Born to Dance at TIFF
“Auckland, New Zealand may seem a world away from the heart of hip-hop culture in the US, but the local dance crews featured in Born to Dance totally own it”, writes Justin Lowe for
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Richard Taylor to Help Bring Monkey King to US
Special effects maestro New Zealander Richard Taylor will direct the design of characters in the upcoming American film version of The Monkey King, a Chinese blockbuster. “There has been a rush to bring Western-originated movies to…
Ron Stenberg Painting Mystery Solved
When Auckland artist Ron Stenberg launched an appeal to discover the identities of two people in a £100,000 painting he donated to one of Scotland’s leading art galleries he had no idea what a…
Writing New Album Therapeutic Says Gin Wigmore
Currently on tour in the US to great acclaim, Gin Wigmore, whose music has featured on the soundtrack to Pretty Little Liars and Grey’s Anatomy, pauses to talk with Marie Claire about her creative…
Jake Mahaffy’s Rare and Valuable New Film Lauded
Jake Mahaffy’s evocation of a borderline unbearable true-life tragedy, Free In Deed is a bracing, bruising corrective to the “faith-based filmmaking” movement, according to Indiewire. The New Zealand-raised director’s third film, set in and…
Forgotten Crowded House Song Helping Refugees
Songs can grow and assume new shapes with time, and pop’s power to engage people has taken Crowded House’s 16-year-old ballad Help is Coming and given it new life as a charitable ode to…
Stephen Taberner’s Choir a Bit on the Spooky Side
Georgian polyphonic singing enthusiast, Christchurch-born Stephen Taberner leads the 16-man Australian choir Spooky Men’s Chorale which recently performed in London at the Islington Assembly Hall. The Guardian’s Robin Denselow reviewed the evening. “It takes a…
NZ Star Wars Geeks Rule the Galaxy for a Day
Walt Disney’s new Star Wars toys have been released in New Zealand – the first place in the universe for the toys to go on sale in “Disney’s Apple-like round-the-globe rollout of new toys”. “It’s…
Photographer Robin Hammond Witnessing Change
While producing Condemned, an in-depth look at how the mentally ill people are treated in several African nations, New Zealand photographer Robin Hammond believed that the mere act of making their condition visible would…
First Images of Holiday Horror Krampus Released
First images of “Michael Dougherty’s new stab at holiday horror” Krampus have been released. Krampus tells the story of Max, who stops to believe in Santa more and more when his “dysfunctional family gathers for…
Pietra Brettkelly’s Doco Premieres in Venice
Multi-award-winning director and producer Pietra Brettkelly’s documentary A Flickering Truth, filmed in Afghanistan, made its premiere at the 2015 Venice International Film Festival. New Zealand-born Brettkelly’s 2008 film The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins…
On the True Detective Set With DOP Nigel Bluck
Recently rated by Variety magazine as one of 10 cinematographers to watch, New Zealander Nigel Bluck, 43, has been working as director of photography on the second season of popular…
Introverted Dancefloor’s Latest Effort Far from Shy
“Not nearly as introspective as the eponymous album title would have you believe, Bevan Smith’s latest project as Introverted Dancefloor is restrained, yes, but far from bashful,” UK arts magazine the Skinny…
Flight of the Conchords Musical Is Coming
The upcoming Flight of the Conchords movie is shaping up to be a musical like no other, co-creator Jemaine Clement has promised – albeit tentatively. The film is “definitely a couple of years away,…
Kids Design Playground in New Zealand
Local kids have helped to design a new playground as part of the rebuild of the Christchurch city center following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The Christchurch city council consulted the community about the rebuilt…
Janet Frame Travels Home Around the World
Janet Frame’s 1963 novella Towards Another Summer reimagines the New Zealand author’s “roots crisis” and is a sharp drama of fleeing, and missing, home, Catherine Taylor writes for the Guardian. The novella’s theme – taking…
New Zealand Has Some Filmtastic Backdrops
Many of the grander surroundings in Craig Zobel’s new film Z For Zachariah were filmed in New Zealand. Women’s lifestyle site Bustle takes a look back at other notable films shot throughout the country…
Gin Wigmore Embodies Casual Tough Girl Style
New Zealand-born musician Gin Wigmore has a fashion sense equally eclectic as her sound, according to style site Paste Magazine. With unfussy platinum blonde locks, a beautifully detailed tattoo sleeve and rings for every…
Lips Argue Against Online Streaming
New Zealander Steph Brown and West Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Fen Ikner are Lips, an electronic pop act characterised by a girl with giant lips for a head. The duo has just relocated from…
Comedy Show Nominee Trygve Wakenshaw Shines
The “angular New Zealander” Trygve Wakenshaw, who was nominated for best show at this year’s Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy awards, “has the audience in raptures with his wonky physical comedy – and a brilliantly inventive…
Teddy Tahu Rhodes Has a Devil of a Time
New Zealander Teddy Tahu Rhodes, “the drawcard” of State Opera SA’s recent season of Faust, “brings his powerful voice of dark charm to the role of Mephistopheles, an imposing icon of evil,” Adelaide Now…
Locust Jones Permanently Plugged into Chaos
It is a rare and rewarding moment to stumble across an exhibition that is as cohesively considered as Christchurch-born artist Locust Jones’ A Week in the Life of the World, not only in its…
TIFF Exclusive: Bust a Move With This Clip From ‘Born To Dance’
“While Hollywood has got the dance formula down cold, New Zealand actor/filmmaker Tammy Davisis bring(s) his own unique flavor to the genre”, writes Edward Davis for Indiewire. The New Zealand feature film Born To…
5 Reasons You Will Love ‘Fear The Walking Dead’
The Walking Dead spinoff Fear The Walking Dead featuring Kiwi actor Cliff Curtis is “a worthy successor” – “the atypical spinoff that preserves and deepens the tone of its original show”, according to Adweek,…
Rob Hall’s Final Climb Roars to Life in Everest
It’s been almost two decades since the infamous 1996 tragedy on Mount Everest in which New Zealand guide Rob Hall and seven others perished. The world’s highest mountain has seen more destructive seasons –…
Marlon Williams Has Had a Crazy Year
If the events of 2015 are anything to go by, New Zealander Marlon Williams could certainly say this has been his year, Jade Lazearevic writes in a profile of the singer for the Newcastle…
Singer Tamaryn Celebrating Unpredictable Potential
When a musician describes one of her tracks as “an early Madonna song if it was produced by My Bloody Valentine’, you know you’re in for something special,” online magazine PopMatters writes in a…
What’s in Jemaine Clement’s Library?
In the film People Places Things, New Zealander Jemaine Clement plays a New York City graphic novelist and professor struggling with life as the newly single father of twin girls. In real life, he’s…
Trygve Wakenshaw Hits the Physical Comedy Jackpot
New Zealand comedian Trygve Wakenshaw’s “near-silent comedy produces loud laughs and a warm atmosphere” at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the List writes in a review of Wakenshaw’s solo show Nautilus. “By the time Wakenshaw…
How Actor Cliff Curtis Avoids Playing ‘Repetitive Stereotypes’
New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis has played interesting roles over the years. In 1999 he “hit a kind of American cinematic jackpot” with his work on Michael Mann’s The Insider, David O Russell’s Three…
Experiential Designers Gibson Group Calls for Bigger, Bolder Thinking from Museums
What museums are getting right and wrong when it comes to embracing today’s new digital landscape is analyzed by Gibson Group’s director of visitor experiences Allan Smith in an Entrepreneur.com…
Heidi O’Loughlin’s Edinburgh Debut a Delight
For her first solo Edinburgh Fringe hour, comedian Heidi O’Loughlin tries out a variety of topics. The New Zealander’s Tahitian heritage is up first in a spot of family history, as she recounts the…
Coffee Cups of the World by Henry Hargreaves
Though New Zealander Henry Hargreaves thoroughly enjoyed his time as a fashion model, he decided from the outset that his career on the catwalk would have an expiration date and he stuck to it,…
Great Reviews for Jemaine Clement’s Latest Role
Indie world veteran director James Strouse’s People Places Things “gets a lot of its infectious spirit from star Jemaine Clement, 41, the New Zealander best known for being half of the Flight of the…
Appeal to Find Ron Stenberg’s Scottish Wifies
One of Scotland’s leading art galleries is launching an appeal to discover the identity of two elderly Dundee women depicted in an oil painting, which has been gifted to the city by New Zealand…
Girls Producer Backs Jemaine Clement’s New Show
One of the stars of nineties cult comedy show Flight of the Conchords, Jemaine Clement says he’s excited his new HBO series will be backed by the producer behind Girls, Judd Apatow. Clement is working…
The Phoenix Foundation Give up Their Dreams
The sixth studio album by New Zealand band The Phoenix Foundation has been released and the Guardian offers up readers a track-by-track guide to the record provided by the band. “If the name [of the…
Shortland Street’s KJ Apa to Star in Blockbuster
K.J. Apa has signed on to star in A Dog’s Purpose alongside Britt Robertson and Dennis Quaid. The New Zealand actor already is being referred to as “a young Tom Cruise” and the quickness of his success is unheard…
Kerry Fox Tutors Directors on Actors in Melbourne
New Zealand actor Kerry Fox, who stars in Australian film Downriver, which premieres at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), also gave a masterclass at the event with the film’s writer/director Grant Scicluna about the…
Rosie Langabeer Keeping Busy in Philadelphia
Composer and musician New Zealander Rosie Langabeer, who will perform as Diamond Blazer at the Double Decker Music series in Philadelphia where she lives, has also been working with esteemed American ballet choreographer Matthew…
Jane Campion’s Daughter Acting up
As the child of New Zealand-born director Jane Campion and Australian filmmaker Colin Englert, Alice Englert – who stars in the BBC’s magician drama Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – grew up immersed in…
Vienna’s Hundertwasserhaus Sister Loo
“One curved and cobbled path takes me from a strange yet mesmerising building in the former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a public convenience in New Zealand’s Northland,” Jill Illnamorati-Varley writes for the…
Rosie Langabeer Flies Across Cultures with BalletX
Hosted by the Vail International Dance Festival, Philadelphia-based contemporary dance troupe BalletX performed New Zealand composer Rosie Langabeer’s “Sunset o639”, a classical ballet in which dancers tell an epic and tragic story. This time, their…
Incredulous Anna Smaill on Booker Nomination
One of three debut writers on the Man Booker longlist, 35-year-old Anna Smaill will be unfamiliar to all but the most avid reader of contemporary fiction: her previous publication is a volume of poetry,…
Terrific Top of the Lake Returns to Screens
“Last year came the exciting news that Top Of The Lake, Jane Campion’s terrific TV series, wouldn’t just be a one-off, but would return for a new round of episodes,” Indiewire reports. “Details were…
New Zealand Opens First Single-Artist Museum
“If Len Lye didn’t exist, you couldn’t have invented him,” writes the New Zealand Herald’s Adam Gifford about the pioneering experimental filmmaker and kinetic sculptor on the eve of the opening of…
Brian Fuata’s Video a 24 Frame Per Second Highlight
Wellington-born Sydney-based artist Brian Fuata, 37, was one of 24 artists exhibiting as a part of the “pioneering video art-inspired dance project” “24 Frames Per Second” on at Sydney’s Carriageworks. The exhibition delivered “a groundbreaking…
The Brokenwood Mysteries a Hit in France
New Zealand’s murder-mystery television series, The Brokenwood Mysteries, is a hit in France and was the second-most watched show on French TV on a Tuesday night with 3.7 million viewers. On Bastille Day it out-rated…
New Zealander Makes Booker Prize Longlist
New Zealand author Anna Smaill has been longlisted for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize with her debut novel The Chimes. “Just dropped in to check my email before bed and … now can’t…
Len Lye Centre Opens in New Plymouth
“Travel to New Zealand for the love of art,” declares India Today in a feature about New Plymouth’s brand new Len Lye Centre, New Zealand’s first gallery dedicated to a single artist. The
Jono Williams Invents the Ultimate Man Cave
Plastics engineer and inventor Jono Williams has built possibly the world’s most coveted man cave in Linton. After shooting the breeze one night with his mate Grant Ramsay, a mechatronics engineer, Williams committed to building…
Darren Pene Pati Wins at Operalia 2015
New Zealander Darren Pene Pati, “the one with the special tenor voice”, took second prize and the audience prize for male singer at this year’s Operalia, The World’s Opera Competition, held in London. According to…
The Good Dinosaur Trailer Released – Voice Over Cast Includes Anna Paquin
The official trailer for The Good Dinosaur has been released and is starring New Zealander Anna Paquin as part of the voice-over cast. “At first glance it might look like ground similarly tread by another…
New Zealand Girl Plays Piano While Sleepwalking
“Some people are so good at musical instruments they purport to be able to play it in their sleep. Yet for this one girl, it’s a reality”, writes Vin Shahrestani for The Telegraph. A video…
Lucy Lawless – “Xena Reboot a Rumour”
“Twenty years after it first premiered as a Hercules spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess could be returning to television”, writes Lesley Goldberg for The Hollywood Reporter. Over the last few weeks rumours have been heard that the beloved…
Kate Newby, artist, debuts in New York
New York-based Aucklander Kate Newby debuts at the Laurel Gitlen Gallery in the Lower East Side with a show ‘I memorized it I loved it so much’, with a laudatory review in…
