale Rider fame was joined in her starring role by a truly multi-cultural cast, including actor Oscar Isaac of Guatemalan heritage, playing Joseph, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, a Muslim actress playing Mary's cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The Nativity Story was released in the US and most other countries on 1 December to decidedy mixed reviews. 
(29 November 2006)

Jackson gets his game on 
Peter Jackson has extended his relationship with Microsoft by signing on for two further film adaptations of the company's computer games. Wingnut's Jackson and Fran Walsh are currently executive-producing a film adaptation of the best-selling Halo franchise; next he will produce a sequel to Halo as well as an original film with an interactive game spin-off. He has also announced the imminent launch of Wingnut Interactive Studio, a NZ-based production house which will develop new properties for Microsoft's Xbox 360 next-generation console. "Microsoft has built an amazing living canvas with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, which allows the storytellers of our time to express themselves in a new medium," says Jackson. "...From a movie-maker's point of view, it is clear to me that the Xbox 360 platform is the stage where storytellers can work their craft in the same way they do today with movies and books, but taking it further with interactivity." 
(29 September 2006)

Fourth Emmy for Keoghan, Amazing Race 
Christchurch-born Producer/Host Phil Keoghan lined up for his fourth successive Emmy Award in Los Angeles for Outstanding Reality/Competition Program. The Amazing Race is now in its 10th season. Teams race for more than 40,000 miles in under 30 days in pursuit of the $1 million prize. Also featuring at the Emmys was Wellington-born UK screenwriter Richard Curtis, who won for outstanding writing for a miniseries, movie or dramatic special for The Girl in the Café. The work of New Plymouth-born cinemaphotographer Rodney Charters helped the heart-pounding thriller 24 to the Emmy for best drama for the first time and the show's star Kiefer Sutherland for best actor in a drama.
(August 28 2006)

Epic in more ways than one 
NZ director Vincent Ward relates the harrowing experience of filming River Queen in a candid interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. Weather, illness and car crashes aside, it was lead actress Samantha Morton who provided most of the drama on set. "Samantha is one of the most talented actresses I have ever worked with, but the reality is she's lived a tough life … I saw grown men cry [on set]. She made them cry," he says. "[But] I'm a director, so I defend my actors. I defend talent and she's fantastic, so I forgive talent anything." River Queen is the epic story of a woman caught on both sides of a brutal war between English colonialists and a Maori tribe in 1860s NZ. 
(30 June 2006)

Coming of age Keisha
Castle-Hughes is to star alongside Toni Collette in the upcoming Australian black comedy Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger. Castle-Hughes plays a 13-year-old Jewish girl struggling to fit in both at school and at home. Filming takes place in Adelaide and Sydney in October. 
(11 May 2006)

Keeping it local 
One of NZ's most successful producers Tim White returned to work on Toa Fraser's debut feature No.2. An Ilam graduate, White's producing credits include Ned Kelly, Map of the Human Heart, Two Hands, Oscar and Lucinda, and Death in Brunswick. He was chief executive of Fox Icon, a cooperative venture between 20th Century Fox and Mel Gibson's Icon Productions, and until last year headed Working Title Australia, the Antipodean branch of the UK production house behind Bridget Jones, Billy Elliot and Four Weddings and a Funeral. White describes working on No.2 as the best homecoming he could ever ask for in an interview with Stuff. "I was really drawn to finding a story that explored the incredibly vivid, energetic Pasifika culture and the very thing that made Auckland attractive in a way that I'd never really appreciated long ago." His next project is Scarfies director Robert Sarkies' film about the Aramoana massacre. 
(11 December 2005)

Starlet with edge 
Kiwi actress Emily Barclay (In My Father's Den) has the starring role in Suburban Mayhem, an Australian film currently screening at Cannes. A very black comedy, Sub