Understanding Sporting Passion
Award-winning Wellington-born filmmaker Julian Shaw’s “emotive” 211 documentary Cup of Dreams is recommended to Australians so they may gain some insights on how the All Blacks can be beaten in the Rugby World Cup….
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Rediscovering Talent
New Zealand singer-songwriter Liam Finn, who is promoting his latest studio album FOMO, plays at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live on 18 September. Co-producer of FOMO Canadian-born Burke Reid helped Finn avoid the trap of…
Creating Social Science Fiction
New Zealand-born director Andrew Niccol’s new film In Time, out in the United States on 28 October, is set in a world where everyone’s biological clock stops at age 25. Here, time is the…
London Alternative Realm
New Zealand-born artist Francis Upritchard presents a solo exhibition of her recent works through 8 October at the Kate MacGarry gallery in London. The Guardian describes the exhibition: “ recent works — rainbow-hued figures…
September’s Best Track
Wellington-based musician Jon Lemmon’s “opus” Exodus I is the Guardian/Music Alliance Pact (MAP) New Zealand selection for September included in a list of best tracks from around the globe. Every month, 35…
Improving What We Have
President of the Tertiary Education Union at Victoria University, senior lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, Sandra Grey writes that calling for expatriate New Zealanders to put money into the tertiary sector is possibly…
Boasting Grand Beginnings
Twenty-one-year-old singer Kimbra’s debut album Vows is reviewed in The Sydney Morning Herald by Bernard Zuel. “On Vows, Kimbra leaps from rhythmic, multi-vocal exercises in the style of French artist Camille (a comparison which…
Once in a Lifetime Chance
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will give a special one-off concert in Ireland’s Ulster Hall as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s in October — with one lucky young singer getting the chance to…
Artists of the Week
Auckland folk-fusion hip-hop-electronic foursome Sola Rosa recently secured the coveted spot as MTV IGGY’s Artist of the Week, edging out the likes of Rocktigers, Los Hollywood, Dama Do Bling, and Scarab. Their victory is…
Jackson Bags the Best Bilbo
Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson says there is “simply nobody else” who could star as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit epic but British actor Martin Freeman. “He is fantastic and there is simply nobody else…
Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral
The quake-ravaged Christ Church Cathedral is set to be rebuilt – using cardboard. Since the destruction of the iconic building in February’s deadly earthquake, rebuilding the Cathedral has been deemed a priority for the…
A legacy in literature
Acclaimed journalist Dame Christine Cole Catley has passed away at age 88, leaving behind a legacy in New Zealand literature. After making a name for herself as one of the nation’s first prominent female…
Back to the Big Screen
New Zealand actress Anna Paquin is to star alongside Ryan Phillipe in independent comedy Straight A’s which is set in Louisiana. Phillippe portrays a man who’s been in and out of rehab for 1…
Boy to Play US Cinemas
The American distribution rights to Taika Waititi’s Boy, which had its world premiere at the 21 Sundance Film Festival, have been acquired by indie outfit Paladin. Since playing at the Sundance, Berlin…
Almódovar’s Survivors
The autobiographies of New Zealand’s “greatest” author Janet Frame were part of an “esoteric selection of references” given to Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s new leading lady Elena Anaya in preparation for her role as…
Comic Capers in LA
Director of acclaimed film Boy Wellingtonian Taika Waititi was part of a large New Zealand contingent who worked on comic-book blockbuster Green Lantern in Los Angeles, starring as aircraft engineer Thomas Kalmaku, best friend…
Southern Storytelling
New Zealand singer/songwriter Jackie Bristow, who is based in the United States, recently played a solo acoustic set at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, California. On her most recent release…
South Pacific Role for Rhodes
New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes will star in an Opera Australia production of South Pacific to open at the Sydney Opera House this month ahead of a nationwide tour. Opera Australia’s artistic director…
Apprentices and Prodigies
An exhibition of 12 up-and-coming contemporary New Zealand jewellers is on this month at Sydney’s Studio 2/17 gallery. ‘Handshake: Prentice and Prodigy’ is the brainchild of contemporary artist and jeweller, Peter Deckers….
Police Good Deeds in Stencil
“The New Zealand Police are hipper than you might think” with a new nationwide ad campaign that aims to tell true life stories of police officers through stencilled street art by Otis Frizzell. In…
Transactions Over Canapés
The Auckland Art Fair was held from 4-7 August at the Viaduct Events Centre where “a transactional air of confidence and optimism permeated the space, which was filled with the usual opening-night mix of…
Doing Business Like Conchords
“As the duo behind the comedy and musical group Flight of the Conchords, you might be wondering what a folk band from New Zealand can offer by way of business advice,” Forbes contributor Deborah…
Illusion of the Truth
“I never intended to become an apologist for Tony Blair’s war,” director Lee Tamahori wails down the phone from his home in Wellington. “I just wanted to show that Uday was a psycho.” He…
Absent From the Circus
Wellington has been home to British thriller writer Neil Cross for the past eight years since he moved away from the wearying “circus” of the UK and a 24 Booker nomination for his novel…
Silent Hitchcock Discovered
A thirty-minute portion of The White Shadow, a 1923 silent film that is considered to be Alfred Hitchcock’s first credit, has been found amongst a collection of unidentified American nitrate prints in the New…
Jango Fett Has a Ball
Actor Temuera Morrison surprised Rotorua high school students recently when he made an appearance at their Star Wars-themed ball. According to the New Zealand Herald Morrison — who played bounty hunter Jango Fett in…
Huhu Animates the Edible
Auckland animation company Huhu Studios has signed a multi-million dollar deal to produce six all-new direct-to-video episodes of popular children’s show VeggieTales for America’s Big Idea Entertainment studio. Founder and CEO of Huhu Trevor…
Soprano in the Scrum
New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra has been snapped with a number of burly rugby players, after she was named as the official voice of the Rugby World Cup for audiences in the UK. Westenra’s…
Love Song to Opera House
New Zealanders musician Neil Finn and opera star Teddy Tahu Rhodes have been included in a line-up of artists chosen to perform sections of Nick Cave’s classic The Ship’s Song for a Sydney Opera…
Live Action at Comic-Con
Animation/motion-capture combination enabled Steven Spielberg to ‘step in and film like a live-action film’, said Peter Jackson at Comic-Con, who was a surprise guest at…
Grass and Seeds
Wellington reggae-soul group The Black Seeds played at the Australian music festival Splendour in the Grass at Woodford in Queensland on 29 July; keyboardist Nigel Patterson was interviewed ahead of the gig by the…
In Love With His TV
Chief executive of Virgin Media New Zealander Neil Berkett has been placed at number 52 on the MediaGuardian annual top 1 guide to the most powerful people in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media,…
Curing the Post-Tour Blues
New Zealand musician Liam Finn admits that on the back of tours around the world with Pearl Jam, The Black Keys and Wilco, he was cast adrift by his sudden sea change. “I didn’t…
From Heights in Heels
One of the most sought-after stuntwomen in Hollywood, New Zealander Zoe Bell crashes through glass, slams into book cases and leaps from tall buildings. She has done stunts on more than 2 films and…
Beijing as Seen Like a Local
Auckland University of Technology media graduate Kim Bowden, who is currently working for three months as an intern at China Daily.com in Beijing, writes about the benefits of getting about the city on bicycle….
Violent Realism
Wellington-born director Lee Tamahori insists that his scripts are already dripping with violence when he gets them. His latest movie, The Devil’s Double tells the story of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi military officer who…
Back to the Place He Loves
Los Angeles is losing one of the greatest living jazz pianists, and a composer-orchestrator who has few peers, if any, New Zealand native Alan Broadbent. Before Broadbent moves his family to New York this…
Cameo Contest Win
Hamilton-born singer Kimbra has won the AU$5, 211 Vanda and Young Songwriting Contest, receiving the honour for her song Cameo Lover ahead of 4 other entries. Now based in Melbourne, Kimbra — real name…
Wide Awake and Charged
“It’s a tribute to the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s eclectic, open spirit that, once again, they visit the UK with a programme of work never seen here before,” Guardian reviewer Judith Mackrell writes. “In…
Finding Solitude in the North
New Zealand is American musician Moby’s favourite place on the planet to holiday. “My fear is that every person you talk to is going to give that answer, because New Zealand is so beautiful…
Raiding the Global Pantry
Martha Jeffries, producer/director of New Zealand-made food and travel series World Kitchen is a self-confessed foodie with wanderlust, who had a “very Hutt upbringing”, growing up in Pinehaven and attending Sacred Heart…
Jackson on Location
“Leave it to Peter Jackson to make a Facebook video as thrilling and breathtaking as any of his films,” Entertainment Weekly reporter Aly Semigran writes. “As the Oscar-winning director promised, and New…
Countryside in Collage
Cruising through New Zealand, marvelling at the breathtaking natural environments that define this country, Savannah artist Laura Adams returned to the US and had an “explosion of creativity”. “I worked non-stop,” Adams said. “It…
Quitting his day job
New Zealand-born Stephen Daisley, winner of Australia’s 211 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, said the AU$8, tax-free prize would finally enable him to quit his weekend job selling second-hand clothes and focus exclusively…
Internationally Eclectic
“The Royal New Zealand Ballet may be based a long way from the main centres of ballet, but the repertory for its UK tour is as international as it is eclectic,” Judith Mackrell writes…
D-Day Demons
New Zealand director Paul Campion’s debut feature film The Devil’s Rock is reviewed in the Guardian by Michael Hann. “ attempts to settle the type of question posed by bumptious schoolboys: which would be…
Talent Exported
Lead singer of The Naked and Famous, Thom Powers tells The Irish Independent’s Ed Power that he thought the band could pretend they were from some obscure part of Europe. “It must annoy you…
Cheeky Island Sentinels
The bohemian enclave of Waiheke Island has become a gallery-rich art destination; the Guardian’s Stephen Phelan’s first impressions are of bare bottoms, all brightly painted in tinges of lime green, lemon yellow, electric blue…
On V in LA Shoot
“Television’s hottest vampire bait” Anna Paquin features in the July issue of V Magazine. In the exclusive interview, Paquin explains her character, the mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse, and the fiends out to get her:…
Delicious Synth-Pop
Christchurch three-piece Sleepy Age’s “synth-heavy, European disco-inspired single Décor” has been selected by the Music Alliance Pact (MAP) as one of July’s best tracks from around the globe. “In 29, Sleepy Age…
Austenland Role for Conchord
Wellington actor Bret McKenzie will star alongside Keri Russell in indie romantic comedy Austenland. In the film, Russell plays a woman with a secret obsession with Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation…
Revealing Familial Tales
“They didn’t know it at the time, but when New Zealand-born Chris and Peter O’Doherty lost their quietly spoken father 11 years ago, his story wasn’t over and theirs was about to take a…
Empire Covers Middle Earth
“In honour of Jackson’s long-awaited return to Middle-earth for two dragon-and-dwarf-laden prequels — as a “good luck charm” according to the director — Empire takes its symbolic and rightful place as the first…
Bewildering Benevolence
Janet Frame’s novel Living in the Maniototo is included in a Wall Street Journal’s ‘Novel Approaches to Kindness’ ‘Five Best Books’ feature as one of the “oddest acts of kindness in fiction.” “It seems…
Naked at Glastonbury
Auckland band The Naked and Famous, together with Metronomy and Wu-Tang Clan, helped open this year’s Glastonbury music festival. Bass player David Beadle talked to NME ahead of the Pyramid Stage headliners U2. “I…
Westenra Performs in Malta
Christchurch “music sensation” Hayley Westenra, will perform alongside Italian pop icon Lucio Dalla and Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja on July 9 at the annual Joseph Calleja concert at the Granaries in Malta. In a…
