New Zealand Movie at 2016 Berlin Film Festival
The New Zealand movie Mahana/The Patriarch is one of the ten movies at the 66th Berlin Film Festival The Guardian is most looking forward to. The Patriarch, set in the 1960s, was shot…
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A Love Of All New Zealand Movies
“To the unaware, movie titles like Whale Rider and Once Were Warriors are well-made, entertaining yarns about Maoris. But to Charles Eggen, 78, they rank among his favorites — not just because they’re good…
Finola Dwyer Building on Success of Brooklyn
Celebrating six BAFTA nominations and three Oscar nominations, Wildgaze Films duo Wellington-born Finola Dwyer and Briton Amanda Posey look back at Brooklyn’s journey and ahead to their future slate and ambitions. Brooklyn was launched at…
Michael Anderson Takes a Fresh Look at Buffalo
New Zealand-born architect Michael Anderson never thought he would call Buffalo, in New York State home, but after four years at university there in the late 90s, something started to grow on him. At 6’8,…
Marlon Williams Brings Honey Back to the Bees
“If there’s anyone who proves that singer-songwriters don’t need a Nashville or Memphis address to make authentic, arresting country music, it’s 25-year-old crooner Marlon Williams,” Village Voice music editor Lindsey Rhoades says. “Growing…
David Farrier’s Doco Tickled a Hit with Critics
New investigative documentary, the “engrossing” Tickled, co-directed by New Zealanders David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, has received rave reviews from critics and punters after its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s…
Ukulele Orchestra Strums up Fans in US
Andy Morley-Hall is a member of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, an eight-piece band that combines high-energy ukulele covers of classic pop and rock songs by the likes of Blondie, Cyndi Lauper and Salt-N-Pepa…
Thor director Taika Waititi an Indie Powerhouse
“As a director, got an impeccable ability to balance painful earnestness with biting humour,” Angela Watercutter writes for WIRED. “And as a comedy writer and actor, he produces jokes that land…
Photographer Robin Hammond Speaks on Conflict
New Zealand-born Robin Hammond is one of six photographers featured in a series called Conflict, which explores the testimonies of professional conflict photographers and looks at how they engage with and seek to understand…
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is Perfectly Balanced
Taika Waititi’s film adaptation of Barry Crump’s Wild Pork and Watercress, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, is a “deliciously good time at the movies,” according to…
Top of the Lake Season 2 to Start Filming This Spring
“It’s been almost three years since Top of the Lake first aired and it’s still hard to shake the series’ sense of creeping dread”, writes Jacob Stolworthy in an article on The Independent. Lead actress…
All Trygve Wakenshaw Wants Is to Be Mr Bean
Mime superstar, New Zealand-born Trygve Wakenshaw, who has been garnering rave reviews for his recent solo show, Nautilus talks with the Guardian about his theatre background, his future and what he really wants –…
Owls Do Cry Reissued with Margaret Drabble Intro
Janet Frame’s 1957 debut novel Owls Do Cry has now been reissued with a nuanced and appreciative introduction by Margaret Drabble, who calls the novel “an exhilarating and dazzling prelude to long and…
Marlon Williams takes on North America
In July 2015, Marlon Williams made his Vancouver Folk Music Festival debut stunning the crowd. The 25-year-old New Zealander is a revelation, according to the Vancouver Sun. Williams’ voice is riveting, a cross between…
Sundance Welcomes Taika Waititi’s Latest
Taika Waititi’s new film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a dramatisation of Barry Crump’s 1986 novel, Wild Pork and Watercress, has premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Boy director Waititi returns with the road comedy…
Ben Sanders’ Crime Novel Takes on the Big Guns
Ben Sanders’ American Blood is a “world-class thriller,” according to Karen Hardy writing for the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s perhaps a little too soon to put Sanders in the same league as Lee Child,”…
Thomas Monckton’s The Pianist a Brilliant Hour
New Zealander Thomas Monckton is one of a new generation of mimes, a “luminary”, beginning to “carry the torch in a tradition that brought us Charlie Chaplin and Mr Bean,” according to the Sydney…
Mime’s New Star Is Trygve Wakenshaw
“Rubber-limbed” New Zealander Trygve Wakenshaw is “one of the most talented acts of the new mime movement,” Tristram Fane Saunders writes for the Telegraph. Trained at École Philippe Gaulier (“essentially RADA for…
Okinawa Islands Traditions Inspire English Teacher
New Zealander Jesse Whitehead, 25, has published a photography book depicting the people, nature, and culture of Okinawa, Japan as he experienced them during his three-year stay in Tomigusuku City. Whitehead came to Okinawa in…
Heath Cozens Breaks Stereotypes with Doglegs
Disabled athletes fight the non-disabled in New Zealand director Heath Cozens’ award-winning documentary Doglegs which provides an outlet for five determined wrestlers to escape the prejudice they face in everyday life, the Guardian reports. It…
Designer Tracy Grant Lord Dresses Scottish Ballet
Aucklander Tracy Grant Lord is the brains behind the costumes and set of Scottish Ballet’s Cinderalla, a production originally created for the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2007, which Grant Lord also worked on….
David Bowie Changed Geeling Ching’s Life
In 1983, Aucklander Geeling Ching was 23 years old and waiting tables at a Sydney café when she was chosen to play the lead role in David Bowie’s “China Girl,” Associated Press…
Paul Donald’s Solo Endymion Project Opens in LA
Auckland-born artist Paul Donald’s solo show “Endymion Project” has opened in Los Angeles at CB1 Gallery, one of a number of “stand out” exhibitions opening this month in the city. Donald, who was trained in…
Photographer Frances Melhop Winters in Silver City
New Zealand born photographer and illustrator Frances Melhop, voted one of the World’s 200 Best Advertising Photographers 2009/2010 by Lürzers Archive, will bring her skills and talents to the Resident Artist Program in Silver…
Lesley Vanderwalt’s Mad Max Work up for BAFTA
If the hair and makeup from the post-apocalyptic science-fiction film Mad Max: Fury Road looks out of this world, it very well might be, according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s because hair and…
Choreographer Parris Goebel Born to Dance
If you were one of more than 500 million recent YouTube views for Justin Bieber’s song “Sorry” and were dazzled by the dancing, know that the moves originated from the mind of New Zealand-born…
Manu Bennett and Jed Brophy Take up Noalath
In a Shannara Chronicles “Behind the Scenes” MTV video, New Zealanders Manu Bennett, who plays the druid Allanon, and Jed Brophy, demon king Dagda Mor, reveal their thoughts about the made-up language entitled Noalath…
Everyone’s Listening to Nadia Reid’s Debut
Singer Nadia Reid’s highly rated debut,Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs is included in the Guardian’s annual roundup of “The Albums We Missed” column. Reviewer Michael Hann says: “It took 24-year-old New Zealander Reid seven…
Barnie Duncan’s …him a Living Thriving Piece of Art
“New Zealander Barnie Duncan has created an unusual yet intriguing piece of art that is somewhat unpleasant in a refreshing way, and yet able to draw in the audience with subtlety … in a…
Marlon Williams Debut a Rolling Stone Favourite
Marlon Williams’ solo debut was one of the albums that defined the year, according to Rolling Stone Australia, which includes the self-titled debut in their 50 Best Albums of the Year list. Rolling Stone writes: “The…
Robin Hammond Portraits Some of TIME’s Best
Two of New Zealand-born photographer Robin Hammond’s images from his Where Love is Illegal series have been included in a list of TIME magazine’s best portraits of the year. The photographs, one of which made TIME’s…
Kiwi Band ‘No Tag’ Reissue Classic 1982 Album ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’
Thirty years after its initial release, No Tag’s album ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’ – three tracks of burly and meaty street punk, has been re-issued by New York City label Radio Raheem. “Guitarist Andrew Boak, singer…
Ed Sheeran Pays Touching Tribute to Jonah Lomu
“Ed Sheeran has paid a touching tribute to All Blacks great Jonah Lomu by taking to the stage at his concert wearing the late rugby legend’s number 11 jersey”, writes Jenny Awford for
Jemaine Clement the Protagonist
New Zealand actor Jemaine Clement’s performance in the “not quite rom-com” People Places Things “is understated, often characterised by the type of deadpan wit familiar to fans of his breakout HBO series Flight of…
Louis Schulz One of Turner Prize-Winning Assemble
A collective of 18 young architects called Assemble – one of whom is New Zealander Louis Schulz – has become the first group of “non-artists”, and the youngest, to win the annual £25,000 British…
Mark King Photographs the Pristine Pre-Railway
New Zealand-born photographer Mark King, 41, has used state-of-the-art lasers to show how a controversial planned high-speed railway in the UK will cut through the countryside. King’s photos show two laser beams replicating the track…
Brain-Eating Rose McIver Owns TV Role
New Zealander Rose McIver, star of iZombie, one of the Los Angeles Times’ best new television shows of 2015, is “incognito as a coroner’s assistant, find the space between Veronica Mars and Buffy the…
Weta Partners With Te Papa for Larger-Than-Life Exhibit
“From the battlefield to the hospital ship, attendees get a unique look at the battle of Gallipoli with the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibit” – a collaboration between the museum and Weta Workshop to…
Peter Jackson-Backed Movie Museum Wins Approval
“Hobbits, Orcs, Ents and maybe even some Na’vi are getting their own museum in New Zealand’s capital city,” writes Nancy Tartaglione in an article for Deadline. The project – a combined movie museum…
Legions of Fans Greet Author Lang Leav in KL
Best-selling poet and author Lang Leav’s cult following of devoted fans from all over the world, began with her poetry being shared by millions on Tumblr and eventually culminated with the publication…
Jess Johnson’s Wurm Haus an Otherworldly Experience
New Zealand-born artist Jess Johnson’s new exhibition, on at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), is arresting – a series of geometrical, pastel-toned psychedelic prints that bring to mind fantastical worlds and video games….
Virgin’s Tom Mockridge Talks New Challenges
New Zealander Tom Mockridge, chief executive of British cable group Virgin Media, talks with the Financial Times about broadband, News Corp and why UK football television rights need a big shake-up. Mockridge is so habitually…
John Metcalfe Blends Influences on Sycamore
One-time member of post-punk band the Durutti Column, composer, arranger and viola player New Zealand-born John Metcalfe has written “Sycamore,” which draws on the disparate influences of minimalist composer Steve Reich and the electronic…
Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty
New Zealander Rachel Hunter, once one of the world’s most-photographed supermodels, is now on a quest to discover the secrets of lasting beauty, great health and extraordinary longevity in diverse cultures around the world,…
Works by Susan Te Kahurangi King a Miami Must See
The booth of Auckland artist Susan Te Kahurangi King is one of seven must-sees at this year’s Art Basel Miami, according to New York’s Observer. “It’s impossible to pick a favourite, but it will be…
New Zealand a Majestic Set for Shannara Chronicles
MTV’s new fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles is set in the future but features elves and gnomes and promises plenty of old-fashioned adventure all filmed in the town of Kumeu, in New Zealand’s scenic…
The Shannara Chronicles
“MTV’s new fantasy series “The Shannara Chronicles” is set in the future but features elves and gnomes and promises plenty of old-fashioned adventure,” writes Nick Perry for The Republic. The show is based…
On the Road with Strictly Dancer Brendan Cole
Britain’s Strictly Come Dancing star, New Zealand-born Brendan Cole breaks off from a journey to Blackpool to speak about this year’s show and his new tour, which will call in to Dorset early next…
Tiny House Fits Lily Duval to a T
A home is not just a building, it’s also a state of mind. For Christchurch woman Lily Duval, 28, it meant creating a charming, cozy space out of her self-built 14sqm tiny home, where…
Compliments on Nadia Reid’s Extraordinary Debut
New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid’s Look for the Signs is an “extraordinarily assured debut”, Guardian reviewer Kitty Empire writes. The track Call the Days “suggests an Antipodean Laura Marling, a talented 24-year-old with a preternatural…
Artist Gary Yong Sand Bags Dubai Beach
New Zealand-born street artist Gary Yong has been in Dubai participating in the UAE Innovation Week, which saw him place 1600 bags of sand along Jumeirah Beach Residence’s open beach for a piece he…
Simon Denny Merges Tech and Art at Serpentine
For an artist, Simon Denny has an unusually agile grasp of corporate jargon, according to the Independent. Discussing his forthcoming Serpentine Sackler Gallery exhibition in London, Products for Organising, the 33-year-old New Zealander’s chat…
NZ Dancers and Choreographer Open AMAs With Jennifer Lopez
“Jennifer Lopez has blown away music fans and fellow performers with a show-stopping dance medley at the American Music Awards – and a Kiwi is getting the credit,” as reported in an article on the…
Bcc Your Way into Brian Fuata’s New Show
As the Performa 15 biennial geared up for a month of performances throughout New York City in November, Wellington-born performance artist Brian Fuata and Australian curator Susan Gibbs’ performance began in cyberspace, causing smartphones…
Marton Csokas Enters Into the Badlands
New Zealand-born actor Marton Csokas, 49, told reporters at the recent New York Comic-Con he is happy to star in the martial-arts drama Into the Badlands because it is unlike anything else on American…
Felix Kelly’s Surreal Truro to Be Auctioned
An oil painting depicting a Cornwall town’s landmarks by New Zealand artist Felix Kelly and commissioned by Prince Charles is to go under the hammer. Auckland-born Kelly, who has exhibited alongside names such as Lucian…
