When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Munro, a soldier turned lay preacher, comes to New Zealand to minister to the first British colonists, but he is converted by the powerful chief Maianui to serve a different purpose.
A psychological drama of a family in crisis. Kawa, a successful Māori businessman in Auckland, New Zealand, is forced to reveal his lifelong secret - that he is gay.
A hundred years after the theft from New Zealand of three irreplaceable tribal carvings, two Maori, Rewi and Peter, decide it's time for ancient grievances to be put right. Both men are in Berlin where the carvings are stored in a museum. Plans go awry when a group that Peter has assembled breaks into the museum. Rewi persuades the others to let him put his own, more daring plan into action. Tensions build and international media interest broadens when a sniper's bullet hits Peter.
Two young teenagers are forced to take control of their own destiny amid the chaos of a pivotal battle in New Zealand’s first land wars in 1864.
Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.
An intimate story set during the 1860s in which a young Irish woman Sarah and her family find themselves on both sides of the turbulent wars between British and Maori during the British colonization of New Zealand.
A guerilla fighter from the South African Boer war called Arjan (Winstone) takes on a manhunt in New Zealand for Maori seaman Kereama (Morrison), who is accused of murdering a British soldier. What follows is a cat and mouse pursuit through the varied landscape of New Zealand with both hunter and huntee testing their bushcraft and wits against that of the other. Gradually they grow to know and respect one another but a posse, led by the British Commanding officer is close behind and his sole intention is to see the Maori hang.
In 1999, the largely conservative Wairarapa district in New Zealand elected a former cabaret performer/actress named Georgina Beyer to the country's House of Parliament -- a seemingly unremarkable event in that country's history except for the fact that Beyer is a transsexual and may very well be the first transsexual in the world to be elected to a national office. In their 2002 biographical documentary Georgie Girl, co-directors Peter Wells and Annie Goldson highlight the popular Member of Parliament's rapid rise through local government to prominence in the New Zealand national government.
Operation 8 examines the so-called 'anti-terror' raids that took place around New Zealand on October 15, 2007 - asking how and why they took place and at what cost to those targeted.
Hongi, a Maori chieftain’s teenage son, must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains led by Wirepa, Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden “Dead Lands” and forge an uneasy alliance with a mysterious warrior, a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.
Three Maori youths, bored with Auckland, head south in a restored Mark II Zephyr in search of something different. One of them is on the run from drug dealers, whom he had crossed. Various mini-adventures occurs as they make their way down the North Island, but it all comes to a head while visiting a cousin. Finally, they, the drug dealers and the police all come together, with the expected fights and arrests.
In a Maori settlement, Ngati Toa leader Te Rauparaha composes the famous chant "Ka Mate", also known as the haka, after evading enemy capture by hiding in a kumara pit.
Logan, an ex-gang leader, has left the gang life to raise his daughter Tori. But when Tori is murdered by an opposing gang in town, Logan must choose forgiveness or revenge.
This impressive doco disperses the fog of shame and sensationalism to shed light on the tragedy that made international headlines in 2007 when a young Wainuiomata woman died during a mākutu lifting.
This often confronting documentary observes a Māori restorative justice model through the eyes of straight-talking Mike Hinton, manager of Restorative Justice at Manukau Urban Māori Authority. The bringing together of victims (including wider whānau) and offenders may offer an alternate way forward for "a criminal justice system failing too many and costing too much”. Restoring Hope kicked off Māori Television’s 2013 season of Sunday night documentaries. In a Herald On Sunday preview, Sarah Lang argued it was “enough to restore hope in local documentary-making.” I’m in an arena where people have high emotions, they get stressed and pressured. I’m reasonably confident that I can avoid situations where I’ll be unsafe. I don’t have any death wish — I’ve got a game of golf tomorrow. – Mike Hinton, on the dangers of the job
At the end of the 18th century, hundreds of Indian sailors, known as lascars, worked amongst European settlers in Aotearoa New Zealand - often under the gruesome working conditions of seal hunting gangs. The story follows a lascar, Dasa, who has been abandoned on the coast of Aotearoa NZ by the East India Company, alongside his sealing gang. When Dasa finds himself in the middle of a conflict between his abusive British superior and two Māori traders, he is faced with a choice: bend the knee or take a stand.
Sophie loved Edmund, but he left town when her parents forced her to marry wealthy Octavius. Years later, Edmund returns with his son, William. Sophie's daughter, Marguerite, and William fall in love. Marguerite's sister, Marianne, also loves William. Timothy, a lowly carpenter, secretly loves Marianne. He kills a man in a fight, and Edmund helps him flee to New Zealand. William deserts inadvertently from the navy, and also flees in disgrace to New Zealand, where he and Timothy start a profitable business. One night, drunk, William writes Octavius, demanding his daughter's hand; but, being drunk, he asks for the wrong sister.
Five years have passed and Jake has turned his back on his family. He's still up to his usual tricks in McClutchy's Bar, unaware, as he downs his latest opponent, that his eldest son, Nig, has died in a gang fight. The uncomfortable family reunion at Nig's funeral sparks a confrontation with second son, Sonny, and sets Jake and Sonny on a downward spiral.
Children of Fire Mountain was a 13 part miniseries from New Zealand.
Colonial Combat takes a laugh at our unofficial NZ colonial history. It's a dog eat dog world, where colourful characters compete inside and outside of the ring.
A high-powered Māori lawyer (Miriama Smith) accidentally unleashes her chaotic tūpuna (ancestors), forcing the living and the dead to navigate their shared legacy.
Anthology of contemporary one-off dramas, adapted from the unique and mystical world of Maori supernatural legends. In these tales of the unexpected, set in New Zealand, ordinary characters encounter mysterious phenomena of Maori mythology.
Five lives collide during a land occupation - an activist musician, a conflicted cop, a grieving nurse, a struggling father, and a torn politician.
Fresh presents 'Know Your Roots' where 8 urban NZ celebrities battle it out Maori & Pasifika styles in a bid to not be the Most Plastic Poly present.
An interview-based documentary series that explores and illuminates the world of Turi-Deaf Maori in the current day. Over the course of five episodes, the fifteen interviewees from across Ngati Turi discuss their experiences, struggles and triumphs.
Ancient Māori heroes of yesteryear, re-discovered, re-examined and re-imagined.
GET THE NAME RIGHT looks to set the record straight with an unauthorised Māori perspective of our place names told in an entertaining way whilst providing a platform to settle a few debates along the way.
The stories of homesteads through the eyes of the people that occupy them, exploring the culturally significant role they've played in maintaining Māori ties to their ancestral land.
Factual series that pays homage to the LGBTQI+ pioneers and changemakers across the decades while exploring the modern day rainbow community in Aotearoa New Zealand
Follow five teen Kiwi dads on their uncensored journey to parenthood, facing the challenges of unexpected pregnancy while also navigating relationships, education, and everything in between.
