2010 was the Year of the Tiger and on the eve of the Chinese New Year, Asia Downunder roving reporter Bharat Jamnadas shows the strength of the Auckland Chinese community by visiting festivities held at two extremely well-attended events on the same day: ASB Showgrounds in Auckland and the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau. There are interviews with Chinese community leaders who discuss the long history of Chinese New Year celebrations in Auckland, and footage of event highlights, including the world famous Hunan acrobat troupe.

Comedian (and rooster) Oscar Kightley fronts this 2013 beginner’s guide to the Chinese zodiac. His mission: to explore the 12 oriental star signs. As the Kiwi population heads towards one in six being of Asian origin, Kightley surveys a cavalcade of contemporary Kiwi personalities for their views on stargazing, from his Harry co-star Sam Neill to lawyer Mai Chen. This excerpt is a potted history of the oriental zodiac, aided by animation; then it's enter the dragon. Made for TV3’s Inside New Zealand documentary strand it was directed by bro’Town creator Elizabeth Mitchell.

This episode of the Open Door series focuses on Chinese New Zealanders of different backgrounds coming to terms with their multiple identities, while living in New Zealand. The documentary explores how their Chinese ethnic origin and the conflicting attitudes of parents and peer groups can cause problems. The people interviewed have embraced the positive aspects of two different cultures; they share their personal experiences and opinions on the best way forward for New Zealand as an increasingly multi-cultural nation.

This short film follows Vincent (Leighton Phair), a young Chinese-Kiwi rescued from a group of racist punks in a spacies parlour by a mysterious Asian (Gary Young), then drawn into a seedy Triad underworld. Vincent is struggling with his identity in a mixed race family. Directors Stuart McKenzie and Neil Pardington wrote the story with playwright Lynda Chanwai-Earle, drawing it from interviews with members of the Chinese community in Wellington and Christchurch. Early 90s Flying Nun bands feature on the score; DJ Mu (future Fat Freddys Drop frontman) cameos as a punk.

This episode of Asia Downunder takes a look at the Chinese New Year. In the first segment, ‘Year of the Ox’, host Ling Ling Liang looks at how people born in this year are said to be strong and determined. She also examines traditional illustrations of oxen, and talks to the designers behind the NZ Post stamp series for the Year of the Ox. In the Lanterns for Sale segment, roving reporter Bharat Jamnadas visits the 10th annual Lantern Festival in Auckland's Albert Park, and talks to Barry Wah Lee, from longtime Asian goods emporium Wah Lees.

In this full-length Intrepid Journey actor/director Katie Wolfe takes her "appalling sense of direction" to China, a country caught between old ways and new. Wolfe travels by plane, boat, cyclo and train, which she calls "the perfect way to travel". She does three days in the Blade Runner-like cityscapes of Shanghai, where she meets an 86-year-old dancer, and visits the Forbidden City of Beijing. Wolfe also heads up the Yangtze River, visiting ghostly cities and apartment blocks, drained of people by major dam construction — before stumbling upon a most effective way to haggle.

Tired of working his go nowhere job at Pete’s Emporium in Porirua, Jamie (Jamie McCaskill) persuades some of his workmates (Cohen Holloway, Rob Mokaraka and Jerome Leota) to form band The Māori Sidesteps. Throughout this web series they find themselves at inopportune gigs, deal with interference from their over-reaching manager Dollar$ (Raybon Kan), and face an early band break up. Luckily the band is reinforced by Jamie’s brother Kelly (Erroll Anderson), who joins as a fifth member — outshining several other auditionees (including Jemaine Clement). 

Director Julie Zhu's love letter to a Chinese East Auckland community follows her grandmother as she carries out what may seem a mundane task — grocery shopping. But to Fang Ruzhen, her daily ritual of buying food is what connects her to several other aged Chinese grandparents, who hop on buses in large groups to head to the supermarket. Ruzhen moved to New Zealand nearly 20 years ago to help look after her grandson. Now she is 79 and can barely speak any English.  "Going shopping every day…well, that’s our strength. Without this, what would we do?" 

Nominated for a Qantas Media Award, this documentary examines prejudices against Asians in New Zealand, amidst the context of burgeoning immigration (80,000 ethnic Chinese and 20,000 Koreans have arrived in NZ since 1988). Directors John Bates and Manying Ip look back at the history of Asian settlement in Aotearoa, from colonial xenophobia and the poll tax inflicted only on Chinese migrants, through ‘ching chong Chinaman’ abuse, to the present day — where 21st century migrants face struggles with discrimination, language barriers and integrating in their new home. 

The work of Dunedin artist and surfer Simon Kaan explores his Māori (Ngāi Tahu), Pākehā (Scottish) and Chinese heritage. His studio in Port Chalmers is an old fruit shop his Chinese grandfather ran. In 2004 Simon won a three-month residency at Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery. Directed by Andrew Bancroft, this Artsville story follows Kaan on a tour of Beijing markets and galleries, as he prepares for a show opening. Kaan, who also narrates the piece, is able to visit family whenua: the village that his grandparents left behind for New Zealand.