Cliff Curtis Set to Soar in Avatar Epics
New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis, 50, modestly acknowledges he is not a brand or a marquee name, despite a vast body of work which includes Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, The Dark Horse, Blow,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Colenso BBDO Auckland One of 2019 Contagious Pioneers
Colenso BBDO, Auckland have been featured as number one 2019 Contagious Pioneers in a ranking published by creative and strategic intelligence service website Contagious. Their Te Kupu App campaign was…
Storyteller Anthony McCarten Humanises the Iconic
An “exploration of humanity” drives novelist, playwright, television writer, and filmmaker New Plymouth-born Anthony McCarten to write about famous people. Initially a journalist, McCarten credits his time in the newsroom for learning how structure and…
Merata Mita Doco Reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter
The legacy and personal life of the late New Zealand filmmaker Merata Mita are brought to life in the documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. The film, which had its international premiere at…
John Scott’s Werry/Francis Houses Make New Book
The sunlit spaces of a mid-century modern family home in Greytown, designed by the late architect John Scott, are captured in images by photographer Mary Gaudin. Gaudin, a New Zealander who…
Flack Stars First-Rate Cast Including Anna Paquin
“In Flack, Anna Paquin plays Robyn, an American living in London and working in a high-powered PR firm, an outfit just as moral as it needs to be to protect its own…
‘The Changeover’ “a Perfect Genre Movie”
The opening weekend of ‘The Changeover’ – the New Zealand film of Margaret Mahy’s beloved, award-winning 1984 young-adult novel by the writer-director team of Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie, drew rave…
Anna Wilding Gives Different Look at Obama Family In LA Photo Exhibit
“For Black History month, The Perfect Exposure Gallery in Alhambra in Los Angeles is giving you a different look at the Obama family. During the Barack Obama’s presidency, photographer Anna…
The Breaker Upperers Adds Some Welcome Irreverence to Netflix Comedies
“The New Zealand comedy The Breaker Upperers adds some welcome irreverence to the homogenized mix of Netflix comedies. This collaboration between Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami — who wrote, directed and star together…
Director Taika Waititi Tackles Star Wars
After directing Thor: Ragnarok, which was a worldwide blockbuster hit, New Zealander Taika Waititi next explores the Star Wars universe and returns to the world of vampires. The multitalented Wellingtonian directs an episode of The…
Spin Slowly, Fighting Gravity
Recently published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, arts facilitator and producer Samuel Walsh reflects on his residency at Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon, Portugal. Zaratan, a not-for-profit art space,…
Mark de Clive-Lowe’s New Album Goes Next Level
“For those who recognise Mark de Clive-Lowe’s name from this or that compilation disc, his new straight-up jazz effort is the most pleasant surprise of the new year. Others who follow the…
Lisa Walker Exhibits Some Uncomfortable Jewellery
World-renowned artist New Zealander Lisa Walker, 52, sees potential in everything, from shoes, Lego and mobile phones, to egg beaters and dead animals. A new show on now at RMIT Design Hub Gallery in…
K-Pop Singer Rosé’s Ballad a YouTube Phenomenon
BLACKPINK Rosé’s special cover of Halsey’s “Eyes Closed”, accrued almost 5.4 million views in just two days. The Auckland-born vocalist, 22, said the clip was meant for her fans and thanked them…
Anna Paquin On Flack & Gender Power Balances in Film
“After five years trying to get it off the ground, filming for Anna Paquin’s new TV series Flack has completed and the series is about to be released. Paquin, who stars in the series…
David Lloyd Awarded Lumix People’s Choice Award
“David Lloyd’s Bond of Brothers, a heartwarming image of an affectionate pair of male lions, has been crowned the winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Lumix people’s choice award.”
New Tiny Ruins Album Gentle Study in Freedom
“After an extended search for inspiration, New Zealand singer/songwriter uses colour and newly adventurous song structures to explore definitions and limits of freedom,” Pitchfork contributor Margaret Farrell writes in…
Graeme Simsion Pens Final Rosie Instalment
Auckland-born IT consultant-turned-author Graeme Simsion’s mega-successful Rosie books have sold almost five million copies in 40-plus countries since The Rosie Project in 2013. Readers fell in love with genetics professor Don Tillman who developed a…
British Photographer Captures Majesty of NZ
Over the past four decades, the Bristol-born photographer Jem Southam has been documenting the English landscape, but for his latest series, The Long White Cloud, the 69-year-old found himself thousands of miles away. The work…
Dames Jools and Lynda Topp Reflect
Their career spans 40 years and is emblematic of changing attitudes to gay and lesbian people. New Zealand’s Topp Twins, Jools and Lynda, started their lives in entertainment as “underground performers’ with a unique…
Love and Being Female in Comedy with Rose Matafeo
Rising star Auckland-born Rose Matafeo recently won the prestigious Best Comedy Show Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of comedy’s biggest prizes, for her show Horndog. Matafeo, 26, talked to online news site…
They Shall Not Grow Old Highest Grossing Release
Originally presented on 17 and 27 December in the United States, Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, grossed US$2.6 million in its encore, bringing the total gross for the…
Peter Jackson Making New Beatles Documentary
Lord of the Rings filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson is making a new documentary on The Beatles using 55 hours of never-before-seen studio footage that was shot in early 1969 for the 1970 feature film…
Why Aaron Stadlin-Robbie’s Podcast is Different
A New Zealander raised in Hong Kong, Aaron Stadlin-Robbie sees his new podcast, Talking Mental as a way to reach out to experts and break the stigma of men talking about mental health. Having…
Breaker Upperers Talk to Vanity Fair
Even if good friends and creative partners Madeleine Sami, 38, and Jackie van Beek, 43, don’t immediately look familiar to Americans, their new comedy, The Breaker Upperers, will sound immediately recognisable. That’s not because…
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Picks Up Merata Doco
American director Ava DuVernay, of A Wrinkle in Time fame, has acquired the Sundance Film Festival (SFF) documentary MERATA: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. The pick-up by DuVernay’s film collective, ARRAY…
Dunedin Film Crew Gets Their Dream Job
A small team of filmmakers from Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ) has made it their mission to tell the stories of Indonesia’s orphaned orangutans in a new documentary called, Orangutan Jungle School. Cameraman Alex Hubert…
Flight of the Conchords Announce New Album
New Zealand’s “fourth most popular parody duo” Flight of the Conchords have announced a new live album to follow their 2018 HBO special Flight of the Conchords: Live in London. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie…
J.P. Pomare’s Debut a Powerful Thriller
“Touted as a ‘literary thriller’, a genre classification often used to characterise a book written by an author who does not usually write crime fiction, Call Me Evie might best…
Midcentury Dream Home In New Zealand
“In 2015, Tara Morton and Nick Walbridge—both public servants in New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade—were nearing the end of several years in New York when they began looking for a house…
Mrs Krishnan Puts on a Party in Vancouver
Mrs Krishnan’s Party is a semi-improvised comic celebration of the southern Indian harvest festival of Onam, brought to Canada’s shores by New Zealand’s Indian Ink Theatre Company. It is reviewed by the Vancouver Sun. “The…
YouTube Picks Its New Zealand Artists to Watch
As part of YouTube’s ‘Artists to Watch’ 2019 spotlight, the video-sharing website has highlighted 10 acts from New Zealand and Australia which it predicts are going to create tsunamis this year. The line-up includes…
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Translated into Persian
Recently claiming top spot on The New York Times paperback bestseller list, New Zealand author and screenwriter Heather Morris’ historical novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz has now been published in Persian and is available…
Big New Zealand Presence at Berlinale and SXSW
Ten New Zealand features and shorts including a record number by female directors will screen in official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival in February while two will feature at the SXSW Festival…
Thomasin McKenzie Reflects on Breakout Year
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 18-year-old Wellingtonian Thomasin McKenzie reflects on her breakout year (after Debra Granik’s latest film Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, she shot four other films), frequent comparisons…
Acclaimed DJ Opiuo Returns to Colorado
New Zealand-born DJ and producer Oscar Davey-Wraight, who performs as Opiuo, solidified his place in the annals of Colorado music history last April with a groundbreaking and by-all-accounts epic one-night performance with a 20-piece…
More Career Firsts for Conductor Gemma New
New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New is building a resume with lots of little “first-ever” asterisks. Like her months-old appointment as principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony beginning in the 2019-20 season. Recently, New…
Looking Forward to Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit
“Matthew McConaughey as a stoner poet, Hitler as an imaginary friend and Cats the movie – the third in our five-part look at 2019’s key titles takes us into strange territory,” Guardian film writes. “[Jojo…
Bill Manhire’s Antarctic Poems Spare and Tender
Ernest Shackleton’s account of his mission and New Zealander Bill Manhire’s Field Notes are among Canadian author Jean McNeil’s favourites about the Antarctic continent. “Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, but it is home to almost…
Art Basel Winner Zac Langdon-Pole Talks to Forbes
The latest BMW Art Journey is informed by the ancient art of mapping stars. The winner, New Zealand-born artist Zac Langdon-Pole, will take on an adventurous journey, following the path humans and birds have…
Wonky Donkey Makes UK Christmas Bestseller List
The tale of a three-legged donkey has become a surprise Christmas bestseller thanks to a viral video of a grandmother reading it to her grandson. The Wonky Donkey, written by New Zealander Craig Smith,…
Leave No Trace’s Thomasin McKenzie a Breakout Star
Wellington-born teenager Thomasin McKenzie is named one of the year’s “standout stars” by The Atlantic for her role as ‘Tom’ in director Debra Granik’s celebrated 2018 film, Leave No Trace. “Granik has a way of…
Peter Jackson Calls up Protégé Christian Rivers
In 2015, Peter Jackson was feeling burned out – and you could hardly blame him. The New Zealand director had just finished work on the Hobbit films, wrapping up production on his supersized fantasy…
Rising Star Thomasin McKenzie Wanted to be a Vet
When she was a young girl in New Zealand, Thomasin McKenzie wasn’t sure what she wanted to be when she grew up. But she knew what she didn’t want to be. McKenzie sits down…
The Ultimate Beach ‘Shack’
“An unassuming ‘shed’ by the water in New Zealand is secretly hiding a modern home with two bedrooms designed for a family-of-five,” writes Billie Schwab Dunn in an article for
Peter Jackson Wants to Restore His Gory Early Films
“It’s funny how few of the average theater-goers for Peter Jackson epics, whether it’s The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit or the upcoming Mortal Engines, realize just how debauched the director’s early career…
The Beths & UMO – Must-Hear Indie Albums
Two albums by New Zealand artists have made UPROXX’ list of must-hear Indie albums of 2018: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) and Sex & Food (Unknown Mortal Orchestra). “What happens…
Marlon Williams Album One of 2018’s Best
Marlon Williams album Make Way For Love has been ranked among the 50 best albums (#34) of 2018 in an article by ABC News. “What’s Chasing You drew me into Make…
Rose McIver Inspired by Duchess in Christmas Role
When A Christmas Prince, starring New Zealander Rose McIver in the lead role, debuted on Netflix late last year, it became a cultural phenomenon. Sure, A Christmas Prince might have served as emotional catharsis for…
Vocalist & Poet Kimbra “Meant For the Stage”
“Kimbra is brave. She came clean with her emotions in her Songs from Primal Heart: Reimagined, as reported in an article on WGN Radio’s website, which reviewed the New Zealand…
Hollywood Movies Are Keeping NZ Busier Than Ever
“Hollywood films have shot intermittently in New Zealand for decades, taking advantage of the country’s seasoned film workers, world-famous landscapes and opposite seasons. But Kiwi production veterans say they’ve never seen their crews and…
Peter Jackson Earns Rare Blue Peter Gold Badge
Sir Peter Jackson has received Blue Peter’s highest accolade – a gold badge. The Oscar-winning director, who is best known for The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit films, joins just a select…
Terracotta Warriors Exhibition Launches at Te Papa
Te Papa’s latest landmark exhibition Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality has launched. Xinhua reports. “The exhibition features eight warriors standing 180 cm tall, and two full-size horses from the famous…
Jason Momoa Performs Haka at Aquaman Premiere
Aquaman star Jason Momoa has wowed fans when he led a massive red carpet haka at the film’s premiere on Thursday night. Variety reports. “For the uninitiated,…
Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe in the Interview Hot Seat
Zane Lowe talks like he’s rapping. No, really. The man’s words cascade from his mouth so quickly and smoothly that, at numerous points during our conversation, we expect him to slip into a full-on…
Len Lye Paved the Way for British Animators
Animation pioneer New Zealand-born Len Lye features in the television documentary, Secrets of British Animation. Made in conjunction with the British Film Institute, the programme “lifts the lid on an eccentric world where infinite pains…
