Since New Zealand Cinema burst on to the global stage in the late 1970s, it has maintained a high-profile presence, capturing the imagination and enthusiasm of both national and international audiences, through such films as Vigil, Whale Rider and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Contemporary New Zealand Cinema provides an astute and definitive analysis of this fascinating industry. Focusing on industrial and commercial concerns, questions of aesthetics and form, and the cultural debates surrounding nation and identity, the book surveys the full range of filmmaking in New Zealand.
It displays the rich diversity of film production in the country, and in doing so highlights a number of specific contexts – Maori, documentary and short filmmaking, literary adaptations, the development of the national Film Commission and Archive, marketing and censorship, in addition to explorations into the place of bicultural relations, spirituality, masculinity and disability – that have created a cinema of global significance.
Featuring critical accounts of internationally-acclaimed features like The Piano and Once Were Warriors, as well as the growth of the national infrastructure that made such films possible, Contemporary New Zealand Cinema is the most thorough study available of a vibrant filmmaking culture. The book also includes a fully comprehensive filmography detailing all New Zealand feature and television films.