In this National Film Unit-produced 'documentary' a circus sets up at the beach. Made for the Ministry of Works to stir debate about the use of coastal land, director Michael Reeves' wiggy treatment of the subject situates the film in the 'frustrated auteur meets sober commission' NFU tradition. Ringmaster Ian Mune is a seaside Willy Wonka canvassing claims to the coast. Demands of development, recreation, and housing are dramatised — including a bizarre look at stranger danger in suburbia, and a graphic illustration of the risks of off-mains sewage treatment.

TVNZ's Loose Enz series was a series of 12 stand-alone dramas made in the early 1980s. This episode, directed by television trailblazer Caterina De Nave, chronicles married life for two neighboring couples who have very different relationship dynamics. Mary (a rare starring role for Shirley Duke) is trying to move into the working world now that her kids have grown up, much to the irritation of her controlling husband David. The couple next door have a much more equal relationship. Increasingly dark, this episode is a trenchant criticism of patriarchical mores of the time.

English-born broadcaster Ian Johnstone had been living in New Zealand for 17 years when TVNZ gave him the opportunity to take the pulse of his adoptive country, in a series of six half-hour documentaries. With a brief to provide his personal perspective on "what's changing, what's worth keeping", Johnstone's Journey saw him touring the country and talking to everyday people (rather than the expected experts) as he examined the Kiwi DIY ethic, Māori and Pākehā attitudes to the land, the family, rural community, the spread of the cities, and the New Zealand identity.

“An ironic comedy about a disconnected New Zealand family” is the tagline to this early Alison Maclean short. Recently widowed Nan (Yvonne Lawley) assesses her life and the roles prescribed by her family as she readies a Sunday roast. Her new plans — “I won’t be able to make the Christmas Cake this year” — rattle the shackles of her Old Testament-bashing husband and her ex-All Black son. Nan was a comeback leading role for Lawley after time away raising a family. Written with playwright Norelle Scott, Maclean’s short screened with the About Face TV series.

The Wellington seaside suburb of Island Bay is sometimes called Little Italy, thanks to the many Italians who have moved there. This episode of Immigrant Nation is based on interviews with Italian migrants to the suburb — from the woman who remembers the time during World War II when locals stopped talking to her, to the young man feeling "a magnetic pull" back to Italy. Although Italian fishing boats are now rarely seen in Island Bay, old traditions live on; and one woman talks about the responsibility of carrying on Italian traditions and culture into the future. 

Auckland troubadour Greg Johnson won the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll songwriting award for 1997 with this moody, tortured love song from his fourth album (his first for a major label), Chinese Whispers. The elegant, uncluttered video was directed and edited by Jonathan King. The video was shot in the Auckland suburbs of Newmarket and Parnell. With a narrative straight out of Hitchcock, Johnson is cast as narrator — and both the victim and accomplice of a blonde femme fatale in what appears to be a murder ... with a mysterious handbag the only clue.

In this documentary, Kiwi icon Lynn of Tawa (Ginette McDonald) — she of mangled vowel fame — goes on the prowl in search of the ultimate Kiwi bloke. The girl from the suburbs explores the gamut of masculine mythology, from Man Alone to mateship, and asks "can a woman ever be a mate?". Made when the good keen man was facing up to the challenge from SNAGs, the documentary travels from the West Coast (for sex education) to a men's club, from rugby scrums to rabbit culls, and meets hunters, lawyers and gay ten-pin bowlers. The opening credits mispell Lynn as Lyn. 

The St Heliers Bowling Club is the setting of this episode of First Hand, a series dedicated to giving young directors a shot at making documentaries. A triples team from the Remuera Bowling Club have made the short journey to the Auckland seaside suburb, and aim to prove their superiority on the club’s fast greens. The documentary takes time to observe the culture of the club throughout the day’s play, from the variety of whites the players wear and the backgrounds of the members, to their lunchtime rituals and the role of women at the club. It’s all in a lively day’s play. 

When photographer John Lake offered to collaborate with Wellington band MarineVille, the song he chose was ‘Time’: a meditation on the relentless ways that time plays out in our lives taken from their third album Fowl Swoop. The resulting video, shot around the suburb of Newtown over three hours, stars drummer Greg Cairns desperately attempting to flee the inevitable march of time — only to get his comeuppance from the grim reaper, a room full of people he offended along the way (“Vitutaa” is Finnish for “We are annoyed”) and a catering pack of cream.

Billy Graham was a a poor, restless, dyslexic boy from Lower Hutt who was taken under the wing of a boxing coach and became an amateur champion. In 2006 Graham set up his first boxing academy in his home suburb. Now he runs five gyms, training young people to have pride in themselves and their bodies. This 42-minute documentary was directed by award-winner Mark Albiston (The Six Dollar Fifty Man). It follows a group of young Kiwis who have found acceptance and inspiration on the floor at Graham's gym. Billy and the Kids debuted at the 2019 NZ International Film Festival.