This 2002 documentary explores contemporary Aotearoa from the perspective of Kiwis from a range of different (non-Māori, non-Pākehā) ethnic backgrounds. These citizens speak frankly about their experience of assimilation and stereotyping in a supposedly multicultural society, where ethnic food is beloved — but not ethnic difference — and where jokes and racism blur. Directed by Libby Hakaraia, the documentary screened on TV3 as part of doco slot Inside New Zealand. It was a follow up to 2000's The Truth about Māori, which looked at identity from a Māori perspective.

When Frank Sanft’s older brother was killed early in World War ll, it only intensified Frank’s determination to serve. Joining the Royal Navy, he was eventually assigned to Operation PLUTO, which involved laying an undersea fuel pipeline between the UK and Cherbourg (vital in keeping Allied vehicles moving, directly after the invasion of France). Frank laughs now at a close call with a sniper ashore in France. Serving in the Pacific, he was there after Singapore’s notorious Changi PoW camp was liberated.  In 2017 Sanft was awarded a prestigious French Legion of Honour. 

Described by writer/director Paolo Rotondo as a “drama about how adults need kids as much as kids need adults”, Orphans & Kingdoms follows three teens on the run, who break into a holiday home to hide out. Then the owner (Colin Moy, who played the brother of the main character in In My Father’s Den) arrives home, followed by the police. Shot on Waiheke Island, the low-budget Escalator film had a sell-out world premiere at the 2014 Auckland Film Festival, before winning a Moa award for best editing. Best known as an actor, Rotondo won awards for writing short film Dead Letters.

After her brother joined the army early in World War ll, Doris Coppell decided she’d also sign up when she could. And as she says, “the thought of all those lovely sailors was tempting, so I thought I’d opt for the navy.” And indeed she met her future husband while serving at the HMS Philomel training base in Devonport. Just six weeks later she married the British sailor in a borrowed wedding dress. A spritely 92 when interviewed, Coppell recalls the ups and downs of service life, and the course of her post-war years in the UK with affection. Coppell passed away on 16 July 2016.

This episode of TV2’s 1980 weekly after school show features performances by resident band Kairo (covering the Doobie Brothers) and the Montgomery Sisters. In the field, Tracy Barr joins naval frigate HMNZS Waikato as it sails from Devonport Naval Base, under the Auckland Harbour Bridge and up the Waitemata Harbour to collect ammunition at Point Kauri, and then heads out to sea for gunnery practice. On board, Tracy chats to the captain, a chef and a laundryman (who irons 150 shirts every day) — the results of the exercise seem to be a military secret.

This episode of TVNZ’s Avalon studio-filmed "mainly country" music show opens with The Toner Sisters, ‘Rockin' with the Rhythm of the Rain’. Introduced by host Andy Anderson as “the big D on the big P, with the big ballad”, Dalvanius bangs out ‘Just Out of Reach’ on the piano. Sharon de Bont covers ‘When Will I Be Loved’. Anderson kids around with Rob Winch and John Grenell, before Grenell gets wistful on ‘Past Like a Mask’. The Ranchsliders get things moving with Paul Simon's ‘Gone at Last’. Then Anderson leads the team for Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Sweet And Shiny Eyes’.

Musician Coco Solid aka Jessica Hansell’s 10-part satirical web series follows a band in the ’burbs dreaming of stardom. In Aroha Bridge, control freak Kowhai and her stoner twin brother Monty (Hansell and Rizvan Tu’itahi) play their debut gig but are upstaged by the precocious Angeline. Madeleine Sami and Frankie Stevens voice the twins’ spacey mum and macho dad. Wellington animators Skyranch include music video director Simon Ward and Luke 'Disasteradio' Rowell. Funded by NZ On Air under the title Hook Ups, Aroha Bridge launched on the NZ Herald website in May 2013.

In these short clips from our ScreenTalk interviews, Shortland Street actors talk about the show.   - Michael Galvin on doing a rap - Martin Henderson on fast-paced TV - Robyn Malcolm on "the slut in the cardy"  - Tem Morrison on medical terms - John Leigh on his exit - Danielle Cormack on leaving first - Antony Starr on acting under pressure - Angela Bloomfield on her first day - Craig Parker on forgetting ego - Shane Cortese on his dark role - Theresa Healey on playing "sassy"   - Ido Drent on memorising fast - Stephanie Tauevihi on ravaging Blair Strang - Dean O'Gorman on relaxing on TV - Amanda Billing on farewelling her character - Mark Ferguson on playing his own brother  - Stelios Yiakmis on stumbling into the set - Elizabeth McRae on being warned away - Rob Magasiva on nerves - Nancy Brunning on her first six months - Peter Elliott on thugs and idiots - Paul Gittins on advice - Blair Strang on sleeping with his sister - Geraldine Brophy on her role - Joel Tobeck on wheelchair jokes 

Train enthusiast David Sims captured the dying days of steam trains in this 1968 National Film Unit short. It features arresting images of a Kb class locomotive billowing steam as it tackles the Southern Alps, en route from Canterbury to the West Coast. Kb Country was released in Kiwi cinemas in January 1968, just months before the steam locomotives working the Midland Line were replaced by diesel-electrics. Sims earned his directing stripes with the film. As he writes in this background piece, making it involved a mixture of snow, joy and at least two moments of complete terror.

Merata Mita’s Patu! is a startling record of the mass civil disobedience that took place throughout New Zealand during the winter of 1981, in protest against a South African rugby tour. Testament to the courage and faith of both the marchers and a large team of filmmakers, the feature-length documentary is a landmark in Aotearoa's film history. It staunchly contradicts claims by author Gordon McLauchlan a couple of years earlier that New Zealanders were "a passionless people".