Music | Independent (The)
30 November 2020
New Zealand-born singer Lorde, 24, has teased fans with more information about a new album while announcing her book, Going South, inspired by her 2019 trip to Antarctica. The Independent’s Isobel Lewis reports.
The “Green Light” singer has…
Visual Arts | Dazed
28 November 2020
“More Radical Empathy, a project by New Zealand-born photographer Rebecca Thomas, is a poignant and inspiring series of portraits of activists from the global queer community in London, bearing heartfelt slogans of resistance against…
Media | Vanity Fair
27 November 2020
“Between the collapse of newspapers, the misfortunes of digital media, and the economic wreckage of the coronavirus pandemic, writing for a living can feel like a cold, dreary, morale-sucking march to the unemployment office….
Visual Arts | Stuff
24 November 2020
Southland Girls’ High School student Sophie Mills, 12, was one of four New Zealanders amongst 32 submissions worldwide to have an illustration included in JK Rowling’s latest book, The Ickabog. About 18,000 entries were…
Music | NME
20 November 2020
Grimes and Lily Allen feature on Auckland pop sensation Benee’s debut album, Hey u x, and she’s just played one of the post-Covid era’s first arena shows. The twenty-year-old tells NME’s Caitlin O’Reilly about…
Music | Louder
17 November 2020
“It’s the kind of town where the public toilets remain open after dusk without being vandalised, and where the grand width of the rather beautiful main street is a reminder of busier days. And…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
16 November 2020
New Zealand-raised Richard O’Brien, the creator of the cult Rocky Horror Picture Show is not going quietly into his 70s. O’Brien, who lives with his third wife, Sabrina, just outside of Katikati, talks with…
Film & TV | Far Out Magazine
12 November 2020
“The rebellious nature of the mid-to-late 20th-century teenager sought to expose , deviating from the social norms to embrace the very depths of ‘bad taste’. Simultaneously, whilst yet unknown, New-Zealand…
Architecture | Star Online (The)
4 November 2020
The last gift of Austrian-born artist, painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser to his adopted homeland, New Zealand, is being built in Whangarei, three decades after its inception, Malaysia’s The Star Online reports.
The Covid-19 pandemic…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
31 October 2020
Directed by Curtis Vowell and produced by Taika Waititi, award-winning comic Rose Matafeo “is wonderful in irresistible film about parenthood”, Guardian Australia critic Luke Buckmaster writes in a review of New Zealand comedy/drama, Baby…
Music | Bangkok Post
30 October 2020
Whether you’re just a casual fan or a full time “blink”, everyone can take delight in the fact that South Korean pop sensation Blackpink – an all-girl group, including New Zealand-born Rosé (pictured back,…
Writers
27 October 2020
Two UK academics from Edge Hill University in Lancashire have taken over editorship of the respected Tinakori: Katherine Mansfield Society Critical Journal, and are hoping to draw further attention to Mansfield’s often overlooked importance…
Music | Rolling Stone
23 October 2020
Marton-born banjo player Catherine “BB” Browness is one of five recipients of the 2020 Steve Martin Banjo Prize. Browness, who plays with the bluegrass band Mile Twelve, shared in the US$50,000 prize, which…
Music | Variety Magazine
19 October 2020
Created by American Jason Derulo using Aucklander Joshua Stylah’s instrumental “Laxed (Siren Beat)”, the track “Savage Love” has topped the charts in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, surpassed 1.1 billion streams and was…
Arts
16 October 2020
Despite experiencing setbacks caused by COVID-19, Wellington-based artist Shannon Te Ao is having a busy year, presenting new video work in two Canadian locations during 2020, and marking his first solo museum exhibitions in…
Dance | British Vogue
8 October 2020
Lockdown has been stultifying and depressing in its sludgy predictability for many of us – but for others, it has proved uniquely creatively fulfilling, according to British Vogue’s digital director Ellie Pithers. Take New…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
26 September 2020
“Imagine how Ripley of Alien would handle a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet-style gremlin attack. Sound wild? Roseanne Liang’s female empowerment thriller delivers on that premise.” Variety’s Peter Debruge reviews the New Zealand director’s film…
Film & TV | Exclaim!
22 September 2020
Electronic music documentary Underplayed is the feature debut of New Zealand-born director Stacey Lee, who has been shortlisted for the Cannes Young Directors Award. “Filmed through a deeply intersectional feminist lens, Underplayed highlights not…
Music | BBC
20 September 2020
TikTok has only been part of our lives for two years, but it’s already had a massive impact on the music business, the BBC reports. South Auckland producer Joshua Nanai, 17, better known as…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
19 September 2020
“A pulse of vulnerability beats at the heart of Sam Kelly’s outwardly imposing but unexpectedly touching debut feature, Savage,” Phil Hoad writes in a review of the film for The Guardian. The film has…
Architecture | Architectural Digest
18 September 2020
The story of New Zealander Anna Paquin and husband American Stephen Moyer’s Venice Beach home is one of ultimate artistic license. With their selections of architect, interior designer, and landscape designer over the course…
Music | Middle East Eye
17 September 2020
Three months before the start of Iraq’s October protests last year, almost 10,000 miles away in Auckland, “artivist” Yasamin began binge-watching an Iraqi YouTube political satire show. It would open her eyes to a country…
Visual Arts | Hosfelt Gallery
10 September 2020
San Francisco’s prestigious Hosfelt Gallery presents a solo exhibition of work by the esteemed 84 year-old painter, calligrapher, and Rinzai Zen monk Max Gimblett. The exhibition, entitled juggernaut, opens September 8, 2020 and…
Film & TV | Bustle
10 September 2020
Amazon Prime’s epic adaptation of The Wheel Of Time is based in an alternate world where magic exists, but only certain women are permitted to use it. One of those women, Nynaeve, is played…
Film & TV | Screen Rant
9 September 2020
Nelson-based adventure racer Nathan Fa’avae, 48, who led the New Zealand team on to win the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, is profiled by entertainment news site, Screen Rant.
For the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji…
Film & TV | Empire Magazine
7 September 2020
An Empire reviewer bemoans this month’s “bittersweet” release of New Zealander Niki Caro’s live-action adaptation Mulan through online streamer Disney Plus. “Not only the best live-action Disney adaptation to date, but also a dazzling,…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
4 September 2020
Anonymous Content, the company behind True Detective and The Revenant, has acquired the TV rights to the New York Times bestselling novel Code Name Hélène written by Ariel Lawhon about Wellington-born World War II heroine…
Film & TV | Screen Daily
30 August 2020
For New Zealand-born Jessica Hobbs, being asked to direct episodes of feted Netflix period drama The Crown was one thing but being tasked with helming the season finale was quite another, Nikki Baughan reports…
Writers | Japan Times (The)
29 August 2020
New Zealand-born scholar of Japanese history and martial arts Alexander Bennett has joined forces with fellow kendo practitioner, Shigeru Ohta, to write the English version of World War II kamikaze pilot Kazuo Odachi’s memoir,…
Music | Vogue
28 August 2020
You’re about to hear a lot more from Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi, who goes by Teeks. The Māori soul singer is well known in New Zealand but is about to step onto a global stage…
Film & TV | Varsity
25 August 2020
In a story published by Cambridge University student newspaper, Varsity, Emily Moss argues that we have “nothing to fear” from New Zealander Taika Waititi’s move into the mainstream, “as he seems intent on taking…
Music | American Songwriter
21 August 2020
The Phoenix Foundation’s latest single, ‘Hounds of Hell’ features fellow New Zealand artist Nadia Reid, and it’s a momentous occasion, Tina Benitez-Eves reports for American Songwriter magazine. It’s the sextet’s first single in five…
Visual Arts | Apollo
20 August 2020
“That Aotearoa New Zealand offers a rich vantage point from which to consider the tensions and affordances of displacement is the central claim of the generous, sprawling exhibition ‘Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania’,” Matthew…
Visual Arts | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
18 August 2020
Fortune has favoured John Ward Knox. The Auckland-born artist’s dual-layer portrait of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been recently released from Australian customs just in time to be entered into the Archibald Prize, Chloe…
Media | Channel News Asia
17 August 2020
Tucked away in Sinead Boucher’s sock drawer is the one-dollar coin that transformed the former journalist into New Zealand’s biggest media mogul, giving her a platform to challenge Facebook and other social media giants,…
Music | London Daily Post
14 August 2020
Christchurch teenager Aleisha Malcolm is far from your average eighteen-year-old. The bright and accomplished singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and activist has impressed global audiences as her seemingly unstoppable career trajectory continues to reach new heights,…
Music | Happy
9 August 2020
CHAII is of New Zealand’s “most formidable new artists”, according to Happy’s Dan Shaw. On top of a string of singles, she provided the soundtrack to a Fendi campaign and is the first New…
Media | Scoop
7 August 2020
Aucklander Sam Stuchbury has won a Silver Screen Young Director Award at Cannes for his work in raising awareness about the effects pornography has on children, directing the government-funded viral porn commercial “Keep It…
Media | Guardian (The)
6 August 2020
New Zealand-born Robin Hammond is one of ten photojournalists whose work is currently on show at Fondation Carmignac’s newly opened private museum on Porquerolles island, France. Fondation Carmignac is exhibiting each photographer’s work in…
Theatre | Stage (The)
4 August 2020
Launched last year, the Gillian Lynne and Peter Land Foundation continues the work of choreographer Gillian Lynne, whose widower, Taihape-born actor Peter Land tells Nick Smurthwaite, a journalist for The Stage, how the fund…
Visual Arts | Scottish Sun (The)
1 August 2020
Otago-based Oscar Hetherington has won the Grand Prize at the Sony Alpha Awards 2020, Kiro Evans reports for The Scottish Sun.
Hetherington was awarded the accolade for his submission ‘Backwash’, which was hailed as…
Music | World (The)
25 July 2020
New Zealand couple, musicians and producers Junelle and Abraham Kunin, have recorded the music of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s debut album, Inner World, an album with 42 minutes of mantras and chants set…
Film & TV | New York Post
23 July 2020
Veteran actor Auckland-born Michael Dorman, 39, stars as Jack Shaughnessy, an ambitious TV sports reporter in the new six-episode Australian thriller The Secrets She Keeps screening on US channel, Sundance Now. The New York Post…
Music | Guardian (The)
21 July 2020
When The Guardian’s Brodie Lancaster’s video call connects with Auckland songwriter Elizabeth Stokes, he writes that he realises she’s opted for an audio-only chat and switches his camera off too. It’s the kind of…
Music | Stuff
16 July 2020
Few could have foreseen the landmark events that would embroil the US in upheaval but for former Hamiltonian Emma Ghaemmaghamy, better known as Emma G, the situation has proved surprisingly fertile territory for her…
Music | Teen Vogue
14 July 2020
Twenty-year-old Aucklander Benee recently performed her TikTok mega hit “Supalonely” on two popular US television programmes, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and the Ellen Show. In June, she spoke to Teen Vogue about…
Film & TV | Washington Post (The)
13 July 2020
Los Angeles-based Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, has been working on a new competition show for CBS called Tough As Nails featuring essential workers, which finished filming before the coronavirus outbreak and premieres…
Film & TV | ABC News
9 July 2020
“Warming the cockles of audience hearts at last year’s Sydney Film Festival, New Zealander Hamish Bennett’s comedy Bellbird is a defiantly optimistic tribute to the Northland region where the primary school teacher-cum-filmmaker grew up,”…
Film & TV | Tatler
30 June 2020
“Set during the New Zealand gold rush in the 1860s, is a heady concoction of love, murder and revenge. It follows the story of Anna Weatherell (played by…
Arts | Wallpaper
29 June 2020
“A bach is New Zealand’s answer to the humble beach cabin, and the Karekare Bach represents the epitome of its building genre,” Ellie Stathaki writes for influential British design magazine, Wallpaper. “The simple wooden…
Film & TV | Independent (The)
24 June 2020
The Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has been entertaining the masses during lockdown with his ukulele playing and ‘Cinema Quarantino Productions’. He talks to The Independent’s Alexandra Pollard about his new role on season…
Visual Arts | Canberra Times (The)
23 June 2020
“Peter Boggs, the New Zealand-born, Blue Mountains-based artist, has been a regular exhibitor in Canberra for the past 22 years. Boggs champions a form of ‘slow art’, where he relies on the viewer to…
Media | New York Times (The)
19 June 2020
Sitting in a studio in Culver City, California opposite New Zealand-born Zane Lowe, the grey-stubbled Beats 1 host and Apple Music honcho, musicians tend to unspool, even shed a tear, Melena Ryzik writes in…
Visual Arts | Forbes
17 June 2020
Gazing at the stars is something that Berlin-based, Auckland-born artist Zac Landon-Pole has been doing for some time now. He had contemplated celestial mapping through his Passport (Argonauta) creations where meteorites were hand-carved to…
Film & TV | National (The)
15 June 2020
The six-part television adaptation of New Zealand author Eleanor Catton’s award-winning 2013 novel, The Luminaries is “a romantic introduction to the Southern Hemisphere country’s 19th century gold rush”, according to The National’s correspondent, Farah…
Visual Arts | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
9 June 2020
Working from a pop-up studio in the garage of his Sydney home, New Zealand-born photographer Hugh Stewart has captured the experience and emotion of life in lockdown using just FaceTime and a strategically placed…