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.”