King of the Castle
The Return of the King has ruled them all at this year’s awards season, having won Oscar glory with 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The final film in the Lord…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Giant Kauri Tragically Felled
NZ mourns the loss of its preeminent cultural historian, Michael King. The author of 34 books – including the groundbreaking autobiographical work Being Pakeha and acclaimed biographies of Dame Whina Cooper, Hone Tuwhare, and…
Working 9 ’til… 9
UK-based digital media company – Mere Mortals – wants to establish a NZ office in two years time, enabling a 24-hour working day for its trans-hemisphere employees. Managing director, David Jeffries, cites NZ’s LotR-enhanced…
Hidden treasures
Time Asia recommends Marlborough’s Old St Mary’s Convent, Wanganui’s Bridge to Nowhere lodge, and The Station in Paekakariki to readers wishing to stay off the beaten track. “There’s plenty of the…
Form vs. function
The possible closure of the famed Freidensreich Hundertwasser-designed public toilets at Kawakawa earned a detailed write-up in the Independent. Officially opened in 1999, the stunning facilities were the final project by the acclaimed Austrian…
Brothers in arts
An opinion piece in the Age asks: “Why don’t Australian and New Zealand arts sectors cooperate more?” The lengthy article examines the difference between the two nations in regards to arts funding, profiles the…
Comic Genius
20 March 2004 – Martin Emond, internationally renowned comic-book artist, illustrator, and tattooist, died in LA on March 19 aged 34. Emond created the popular character Switchblade (star of NZ clothing brand Illicit) and…
Edge Hero Brought to Life
Ernest Rutherford takes centre stage in Irish writer Brian Cathcart’s latest book, The Fly in the Cathedral: How a small group of Cambridge scientists won the race to split the atom. Rutherford is described…
History Goes Digital
4 March 2004 – New York Times reviews ‘Paradise Now,’ a diverse exhibition of contemporary NZ and Pacific art currently on show at the Asia Pacific Society Museum on Park Avenue. Lisa Reihana’s multiple-screen…
Getting lippy
“With a vocal arsenal that ranges from crisp rapping to a powerful singing voice, Natalia ‘Tali’ Scott can outstrip any UK competition.” So says the Independent in a glowing review of…
Crowning Glory
Return of the King – the third and final film in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series – made a clean sweep of the 2004 Academy Awards, winning 11 Oscars including Best Picture…
Another award for the kete
Niki Caro’s Whale Rider was named Best International Film at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles. The IFP website calls Whale Rider a “radiant story of an exceptional little girl’s…
Riding her wave of success
Whale Rider star, Keisha Castle-Hughes, spoke to the New York Post about her week spent in Hollywood prior to the 2004 Academy Awards – for which she was the youngest ever nominee in the…
Just in Case You Missed That One..
The Return of the King picked up yet another prize en route to the Oscars; Best International Film at the inaugural Directors Guild of Great Britain awards.
Briwi Blitzes Brits
16 February 2004 – NZ born Daniel Bedingfield was named Best British Male Solo Artist at the 2004 Brit Awards. The self-proclaimed “Briwi” has had a string of hit singles in both the UK…
Aotearoa in Demand
New York Times article asks ‘what’s next?’ of the post-Rings NZ film industry. Insiders predict a slew of big budget international projects, thanks to the government’s recent promise that it would reimburse 12.5% of…
Two Cars, too beautiful
Two Cars, One Night by Taika Waititi was named Best Short Film at Germany’s prestigious Berlinale festival. The film, which also showed at Sundance 2003, explores the relationship which develops between two children…
Call of the Wild
A combined BBC and ABC production team has spent 3 years filming the first comprehensive nature program on Australasia. The 6-part series – Wild Australasia – uses state-of-the-art technology and daring camera-work to…
A delightful upset
26 January 2004 – Peter Jackson may have been a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination, but the inclusion of first-time thespian Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) in the Best Actress category came as a welcome…
Stopping traffic
Cliff Curtis is one of the key protagonists in the US miniseries Traffic – an adaptation of the Oscar-nominated film by the same name. Ever the ethnic chameleon (previous roles include Cuban, Iraqi, and…
Perkins on Gee
Regular Guardian contributor, Emily Perkins, gives a glowing review of compatriot Maurice Gee’s latest novel, The Scornful Moon. Perkins describes the tale of a struggling detective fiction writer working during the political upheaval of…
Under Gollum’s skin
The latest must-have for LotR enthusiasts is Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic. Written by Andy Serkis who played Gollum in the trilogy the book includes extracts by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh,…
Beyond the humble bach
The Guardian explores NZ’s high-end bach culture, with profiles of such luxurious rentals as the Glasshouse on Waiheke Island, Oceania II and Villa Toscana Lodge on the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Hawke’s Bay’s Tom’s…
Pure dynamite
Global sales of Pure, the international debut album by teenage singer Hayley Westenra, hit the one million mark in early January. Released in September, Pure is the best-selling debut classical album in British chart…
Cultural export
Boston Globe writer catches a performance from acclaimed NZ dance troupe, Black Grace, at their first European festival outing in the Netherlands. “Australia and NZ are among those enlightened nations that want the rest…
Taranaki’s Hollywood ambassador
Tom Cruise sang the praises of Aotearoa to the US on his promotional tour for The Last Samurai, the Japanese military epic filmed largely in Taranaki. As well as the beautiful scenery and friendly…
From Hollywood to Bollywood
NZ actor Martin Henderson is currently starring in Torque, the big-budget Hollywood motorcycle flick by the makers of 2 Fast 2 Furious and xXx. He describes Torque as a movie that “doesn’t…
From sea to sky
Witi Ihimaera – “debonair 59-year-old, multi-award winning author, playwright, librettist, anthologist, university lecturer, former foreign diplomat and Maori activist” – interviewed in the Age about his latest novel, Sky Dancer. Following on the successful formula…
Straight Outta Cambridge
The Datsuns made Rolling Stone‘s Critics Top Albums of 2003 list with their eponymous debut record: “This NZ four piece aped the Stooges and AC/DC and helped re-ignite the post-millennium garage, cock-rock flame.” The…
Big read
Elizabeth Knox’s Daylight – a typically imaginative tale involving caving, mysterious deaths, and a Resistance heroine – makes the Australian‘s list of Big Reads for 2004.
Would the real Middle Earth please stand up?
“Tolkien may have intended The Lord of the Rings as an epic myth for England, but even he would acknowledge … that the world of Middle-earth and the tiny nation of NZ had become…
Lord of PR
Pete Hodgson – AKA ‘Minister of the Rings’ – dubbed “the most intelligent politician I have ever met” by National Post journalist, Cleo Paskal, in her article on the government-supported LotR publicity machine. “It…
Uggly in pink
LA Times profiles that old Kiwi staple, the Ugg Boot, which thanks to appearances on Sex & the City and Oprah has been elevated from surfer’s necessity to fashion accessory. “They’re selling…
Now Wear This
Boston Globe profiles Nelson’s World of Wearable Art (WOW), which has grown “from a soggy one-night affair in a tent 16 years ago to become one of New Zealand’s iconic arts events,…
Lions and Witches in Kiwiland
18 December 2003 – Pre-production on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is officially underway in NZ, with Weta Workshop on board for the visual effects and Kiwi Andrew Adamson (Shrek) at the…
How Much do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways…
The Guardian asks LotR cast members to explain their widely publicised admiration for NZ. Billy Boyd (Pippin): “The land feels new; it feels like what Scotland might have been like a few million years…
The Verdicts
The usually art-house sympathetic New York Film Critics Circle chose Return of the King as their Best Film of 2003, The American Film Institute named the film in its top-10 of the year….
More Glowing PJ Praise
Sydney Morning Herald awestruck by the premiere, wonders how PJ managed to pull off “the trilogy of a lifetime” Operatic high praise from The New Yorker who credits the trilogy with reviving “the…
Here’s to you, Ms. Caro
30 November 2003 – Whale Rider director, Niki Caro, was named one of Ms. Magazine‘s women of the year for 2003, alongside Salma Hayek, Eileen Fisher, and Loune Viaud. The US feminist publication recognised…
Praise the Lord
Peter Jackson: “‘He’s as cool as an elf, he has the heart of a hobbit, and he’s as mad as a wizard.’ That’s the awestruck opinion of Lord Of The Rings star…
Russ stands his ground
“I’d move to LA if Australia and NZ were swallowed up in a huge tidal wave.” December cover feature by UK Vanity Fair finds Russell Crowe firmly rooted Down Under despite being one of…
Rings-led Revolution
“New Zealand has had a day like no other”. The world premiere of The Return of the King in Wellington outshone all expectations, with a 100,000+ crowd lining the route of the spectacular…
Kia Ora Fellows
For the international family of actors, surfing at Lyall Bay, brunching at Chocolate Fish Cafe, the Wellington premiere was thankgiving for the city and people who have embraced them as locals during the epic…
Colonial bad girl
Claire Tomalin reminisces about the fascinating subject of her 1987 biography, Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life. “Mansfield has often been seen as one of the bad girls of literature. And it’s true that she…
Armchair kayaking
Chris Duff won the history/biography section of Britain’s National Outdoor Book Awards with Southern Exposure: A Solo Sea Kayaking Journey Around New Zealand’s South Island.
Wetawood
Two LA Times features look at the phenomenal success of Peter Jackson’s Miramar-based empire; Weta Digital, Weta Workshop, and the Film Unit. The challenge meeting Jackson’s business is keeping the world-class staff he amassed…
Xena and Her Sisters
17 November 2003 – Ex-Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless, was the obvious choice to front a Discovery Channel documentary series on women fighters in history. Warrior Woman features Joan of Arc, China’s Wang…
Winning ways continue for Whale Rider
International plaudits continue to come for Niki Caro’s 2002 hit, Whale Rider. Whale Rider beat Hollywood blockbusters 28 Days Later and The Wild Thornberry‘s to win the feature film category at the 2003 Environmental…
Metal, Opera, and All that Jaz
Jaz Coleman – the legendary “madman” behind British industrial rock band, Killing Joke, and a recently naturalised Kiwi (“It’s not safe to have a British or Australian passport, anyway, these days.”) – held court…
McCahon’s Edgy New-world Modernism
Peter Hill’s review of the Stedilijk Museum’s Colin McCahon exhibition – now showing in Sydney – perfectly encapsulates the New Zealand Edge. “Enough time has passed for a shift between the centre and the…
A day like no other
Alone It Stands, John Breen’s play about the infamous 1978 All Black loss to Irish club Munster, ran at Sydney’s Opera House Drama Theatre during the Rugby World Cup – not on match nights,…
Let there be more rock
As if they don’t have enough rock cred already, The Datsuns have hired Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones to produce their highly anticipated second album. Says singer, Dolf de Datsun, “It’s going really well…
Noiseworks
Houston Press reviews an exhibition by edge conceptual artist Julian Dashper at the Texas Gallery. ‘Unique Records’ is a collection of art-shrine sound-bites amassed during Dashper’s travels and presented on transparent vinyl discs. On…
Hard-edged Cinema
05 November 2003 – Empire magazine applauds Christine Jeff’s Sylvia the biopic of American poet Sylvia Plath starring Gwyneth Paltrow – calling it “a moving and supremely acted account of the writer’s life, her…
Get Real
Brent Hansen, NZ-born MTV Europe chief executive, criticises the current obsession with ready-made pop stars epitomised by hit reality Television show, American/Australian Idol: “These programs make good TV but from a musical point of…
“Round the Horn if You Dare”
Russell Crowe graces the cover of Time, prior to the release of his latest film, Peter Weir’s acclaimed maritime epic, Master and Commander. His edge? “Hanks, Cruise and ladies’ champ Julia Roberts are…
