New Zealand cinema, despite the relatively small number of feature films produced, has received much international attention, acquiring a reputation as often punching above its weight. Since A Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (directed by Sam Neill and Judy Rymer, 1995), it has frequently been viewed as distinguished by dark undertones; the representation of perturbed states of mind; the depiction of familial, social, and political dysfunction; and the privileging of a Gothic mode, and genres such as the psychodrama, crime film, and horror that undermine the myth of New Zealand as “God’s own country.” In this article, “New Zealand films” are defined as those made primarily by New Zealanders, in New Zealand, and on New Zealand subjects, rather than the runaway productions, funded from the United States but shot in New Zealand, that have become increasingly prominent in the film industry’s landscape since 2000, with the encouragement of the New Zealand government. While documentary filmmaking has been strongly represented since 1898, fiction films began to be made in significant numbers only after the late 1970s, in what has become known as the New Zealand New Wave, which saw the emergence of filmmakers such as Roger Donaldson, Geoff Murphy, and Vincent Ward, who would go on to have successful international careers. It also witnessed the appearance of a cycle of films about and for women, and of female filmmakers such as Alison Maclean and Gaylene Preston. This initial flowering was followed in the 1990s by a Second Wave, in which directors came to prominence who are now considered major filmmakers in the international stage: not only Peter Jackson, who, while remaining based in New Zealand, has brought Hollywood to “Wellywood” with The Lord of the Rings and subsequent films, but also Jane Campion, regarded as one of the world’s most significant woman filmmakers. The rise of fiction filmmaking also saw the emergence of Maori filmmakers such as Barry Barclay and Merata Mita, whose work constituted some of the earliest features anywhere to be made by members of an indigenous minority, from an indigenous perspective. Since the turn of the 21st century, New Zealand filmmaking has witnessed an expansion to address the presence of other significant ethnic minorities, reflecting New Zealand’s increasingly multicultural social composition. Critical writing on New Zealand cinema is still in its infancy, with many films and filmmakers having received, so far, little or no scholarly attention.
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