Archives.
Early film: 1890s–1920s The first public screening of a motion picture in New Zealand took place on 13 October 1896 at the Opera House in
Auckland. The screening—which was in fact a demonstration of
Thomas Edison's
kinetograph—was part of a show presented by Charles Godfrey's Vaudeville Company. The first screening of a colour film—one using a colour process, not just a colourised black-and-white film—was on 24 December 1911 in Auckland. The film was shown simultaneously at the Globe Picture Theatre in
Queen Street and the Kings Theatre on Upper Pitt Street (now the
Mercury Theatre). The first filmmaker in New Zealand was
Alfred Henry 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 first
feature film made in New Zealand is arguably
Hinemoa. It premiered on 17 August 1914 at the Lyric Theatre,
Auckland. Up until February 6 2025, New Zealand's oldest surviving cinema was in
Roxburgh in
Central Otago, which opened in the town's Athenæum Hall on 11 December 1897. The editors of the local newspaper, the
Mount Benger Mail, wrote in the issue of 10 December:
"We would draw the attention of the public to the Salon Cinématographe entertainment in the Athenæum Hall to-morrow evening. This is an opportunity which should not be missed of witnessing life scenes
." The oldest surviving purpose-built cinema in New Zealand — and in the Southern Hemisphere — is the
Victoria Theatre in
Devonport, Auckland, built in 1912.
The classical era: 1920s–1960s New Zealand's was a small-scale film industry between the 1920s and 1960s. In the 1920s and 1930s,
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 1940. 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). However, most New Zealand-made films of the period were
documentaries. The
National Film Unit was a government-funded producer of short films, documentaries, and publicity material.
This is New Zealand, a short film made for the
World Expo in 1970, was extremely popular there and subsequently screened in New Zealand cinemas, garnering considerable acclaim. It used three separate projectors to create a wide-screen image. The film was restored in 2006 and shown at the 2007
New Zealand International Film Festivals.
Establishment of the New Zealand Film Commission: 1970s–1980s In 1978, the
New Zealand Film Commission was established. Its aim was to encourage and promote the national film industry, and a number of film projects have been funded by the commission. One of the first New Zealand films to attract large-scale audiences at home was
Sleeping Dogs, directed by
Roger Donaldson in 1977. The film, a dark, political action thriller that portrays the reaction of one man to the formation of a
totalitarian government and the ensuing
guerrilla war, introduced
Sam Neill as a leading actor.
Sleeping Dogs is also notable as the first full-length
35mm feature film made entirely by a New Zealand production crew. Before then, films such as 1973's ''
Rangi's Catch had been shot in New Zealand, where they were set, but were produced and directed by foreign crews. Director Geoff Murphy was lured away by Hollywood, but he made two other key New Zealand films: Utu (1983), about the land wars of the 1860s, and a nuclear-apocalypse science-fiction story, The Quiet Earth'' (1985).
Bruno Lawrence, who appeared in both films, became a star.
Melanie Read was the first woman to write and direct a New Zealand feature film with the 1984 thriller
Trial Run. In 1987
Barry Barclay's film
Ngati, screenplay by
Tama Poata and starring veteran actor
Wi Kuki Kaa, was released to critical acclaim and some box-office success.
Ngati is recognised as the first feature film to be written and directed by a person of Māori descent.
Merata Mita was the first Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature film, when she directed
Mauri in 1988. An accomplished documentary film-maker, Mita made landmark documentaries including
Bastion Point: Day 507 (1980), about the
occupation of land there, and
Patu! (1983), a film about the controversial and violent anti-
apartheid protests during the 1981 Springboks rugby tour from South Africa. The late 1980s saw the reinvention of the New Zealand short film, beginning with
Alison Maclean's
Kitchen Sink. 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 grammar. Key examples of these are:
The Lounge Bar (
The Front Lawn),
Kitchen Sink (
Alison Maclean),
A Little Death (Simon Perkins;
Paul Swadel),
Stroke (
Christine Jeffs),
La Vie en Rose (Anna Reeves),
A Game With No Rules (Scott Reynolds),
Eau de la vie (Simon Baré),
O Tamaiti (The Children) (
Sima Urale) which won the
Silver Lion Best Short Film at the
Venice Film Festival, and
Two Cars, One Night (
Taika Waititi), which was nominated for the
Best Short Film Oscar.
International breakthrough: 1990–2000 The early 1990s saw New Zealand film gain international recognition, most obviously with
Jane Campion's
The Piano (1993), which won three
Academy Awards.
Peter Jackson's
Heavenly Creatures (1994) and
Lee Tamahori's
Once Were Warriors also received international acclaim and high grosses in a number of countries.
The Piano and
Heavenly Creatures showed an increasing tendency for New Zealand films to be partially or completely funded by overseas production companies, and star non-local actors (for example,
Holly Hunter and
Harvey Keitel in
The Piano, and
Kate Winslet in
Heavenly Creatures). This did not stop the migration of New Zealanders to the United States: Tamahori,
Melanie Lynskey of
Heavenly Creatures and Canadian-born
Piano star
Anna Paquin are now all primarily based in America. A notable exception to the migration tendency is
Peter Jackson, who continued to make films in New Zealand. Jackson's career began with low-budget comedies such as
Bad Taste (1987) and
Meet the Feebles (1989). He was eventually noticed by Hollywood, and in the 2000s directed
The Lord of the Rings series. Although made with mainly foreign funding (helped by a tax break from the New Zealand government) and featuring a primarily international cast, Jackson filmed the films in New Zealand, using a largely local production crew, helping create an enormous skill base in the New Zealand film industry. This has led to a number of prominent Hollywood films being made in New Zealand, with major international productions not only filming there but also using the country's various post-production facilities and special effects companies. Among these films are
The Last Samurai and
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. While the funding for these movies has come largely from the United States, the trend has helped New Zealand film studios and filmmakers develop skills and improve facilities. in the Waikato stood in for Hobbiton in the
Lord of the Rings series.|alt=Image shows rolling green hills with dwellings built in to them. These formed the town of "Hobbiton" in the Lord of the Rings films. These and other sets were constructed near the town of Matamata, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. However, some industry figures claim that having large international productions employ New Zealand crews has its downside. One New Zealand filmmaker recently complained that it has become difficult to employ
cameramen on a low-budget New Zealand film, as cameramen are now used to large wages. Other filmmakers find that the opposite is true, and argue that the greater number of local professionals may have driven wages down from the relative heights of the 1980s.
Since 2001 In early 21st century, the amount of local content has significantly increased, with
Whale Rider (2002) becoming the second-highest-grossing North American independent film of 2003 and third-highest worldwide, earning $40.1 million. Other notable films include ''
In My Father's Den (2004) and The World's Fastest Indian (2005). Both films did well at the New Zealand box office, with the latter beating Once Were Warriors to become the highest-grossing New Zealand film at the domestic box office, earning over 6.5 million; a record beaten by Boy in 2010.''
Sam Neill and Judy Rymer's documentary
Cinema of Unease was made in 1995. The latter part of the first decade of the new century saw the expansion of
Peter Jackson's filmmaking empire, with the producer-director
optioning the rights to
The Lovely Bones,
Halo,
The Dam Busters and the fantasy series
Temeraire. Major productions such as
Avatar and the 2007 blockbuster
The Water Horse used Jackson's Wellington studios and the services of the special-effects company
Weta Digital. US-based video game company
Unity Software bought Weta Digital for $1.63bn in 2021. Waititi's film
Boy, released in 2010, topped the box office receipts for the opening week, earning more on its opening day than any previous locally made film, becoming the highest-grossing New Zealand film of all time. In 2014 the mockumentary
What We Do in the Shadows, directed by Waititi and Clement, was released to substantial critical acclaim. Two years later, Waititi released
Hunt for the Wilderpeople, starring Sam Neill and
Julian Dennison, a film that became the new highest-grossing opening weekend box office New Zealand film on home soil, beating the record set by
Boy six years prior. New Zealand is grappling with the effect of international streaming platforms in the New Zealand market. In 2023 the New Zealand's screen producers' guild, SPADA pointed out international streamers currently 'pay no tax in New Zealand, face no regulation, and use broadband infrastructure partially funded by our Government while at the same time impact local broadcasting viewership and advertising revenue'. Regulating this would be in-line with many other countries. ==New Zealand Film Archive==