Film & TV
27 January 2021
US-based Charlotte Larsen, 38, is poised to become a household name. The New Zealand native has found success as a producer and actress on popular films like Gloria and Great Expectations. She is currently…
Visual Arts
26 January 2021
Co-founder of the Berlin Program for Artists (BPA) New Zealand-born Simon Denny, 39, (pictured right) explains why artists are essential to the fabric of Germany’s capital city in an article for UK art magazine, Frieze.
“When…
Media | New York Times (The)
25 January 2021
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan (pictured right) and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, were seeking a passion project, Calum Marsh writes for The New York Times. Their business, a boutique web…
Music | Rolling Stone
22 January 2021
“It’s been a while since” anything like “a gripping seafaring-disaster song” has “come along, but to that list we can now add ‘The Voyage of the James Caird’ by New Zealand singer-songwriter Graeme James,”…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
19 January 2021
“Every few years, a tabloid story pops up about a teenager who didn’t know she was pregnant until she started giving birth. We never really hear about what happens next. The new Australian series…
Music | DIY
9 January 2021
Riding high off the back of megahit ‘Superlonely’ and her recent celeb-featuring full-length debut LP, Hey u x, Benee’s already done the hard bit – now she’s ready to reap the rewards, Elly Watson…
Film & TV | Vogue
8 January 2021
“Even in a year free from Hollywood’s typical machinations – red carpets, fall festivals, movie theatres – stars could still be made seemingly overnight,” Keaton Bell writes for Vogue. “Here’s our rundown of 15…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
5 January 2021
“In a brilliant move, the Beatles him to work on the 56 hours of…
Film & TV | Austin Chronicle (The)
30 December 2020
Auckland-born actor Rachel House, 49, is the voice of Terry, a Great Beyond “soul counter” in Pixar’s latest animated comedy-drama, Soul. House recorded remotely for the film from New Zealand, which also stars Jamie…
Music | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
23 December 2020
On tour a couple of years ago in Europe, Christchurch-born musician Marlon Williams was travelling with his band when Canadian folk duo Kacy and Clayton popped up on the radio. Williams knew instantly that…
Film & TV | Marie Claire
22 December 2020
Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson, 46, stars in Netflix series, Virgin River as the love interest of Mel Monroe played by Alexandra Breckenridge – “who moves to the tiny titular town in hopes of escaping…
Film & TV | BBC
19 December 2020
Thanks to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand is enjoying an unprecedented boom in film production, with directors seeking safe conditions, and that most elusive thing this year – a normal life,…
Architecture | Ralph Pucci
19 December 2020
New York New Zealander David Howell and his wife and business partner Steffani Aarons talk architecture and design on the podcast of renowned American designer, gallery owner and entrepreneur Ralph Pucci. Asked by Pucci…
General | YouTube
16 December 2020
New Zealand-based YouTube comedy trio Viva La Dirt League – which is behind popular video game skit series like Epic NPC Man and Game Logic – has signed with Creative Artists…
Writers | New York Times (The)
11 December 2020
It’s not every day that a 21-year-old debut author lands near the top of the young adult hardcover list, Elizbeth Egan writes for The New York Times. Chloe Gong, a Shanghai native who grew…
Music | i-D
2 December 2020
“October and The Eyes makes music that wouldn’t feel out of place on the soundtrack of an arthouse thriller. Read: dark, sexy and a little dangerous,” Fiona Hartley writes for British magazine, i-D. “After…
Film & TV | Skinny (The)
1 December 2020
A thoroughly absorbing though deeply upsetting drama, County Lines is a remarkable debut feature from New Zealand-born writer-director Henry Blake. Inspired by his own experiences as a youth worker in East London, Blake hopes…
Music | Independent (The)
30 November 2020
New Zealand-born singer Lorde, 24, has teased fans with more information about a new album while announcing her book, Going South, inspired by her 2019 trip to Antarctica. The Independent’s Isobel Lewis reports.
The “Green Light” singer has…
Visual Arts | Dazed
28 November 2020
“More Radical Empathy, a project by New Zealand-born photographer Rebecca Thomas, is a poignant and inspiring series of portraits of activists from the global queer community in London, bearing heartfelt slogans of resistance against…
Media | Vanity Fair
27 November 2020
“Between the collapse of newspapers, the misfortunes of digital media, and the economic wreckage of the coronavirus pandemic, writing for a living can feel like a cold, dreary, morale-sucking march to the unemployment office….
Visual Arts | Stuff
24 November 2020
Southland Girls’ High School student Sophie Mills, 12, was one of four New Zealanders amongst 32 submissions worldwide to have an illustration included in JK Rowling’s latest book, The Ickabog. About 18,000 entries were…
Music | NME
20 November 2020
Grimes and Lily Allen feature on Auckland pop sensation Benee’s debut album, Hey u x, and she’s just played one of the post-Covid era’s first arena shows. The twenty-year-old tells NME’s Caitlin O’Reilly about…
Music | Louder
17 November 2020
“It’s the kind of town where the public toilets remain open after dusk without being vandalised, and where the grand width of the rather beautiful main street is a reminder of busier days. And…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
16 November 2020
New Zealand-raised Richard O’Brien, the creator of the cult Rocky Horror Picture Show is not going quietly into his 70s. O’Brien, who lives with his third wife, Sabrina, just outside of Katikati, talks with…
Film & TV | Far Out Magazine
12 November 2020
“The rebellious nature of the mid-to-late 20th-century teenager sought to expose , deviating from the social norms to embrace the very depths of ‘bad taste’. Simultaneously, whilst yet unknown, New-Zealand…
Architecture | Star Online (The)
4 November 2020
The last gift of Austrian-born artist, painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser to his adopted homeland, New Zealand, is being built in Whangarei, three decades after its inception, Malaysia’s The Star Online reports.
The Covid-19 pandemic…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
31 October 2020
Directed by Curtis Vowell and produced by Taika Waititi, award-winning comic Rose Matafeo “is wonderful in irresistible film about parenthood”, Guardian Australia critic Luke Buckmaster writes in a review of New Zealand comedy/drama, Baby…
Music | Bangkok Post
30 October 2020
Whether you’re just a casual fan or a full time “blink”, everyone can take delight in the fact that South Korean pop sensation Blackpink – an all-girl group, including New Zealand-born Rosé (pictured back,…
Writers
27 October 2020
Two UK academics from Edge Hill University in Lancashire have taken over editorship of the respected Tinakori: Katherine Mansfield Society Critical Journal, and are hoping to draw further attention to Mansfield’s often overlooked importance…
Music | Rolling Stone
23 October 2020
Marton-born banjo player Catherine “BB” Browness is one of five recipients of the 2020 Steve Martin Banjo Prize. Browness, who plays with the bluegrass band Mile Twelve, shared in the US$50,000 prize, which…
Music | Variety Magazine
19 October 2020
Created by American Jason Derulo using Aucklander Joshua Stylah’s instrumental “Laxed (Siren Beat)”, the track “Savage Love” has topped the charts in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, surpassed 1.1 billion streams and was…
Arts | Contemporary HUM
16 October 2020
Despite experiencing setbacks caused by COVID-19, Wellington-based artist Shannon Te Ao is having a busy year, presenting new video work in two Canadian locations during 2020, and marking his first solo museum exhibitions in…
Dance | British Vouge
8 October 2020
Lockdown has been stultifying and depressing in its sludgy predictability for many of us – but for others, it has proved uniquely creatively fulfilling, according to British Vogue’s digital director Ellie Pithers. Take New…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
26 September 2020
“Imagine how Ripley of Alien would handle a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet-style gremlin attack. Sound wild? Roseanne Liang’s female empowerment thriller delivers on that premise.” Variety’s Peter Debruge reviews the New Zealand director’s film…
Film & TV | Exclaim!
22 September 2020
Electronic music documentary Underplayed is the feature debut of New Zealand-born director Stacey Lee, who has been shortlisted for the Cannes Young Directors Award. “Filmed through a deeply intersectional feminist lens, Underplayed highlights not…
Music | BBC
20 September 2020
TikTok has only been part of our lives for two years, but it’s already had a massive impact on the music business, the BBC reports. South Auckland producer Joshua Nanai, 17, better known as…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
19 September 2020
“A pulse of vulnerability beats at the heart of Sam Kelly’s outwardly imposing but unexpectedly touching debut feature, Savage,” Phil Hoad writes in a review of the film for The Guardian. The film has…
Architecture | Architectural Digest
18 September 2020
The story of New Zealander Anna Paquin and husband American Stephen Moyer’s Venice Beach home is one of ultimate artistic license. With their selections of architect, interior designer, and landscape designer over the course…
Music | Middle East Eye
17 September 2020
Three months before the start of Iraq’s October protests last year, almost 10,000 miles away in Auckland, “artivist” Yasamin began binge-watching an Iraqi YouTube political satire show. It would open her eyes to a country…
Visual Arts | Hosfelt Gallery
10 September 2020
San Francisco’s prestigious Hosfelt Gallery presents a solo exhibition of work by the esteemed 84 year-old painter, calligrapher, and Rinzai Zen monk Max Gimblett. The exhibition, entitled juggernaut, opens September 8, 2020 and…
Film & TV | Bustle
10 September 2020
Amazon Prime’s epic adaptation of The Wheel Of Time is based in an alternate world where magic exists, but only certain women are permitted to use it. One of those women, Nynaeve, is played…
Film & TV | Screen Rant
9 September 2020
Nelson-based adventure racer Nathan Fa’avae, 48, who led the New Zealand team on to win the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, is profiled by entertainment news site, Screen Rant.
For the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji…
Film & TV | Empire Magazine
7 September 2020
An Empire reviewer bemoans this month’s “bittersweet” release of New Zealander Niki Caro’s live-action adaptation Mulan through online streamer Disney Plus. “Not only the best live-action Disney adaptation to date, but also a dazzling,…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
4 September 2020
Anonymous Content, the company behind True Detective and The Revenant, has acquired the TV rights to the New York Times bestselling novel Code Name Hélène written by Ariel Lawhon about Wellington-born World War II heroine…
Film & TV | Screen Daily
30 August 2020
For New Zealand-born Jessica Hobbs, being asked to direct episodes of feted Netflix period drama The Crown was one thing but being tasked with helming the season finale was quite another, Nikki Baughan reports…
Writers | Japan Times (The)
29 August 2020
New Zealand-born scholar of Japanese history and martial arts Alexander Bennett has joined forces with fellow kendo practitioner, Shigeru Ohta, to write the English version of World War II kamikaze pilot Kazuo Odachi’s memoir,…
Music | Vogue
28 August 2020
You’re about to hear a lot more from Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi, who goes by Teeks. The Māori soul singer is well known in New Zealand but is about to step onto a global stage…
Film & TV | Varsity
25 August 2020
In a story published by Cambridge University student newspaper, Varsity, Emily Moss argues that we have “nothing to fear” from New Zealander Taika Waititi’s move into the mainstream, “as he seems intent on taking…
Music | American Songwriter
21 August 2020
The Phoenix Foundation’s latest single, ‘Hounds of Hell’ features fellow New Zealand artist Nadia Reid, and it’s a momentous occasion, Tina Benitez-Eves reports for American Songwriter magazine. It’s the sextet’s first single in five…
Visual Arts | Apollo
20 August 2020
“That Aotearoa New Zealand offers a rich vantage point from which to consider the tensions and affordances of displacement is the central claim of the generous, sprawling exhibition ‘Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania’,” Matthew…
Visual Arts | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
18 August 2020
Fortune has favoured John Ward Knox. The Auckland-born artist’s dual-layer portrait of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been recently released from Australian customs just in time to be entered into the Archibald Prize, Chloe…
Media | Channel News Asia
17 August 2020
Tucked away in Sinead Boucher’s sock drawer is the one-dollar coin that transformed the former journalist into New Zealand’s biggest media mogul, giving her a platform to challenge Facebook and other social media giants,…
Music | London Daily Post
14 August 2020
Christchurch teenager Aleisha Malcolm is far from your average eighteen-year-old. The bright and accomplished singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and activist has impressed global audiences as her seemingly unstoppable career trajectory continues to reach new heights,…
Music | Happy
9 August 2020
CHAII is of New Zealand’s “most formidable new artists”, according to Happy’s Dan Shaw. On top of a string of singles, she provided the soundtrack to a Fendi campaign and is the first New…
Media | Scoop
7 August 2020
Aucklander Sam Stuchbury has won a Silver Screen Young Director Award at Cannes for his work in raising awareness about the effects pornography has on children, directing the government-funded viral porn commercial “Keep It…
Media | Guardian (The)
6 August 2020
New Zealand-born Robin Hammond is one of ten photojournalists whose work is currently on show at Fondation Carmignac’s newly opened private museum on Porquerolles island, France. Fondation Carmignac is exhibiting each photographer’s work in…