New Zealand Cinema

Despite the success of films such as The Piano, Heavenly Creatures, Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, and The World's Fastest Indian, New Zealand cinema remains one of the best kept secrets. Internationally, the country has become known for the location possibilities it offered to productions such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Last Samurai, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but since 1977 New Zealand has produced more than 250 movies and an array of acclaimed short films. This book is the first full-length study of New Zealand cinema and explores a series of recurring themes and issues - law and authority, post-settler identity, neo-colonialism, Asia-Pacific diasporas, the Kiwi Gothic, and the reworking of American genres - across more than a hundred years of New Zealand film history. It presents critical readings of a diverse range of films - shorts, features, and documentaries - and considers the work of directors, producers, cinematographers and actors. The marketing of New Zealand film is addressed and is part of a wider cultural framework that approaches this national cinema through consumption, control and regulation, cultural policies and local and international media. Drawing on a private archive of pre-cinema New Zealand this book also includes a study of stereoviews and magic lantern slides.