News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh Awarded at CineEurope

Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh Awarded at CineEurope

Studiocanal CEO New Zealand-born Anna Marsh has been named International Distributor of the Year at CineEurope, the exhibition conference which took place in June, in Barcelona. Andrew Sunshine, president of CineEurope organiser Film Expo Group,…

Formula E’s Mitch Evans Mounts Championship Charge

Formula E’s Mitch Evans Mounts Championship Charge

Mitch Evans and Jaguar took advantage of a two-month break earlier in the Formula E season to make the necessary tweaks and now the Auckland-born star is mounting a championship charge, Samuel Meade reports…

Peter Jackson Talks Getting Back The Beatles

Peter Jackson Talks Getting Back The Beatles

There can be no doubt that New Zealand director Jackson, after his intensive review of 130 hours of audio and 57 hours of long-hidden video of the band at their career hinge point of…

Susan Te Kahurangi King’s Reputation Rising

Susan Te Kahurangi King’s Reputation Rising

In an article on the Christie’s website, specialists Anna Touzin and Isabel Millar select five abstract artists whose reputations are on the rise, all with works coming to auction in the British auction house’s…

Study Sheds Light on Mental Illness and Dementia

Study Sheds Light on Mental Illness and Dementia

“Certain mental conditions, particularly depression and schizophrenia, have also been linked to dementia. But because depression can itself be a sign of cognitive decline, the causality has been a bit muddy,” Claudia Wallis writes…

Behind the Mic with Groundbreaker Rikki Swannell

Behind the Mic with Groundbreaker Rikki Swannell

World Rugby talks to New Zealander Rikki Swannell about becoming the first female lead commentator on the men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and her life in sports broadcasting. As an experienced sports broadcaster, Swannell…

Darryl Moore Debuts at Chelsea with Pocket Park

Darryl Moore Debuts at Chelsea with Pocket Park

The Financial Times looks at how the century-old institution of the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show is “cultivating diversity, widening access and embracing contemporary themes”. The RHS’s focus is now on environmentalism…

Chantelle Nicholson’s Apricity Airy and Elegant

Chantelle Nicholson’s Apricity Airy and Elegant

New Zealander Chantelle Nicholson’s new London restaurant Apricity is “staffed by mellow, thoughtful, industrious types who genuinely care about how the restaurant scene affects our planet”, Guardian critic Grace Dent writes. “This is an airy,…

Innovative New Zealanders on Forbes Under 30 List

Innovative New Zealanders on Forbes Under 30 List

Four young New Zealanders have made this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. They are: founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group Shaneel Lal, 21; Emily Au-Young, 29, co-founder of period social enterprise,…

Taika Waititi on TIME’s 2022 Most Influential List

Taika Waititi on TIME’s 2022 Most Influential List

New Zealander Taika Waititi, 46, makes TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022. American actor and screenwriter Sacha Baron Cohen explains why. “You can tell that a film was made by Taika Waititi the…

The Boys Star Karl Urban On New Superhero Status

The Boys Star Karl Urban On New Superhero Status

Although Amazon’s The Boys is an ensemble show, Stuart Heritage writes for The Guardian, with a sprawling collection of superheroes and antihero vigilantes, New Zealander Karl Urban has emerged as the show’s lead. His…

How the Soldiers Who Met Harold Gillies Recovered

How the Soldiers Who Met Harold Gillies Recovered

A history of pioneering first world war plastic surgeon Harold Gillies gives due weight to the stories of the men he treated, The Guardian’s Wendy Moore writes in a review of a new book…

Ketanji Brown Jackson Applauds New Zealand’s Assault Weapons Ban

Ketanji Brown Jackson Applauds New Zealand’s Assault Weapons Ban

Future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was seen applauding New Zealand’s assault weapons ban during Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s recent commencement speech at Harvard University as gun control rhetoric escalates among lawmakers following…

New Doco Explores Jane Campion’s Filmography

New Doco Explores Jane Campion’s Filmography

Drawing upon interviews from throughout the New Zealander’s career, Julie Bertuccelli’s documentary Jane Campion: The Cinema Woman, which premiered at Cannes, explores the process and philosophy of the Power of the Dog helmer. Sheri…

New Zealand’s Young People Taking Flight

New Zealand’s Young People Taking Flight

New Zealand has reported a net loss of migrants for the second year in a row as more residents, particularly young adults, decided to leave the country amid the rising cost of living, the…

Substack’s Hamish McKenzie Always Has Big Ideas

Substack’s Hamish McKenzie Always Has Big Ideas

Newsletter company Substack, co-founded by San Francisco-based New Zealander Hamish McKenzie (pictured right), is on a mission to disrupt the attention economy away from “cheap outrage and flame wars,” drawing in literati from Patti…

Melanie Lynskey Finds Way Out of the Wilderness

Melanie Lynskey Finds Way Out of the Wilderness

Melanie Lynskey was 15 when the producer and screenwriter Fran Walsh came to the lunchroom at New Plymouth Girls’ High School. She and Peter Jackson were going into production for their film, Heavenly Creatures,…

Hello Cup Number One in Cosmo Beauty Rankings

Hello Cup Number One in Cosmo Beauty Rankings

The women behind the flourishing New Zealand period product company Hello are ecstatic after their flagship ‘Hello Cup’ was named the “best menstrual cup” in the world by US-based fashion and entertainment publication Cosmopolitan, Lana…

Auē a Striking Tapestry of Fierce Love

Auē a Striking Tapestry of Fierce Love

Coming-of-age novels set among the Métis community in Canada, the Māori population in New Zealand and the Crow Nation in Montana were recently reviewed by The New York Times. According to Gregory Brown writing…

Peter Jackson Has Hand in Beatles Duet

Peter Jackson Has Hand in Beatles Duet

Paul McCartney and his late Beatles songwriting and singing partner John Lennon haven’t sung together in 53 years, but thanks to New Zealand film director Peter Jackson, they got the next best thing recently…

Andrew Dominik’s Latest Nick Cave Doco Transcends

Andrew Dominik’s Latest Nick Cave Doco Transcends

“In his 2016 film One More Time With Feeling, Dominik documented the creative process behind the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, a record forged in the wake…

How Middle-Distance Runner Nick Willis Trains

How Middle-Distance Runner Nick Willis Trains

New Zealander Nick Willis, 39, “who has been at the sharp end of middle-distance running for over two decades”, speaks to the UK’s Athletics Weekly magazine about how he trains in an article by…

Air India Welcomes Campbell Wilson as New CEO

Air India Welcomes Campbell Wilson as New CEO

Christchurch-born Campbell Wilson, 50, who spent 26 years in various leadership position at Singapore Airlines, including as the founding chief executive of no-frills airline Scoot, has been named the new CEO of Air India. “Air…

Fergus and Margot Henderson Win GQ Food Award

Fergus and Margot Henderson Win GQ Food Award

Briton Fergus Henderson is the godfather of nose-to-tail eating, New Zealander Margot Henderson the queen of understated, delicious cooking: the winners of the GQ Food & Drink Awards 2022 Editor’s Special Award have shaped…

England Cricket Name Brendon McCullum Head Coach

England Cricket Name Brendon McCullum Head Coach

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been appointed head coach of England’s test team, the country’s cricket board (ECB) has announced. Dunedin-born McCullum, 40, is currently in charge of Indian Premier League Twenty20 side…

Sea Lions Continue Mainland Investigations

Sea Lions Continue Mainland Investigations

Sea lions are returning to New Zealand’s mainland after being hunted to near extinction in the 19th and early 20th century. Now, local people are learning to live with their new – very curious…

Taika Waititi Portrait Wins Packing Room Prize

Taika Waititi Portrait Wins Packing Room Prize

Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl has taken out one of Australia’s top art honours with his portrait of Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi, The Guardian reports. Stangl won the packing room prize, a sub-category of the…

Brianne West Revolutionising Beauty Industry

Brianne West Revolutionising Beauty Industry

In a feature published by The CEO Magazine, Ethique’s founder and CEO New Zealander Brianne West reveals the logistics of getting a regenerative beauty business onto the world stage and the mass appeal of…

Jurassic Park’s Sam Neil Reunites with Co-Stars

Jurassic Park’s Sam Neil Reunites with Co-Stars

Thirty years is nothing in terms of geologic eras, but it’s a large swath of a lifetime. In 1992, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum first gathered in Hawaii to make Steven Spielberg’s…

Rocket Lab Grabs Booster With a Helicopter

Rocket Lab Grabs Booster With a Helicopter

Rocket Lab aims to join Elon Musk’s SpaceX in reusing rocket boosters, which can lower costs and increase the frequency of launching to orbit, Kenneth Chang writes for The New York Times. The small…

Michael Braithwaite Builds Story of Military Tattoo

Michael Braithwaite Builds Story of Military Tattoo

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has revealed it wants to attract more local audiences to and transform “elitist” perceptions under a new direction for the annual cultural showpiece, arts journalist Brian Ferguson reports for…

How Chelsea Jade Joined a Dazzling Constellation

How Chelsea Jade Joined a Dazzling Constellation

With her second album Soft Spot released, Chelsea Jade, 32, is firmly established as a bright star in a constellation of dazzling New Zealand musicians chasing pop careers far from home, Cat Woods reports…

Author Meg Mason in Running for Women’s Prize

Author Meg Mason in Running for Women’s Prize

Sydney-based New Zealander Meg Mason, American Louise Erdrich, and Turkish-Briton Elif Shafak are among the contenders for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, offering an ‘escape’ from global crises, Lucy Knight reports for The…

In San Francisco Lorde Shines Like the Sun

In San Francisco Lorde Shines Like the Sun

It’s been nearly a decade since New Zealand pop star Lorde rocketed to stardom at the age of 16, propelled initially by the chart-topping single “Royals” and then a steady stream of other terrific…

Squash Superman Paul Coll Set on World Domination

Squash Superman Paul Coll Set on World Domination

Gravity-defying dive after lung-busting lunge, they called him ‘Superman’ as he captivated crowds around the globe. Now, history-maker, Greymouth-born Paul Coll, is on top of the world at number one and has his sights…

Singer-Songwriter Emma G Specialises in Empowerment

Singer-Songwriter Emma G Specialises in Empowerment

When Covid-19 closed venues and cancelled concerts, Waikato-born Emma Ghaemmaghamy, like many of her peers, took to new avenues to connect with audiences, including live-streaming and podcasting, Chris Kelly writes in a story for…

Yuki Kihara Celebrates Samoa’s Third Gender

Yuki Kihara Celebrates Samoa’s Third Gender

Representing New Zealand at the Venice Biennale, the Samoan-New Zealand artist is foregrounding Samoa’s fa’afafine and transgender communities, and the climate crisis hidden from tourists, Jinghua Qian writes for The Guardian. Curated by Natalie…

Life After Life’s Thomasin McKenzie is Otherworldly

Life After Life’s Thomasin McKenzie is Otherworldly

At just 21, Thomasin McKenzie, who plays Ursula in the four-part BBC series Life After Life, already has a list of impressive credits including Leave No Trace and Last Night in Soho. BAFTA winning…

Joel Little’s Big Fan a Gift to the Music Industry

Joel Little’s Big Fan a Gift to the Music Industry

Walk into the unembellished black building tucked away in Morningside, Auckland, later this year and there’s no telling what musical superstars one might find, Leena Tailor writes in an exclusive story for Variety. The…

Chantelle Nicholson’s New Restaurant Apricity Opens

Chantelle Nicholson’s New Restaurant Apricity Opens

The award-winning Hamilton-born Chantelle Nicholson, 41, best known as chef-owner of the now-closed Tredwells in Covent Garden, opens her first solo venture this month in London. Apricity, on Mayfair’s Duke Street, will continue Nicholson’s vegetable-centric…

GAIT’s Saurav Bansal Using AI in Real-Time Carbon Measurement

GAIT’s Saurav Bansal Using AI in Real-Time Carbon Measurement

New start-up GAIT Global claims its technology, using artificial intelligence and spatial data, is the only real-time measure of carbon in the atmosphere and will help catalyse the world’s efforts in combating climate change….

Yuki Kihara Launches Solidarity Network at Biennale

Yuki Kihara Launches Solidarity Network at Biennale

The New Zealand Pavilion has announced the launch of the ‘Firsts Solidarity Network’, which seeks to support artists and pavilions making historic breakthroughs at the 59th Venice Biennale. The idea was conceived by Yuki…

Photographer Cody Ellingham Wanders Japan at Night

Photographer Cody Ellingham Wanders Japan at Night

The latest project by New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham and British composer and sound artist Simon James French is Wander the Night Japan which will be launched as a limited-edition 12″ vinyl record featuring…

Hamish McKenzie and Substack Colleagues Chat Growth

Hamish McKenzie and Substack Colleagues Chat Growth

Subscription publishing platform Substack, co-founded by New Zealander Hamish McKenzie (pictured left), finds itself no longer a wunderkind but a company facing a host of challenges, Tiffany Hsu writes for The New York Times….

Climate Risk Potential for New Zealand Hydropower

Climate Risk Potential for New Zealand Hydropower

With climate change set to bring more severe and frequent storms to some parts of the world and an increased risk of drought to others, for countries like New Zealand which relies on hydropower,…

Photographers Chase New Zealand’s Glowing Waves

Photographers Chase New Zealand’s Glowing Waves

Capturing bioluminescence, a phenomenon in which glowing algae give crashing waves an electric blue glow, requires technical skill and a bit of luck, Mike Ives reports in an article for The New York Times….

A Question of Dialect for US-Based Abby Walker

A Question of Dialect for US-Based Abby Walker

To think or not to thank. That is the question that New Zealander Abby Walker and collaborator Janet van Hell might ask. And this is not about a mental exercise or simple courtesy. It…

Artist Kate Newby Exhibits for Earth in Paris

Artist Kate Newby Exhibits for Earth in Paris

In celebration of Earth Day 2022, Wallpaper discovers the group exhibition ‘Reclaim the Earth’, a wake-up call for humans to reconsider our relationship with the planet. Exhibiting two pieces in the show, held at…

Fiordland Bookseller Ruth Shaw’s Extraordinary Life

Fiordland Bookseller Ruth Shaw’s Extraordinary Life

New Zealander Ruth Shaw has embodied many roles throughout her life: pig farmer, navy deserter, solo sailor, illegal gambler, environmentalist, chef to archbishops, psychiatric patient, failed escort. She’s been arrested twice and married four…

Working with Assertive China a Must, Says PM

Working with Assertive China a Must, Says PM

New Zealand has been aware for some time now of a “growing assertiveness” and a “growing interest” in its region – explicitly from China, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Karishma Vaswani writes for…

Australian Ballet Principal Ty King-Wall Retires

Australian Ballet Principal Ty King-Wall Retires

When much-loved Australian Ballet principal dancer Waihi-born Ty King-Wall retires this month at 35, he could be forgiven for rushing to make up for some of the things he has missed out on, Catherine…

Auckland AI at Forefront of New Virtual Workplaces

Auckland AI at Forefront of New Virtual Workplaces

Auckland-based AI developers UneeQ and Soul Machines’ “array of digital colleagues act as advisors and assistants, doing much of the heavy lifting of work in the metaverse and, in theory, free up human workers…

New Tech-Forward Platform ZQRX Pushes for Regenerative Wool Across New Zealand

New Tech-Forward Platform ZQRX Pushes for Regenerative Wool Across New Zealand

ZQRX, a collective focused on the sustainability of New Zealand wool, is building what it calls the first regenerative wool platform, Esha Chhabra reports for Forbes. About 460 farms which sit across 3.7 million acres…

Composer Lyell Cresswell Globally Lauded

Composer Lyell Cresswell Globally Lauded

As a composer, everything Wellington-born composer Lyell Cresswell produced was pointedly genuine, Ken Walton writes in an obituary for The Scotsman. His output was immense, covering all genres from solo voice and chamber ensemble…

Star of 32 Sounds is Composer Annea Lockwood

Star of 32 Sounds is Composer Annea Lockwood

New Zealand-born composer and academic musician Annea Lockwood features in American filmmaker Sam Green’s documentary about the physics and emotions attached to sound. The film, called 32 Sounds, recently screened at the Brooklyn Academy…

Skier Jess Hotter Out of Reach in Switzerland

Skier Jess Hotter Out of Reach in Switzerland

Extreme sports media company Teton Gravity Research Max Ritter reports on New Zealand skier Jess Hotter’s big win in Switzerland, where the 28-year-old from Ohakune came first as one of the 2022 Freeride World…