New Zealand cinema can refer to films made by New Zealand-based production companies in New Zealand. However, it may also refer to films made about New Zealand by filmmakers from other countries. In addition, due to the relatively small size of its film industry, many New Zealand-made films are co-productions with companies based in other nations.
In October, 1978 the New Zealand Film Commission was formalised by Parliament under the National Party. The functions of the Commission under Article 17 New Zealand Film Commission Act (1978) were to;
Encourage and assist in the making, promotion, distribution and exhibition of films
Encourage and promote cohesion with NZ film industry
Encourage and promote maintenance of films in archives
With this Act the New Zealand Film industry became more stabilised. Article 18 “Content of Films” New Zealand Film Commission Act (1978) would serve to define which aspects a film had to have in order for it to be labelled as a New Zealand Film. To qualify as a New Zealand film all the aspects listed below must be of New Zealand in origin;
The subject of the film
The locations at which the film was made
The nationalities or places of residence of: The authors, scriptwriters, composers, producers, directors, actors, technicians, editors, etc.
The sources from which the money is derived
The ownership and whereabouts of the equipment and technical facilities
These defining aspects have in recent years caused debate on whether films like The Frighteners and the Lord of the Rings qualify as New Zealand Films. The impact of the New Zealand Film Commission on the industry was in getting films made, coming to a definition of NZ Film, and helping establish a Screen Industry in New Zealand.
Early film
The first public screening of a motion picture was on October 13, 1896 at the Opera House, Auckland and was part of a show presented by Charles Godfrey’s Vaudeville Company.
The first screening of a colour film (colour process, not just a colourised black and white film) was on Christmas Eve in 1911. It was a simultaneous showing at the Globe Picture Theatre, Queen Street and the Kings Theatre, Upper Pitt Street (now Mercury Lane).
The first filmmaker in New Zealand was Alfred Whitehouse, who made ten films between 1898 and mid-1900. The oldest surviving New Zealand film is Whitehouse's The Departure of the Second Contingent for the Boer War (1900).
The Classical era
New Zealand film was a small-scale industry during the 1920s-1960s. During the 1920s and 1930s, director Rudall Hayward made a number of feature films on New Zealand themes. Rewi's Last Stand was probably his best, but little of this 1925 film survives. The film was remade with sound in the 1930s. Independent filmmaker John O'Shea was active from 1940 to 1970 making New Zealand cinema; his company Pacific Films produced numerous short films as well as the three New Zealand feature films made in that period: Broken Barrier (1952) with Roger Mirams, Runaway (1964), and Don't Let It Get You (1966).
The 1970s and 1980's
During the late 1970s, the New Zealand Film Commission was established to fund the production of New Zealand cinema films. A number of film projects were funded and this led to a revitalisation of the New Zealand film industry.
One of the first New Zealand films to attract largescale audiences at home - and also see release in the United States - was Sleeping Dogs, directed by Roger Donaldson in 1977. A dark political action thriller that portrays the reaction of one man to the formation of a totalitarian government, and subsequent guerrilla war in New Zealand, it introduced Sam Neill as a leading actor. While its local images of large scale civil conflict and government repression were unfamiliar to most viewers, they became a reference point after the 1981 Springbok Tour protests and police response, just a few years later.
Sleeping Dogs was also notable for being the first full-length 35mm feature film made entirely by a New Zealand production crew. Before then, feature films such as 1973's Rangi's Catch had been filmed and set in New Zealand, but were still produced and directed by foreign crews.
1981 saw the release of the road movie Goodbye Pork Pie, which made NZ$1.5 million (a figure comparable with major Hollywood blockbusters of the time like Star Wars or Jaws). Director Geoff Murphy accepted movie offers from Hollywood.
During the late 1980s a trend developed that saw the reinvention of the New Zealand short film form. Alison Maclean's landmark short Kitchen Sink came to typify the trend. Instead of trying to be short features focused on dialogue and character, the new shorts tried instead to push the envelope in terms of visual design and cinematic language. The result saw an explosion of visually rich and compelling works that seemed to aspire more to the best of European cinema than the mainstay of Hollywood fare.
Key examples of these are: The Lounge Bar (Don McGlashan, Harry Sinclair as The Front Lawn, 1989), 12 Min, 35 mm, colour; Kitchen Sink (Alison Maclean, 1989), 14 minutes, 35 mm, b/w; A Little Death (Simon Perkins, Paul Swadel, 1994), 11 minutes, 16 mm, colour & b/w; Stroke (Christine Jeffs, 1994) 8 Min, 35 mm, colour; La Vie En Rose (Anna Reeves, 1994), 7 Min, colour; A Game With No Rules (Scott Reynolds, 1994), 16.30 Min, colour; Eau de la vie (Simon Baré, 1993), 13
Min, colour; and notably O Tamaiti (The Children) (Sima Urale, 1996) which won the Silver Lion Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival; and Two Cars, One Night (Taika Waititi) which was nominated Best Short Film at the Academy Awards.
The early 1990s saw New Zealand film gain international recognition, most obviously with Jane Campion's The Piano (1993), which won four Academy Awards. Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994) and Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors also gained international critical acclaim and high grosses in a number of countries. The first two examples showed an increasing tendency for New Zealand films to be partially or completely overseas-funded, and also star non-New Zealand actors (Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel in The Piano and Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures). This did not stop the migration of New Zealand talent to the United States: Tamahori, Melanie Lynskey of Heavenly Creatures and Canadian-born Piano star Anna Paquin are now all primarily based in America, and some of the Warriors cast also found work there.
A notable exception to the migration tendency is Peter Jackson, who has continued to make films in New Zealand. Jackson's career began with low-budget comedy movies, such as Bad Taste (1987) and Meet the Feebles (1989). He gradually became noticed by Hollywood, and directed the phenomenally successful Lord of the Rings films. Although made with mainly American money (and an advantageous tax break from the New Zealand government) and a primarily international cast, Jackson filmed the movies in New Zealand, using a largely Kiwi production crew, helping create an enormous skill base in the New Zealand film industry.
The New Zealand Film Archive was founded and incorporated on March 9, 1981. Film enthusiast, critic and historian Jonathan Dennis (1953 – 2002) was a primary driving force behind the archive and became its first director. The archive was set up to preserve and restore significant New Zealand film and television images. It now holds a collection of much of early New Zealand cinema film and holds public screenings of its collection.
Notable actors
