New Zealand Cinema: The Best-Kept Secret?

As a contemporary national cinema competing within the new global film markets, New Zealand's rise to a level of international recognition has been swift. Since the early 1990s, New Zealand has produced such critical and commercial successes as the cult-horror Braindead (1992), the social dramas Once Were Warriors (1994) and Heavenly Creatures (1994), the family feel-good movies Whale Rider (2002) and The World's Fastest Indian (2005), and the comedy Sione's Wedding (2006).

This is not to say, however, that the footsteps created by New Zealand's contemporary film production can only be traced back to the early 1990s. In fact, a period of contemporary New Zealand cinema would be best viewed as commencing in the mid 1970s when there was the first evidence of a film renaissance. Since 1976, New Zealand has produced approximately 290 films, and many of these have had to seek exposure outside the overseas theatrical circuits and general widespread distribution, quite often appearing instead on foreign cable channels or as video rental releases. New Zealand's film industry remains perhaps one of the best-kept secrets in world cinema, and this presentation will focus on outlining the key issues from the last thirty years.

Dr Ian Conrich was the founding director of the Centre for New Zealand Studies, Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of New Zealand Film - A Guide (2008, in Polish), and Studies in New Zealand Cinema (2009), and the forthcoming book New Zealand Cinema. He has contributed to more than 50 books and journals, and his work has been translated into French, Danish, Polish, Hungarian, and Hebrew.

Event Sponsor
UHM Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and UHM Academy for Creative Media, Manoa Campus

More Information
Letitia Hickson, 808-956-7700, ctisha@hawaii.edu, http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis

Ongoing Events