Working on overseas productions
Just as with the first narrative films made in this country in 1912, foreign film-makers continued to arrive in New Zealand in search of inspiring locations. By 2009, film-makers such as Hollywood director James Cameron could also call on the services of world-leading special effects company Weta Digital, which employed up to 900 people on the fantasy blockbuster Avatar. Local extras and technicians were also employed on this production. But with offshore activity no longer assured, difficulties in obtaining finance to make films meant that the industry struggled in the 2010s.
The Hobbit
The hobbit: an unexpected journey (2012), a blockbuster adventure fantasy directed by Peter Jackson and produced by Warner Bros, was a prequel to The lord of the rings and the first of a three-part series. It was connected with New Zealand through its production base, its locations (most altered in appearance by digital effects), some of its key creators, a few of its actors and some of its crew of more than 1,200. Made with global finance for a global audience, The hobbit: an unexpected journey grossed nearly US$700 million worldwide in the first three weeks it screened. In New Zealand it had the biggest theatrical release the country had seen, shown on 203 screens in 98 different locations.
Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi continued to write, direct, produce and act in both local and international productions in the 2010s. New Zealand-based vampire feature What we do in the shadows (2014) spawned a television series. Hunt for the wilderpeople (2016) paid tribute to the surrealist and anti-authoritarian traditions of New Zealand film-making. Jojo rabbit (2019), adapted from Christine Leunens’ 2004 novel Caging skies, was a Second World War comedy-drama which received mixed reviews for Waititi’s controversial portrayal of Adolf Hitler.
The status of contract workers on this production sparked a long-running industrial dispute with NZ Actors Equity (now Equity New Zealand), which the National government attempted to resolve with the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Act in late 2010.
New Zealand and Pacific stories
The orator
The first-ever Samoan-language feature film, The orator (2011), was a Samoan-New Zealand production shot in Samoa with a local cast. Written and directed by Tusi Tamasese, it stars a diminutive but determined taro farmer, required to assume his father’s chiefly status.
Mt Zion
Mt Zion (2013), directed by Tearapa Kahi and produced by Small Axe Films, was funded by the New Zealand Film Commission, the government broadcasting agency NZ On Air, Māori Television and the Māori broadcasting agency Te Māngai Pāho. It is an intensely local story about a Pukekohe potato picker choosing between duty to his whānau and his passion to become a reggae artist. The production and lead creative teams were local people (with the exception of Stan Walker, the Australian-domiciled Māori who plays the lead) as were the crew.
Shopping
Shopping (2013) was the debut feature of writer-directors Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, whose short film The six dollar fifty man won awards at the Berlin, Sundance and Cannes film festivals. A small-town New Zealand drama set on the Kāpiti Coast, Shopping won one of the world’s most prestigious awards, the Berlin Film Festival’s Grand Prix, in 2013.
Urban turban
Devesh Singh’s romantic comedy Urban turban (2014) was the first Bollywood-style film to be made in Auckland.
The great maiden's blush
Written and directed by Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader, with cinematography by Warrick Attewell and Alun Bollinger, The great maiden’s blush (2015) depicts the drama of two very different women facing the need to make decisions about the future of their young babies.
Chronesthesia
Dubbed as a science fiction romance comedy, Chronesthesia (2016) was released to critical acclaim. Written and edited by and starring Hayden J. Weal, it has been described as ‘utterly unique’. It features Wellington city in a ‘dreamy and charmingly off-kilter tangle of multiple love stories’, according to Marc Savlov of the Austin Film Festival Review.
Government incentives for film production
In 2014 the New Zealand Film Commission introduced the Screen Production Grant, later known as the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate, to incentivise the domestic film industry while also encouraging international productions to film in New Zealand.
Streaming services
The introduction to Aotearoa of Netflix and other streaming platforms in 2015 affected the production and distribution of New Zealand films. For example, The breaker upperers was released in New Zealand in 2018 and internationally on Netflix (excluding New Zealand and Australia) in 2019. The development of local web-distributed productions, such as Rūrangi (2020), a five-part web series developed into a full feature film, also challenged traditional production and distribution processes.
