This feature documentary goes beyond the supermarket deep freeze, to look at the stories behind the meat that ends up on our plates. The film is built around three farmers and a hunter: industrial pig farmer Ian, who argues profit is not his main motivation, straight-talking 'one-woman farming operation' Jill, chicken farmer Tony (who discusses killing 1000 chickens a week), and deer hunter Josh, who thinks that many lack awareness of how food gets to their plate. Directed by David White (short film I Kill), Meat can be watched in full via The NZ Herald website (see link below). 

Jock Phillips begins his journey through our Waitangi collection by recalling an awkward encounter with a security guard at the treaty grounds. Ranging 50 years between the earliest title and one of the most recent, Phillips explores changing attitudes to the Treaty. Discover everything from Mike King on the treaty trail, to trench warfare, waka-building and epic drama.

This Town is a quirky comedy awash with well-known Kiwi actors. Director David White ends up on-screen, as well as calling the shots for his first fictional feature. White plays Sean, who gets caught up in romance and suspicion in a small town, where an obsessed ex-cop turned petting zoo owner (Robyn Malcolm) is convinced Sean should be in jail for murder. The cast also includes Rima Te Wiata, Jim Moriarty, Loren Taylor and newcomer Alice May Connolly. This Town was shot on White's home turf of Hawke's Bay. White has previously directed several documentaries (Meat, I Kill).

Host of weekday kids' programme After School, Olly Ohlson, was the first Māori presenter to anchor his own children's show, and his catchphrase (with accompanying sign language) "Keep cool till after school" is remembered by a generation of Kiwi kids. The show also broke ground in its use of te reo Māori on screen. This episode sees a game of Maorimind (a te reo test based on Mastermind) and the building of a road-sign for the longest place name in New Zealand - a 85-letter te reo gobstopper that Olly rolls out with aplomb: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateatu... etc. 

Visionary educationalist and novelist Sylvia Ashton-Warner is interviewed by leading educationalist of the day, Jack Shallcrass, in this documentary about her life and work. From her home in Tauranga the film explores her educational philosophies (“organic teaching” and her “drive to diffuse the impulse to kill”) and her “divided life” between woman and artist, as she plays piano and interacts with children. It is the only interview she ever made for television, and was the first of the Three New Zealanders documentaries made to mark International Women's Year.

This is the first of a six-part TVNZ series which follows seven couples from antenatal classes to the reality of childbirth and parenthood. Along the way they share their hopes and fears as they await the arrival of their first born. This episode focuses on antenatal classes, decisions that have to be made and practical adjustments, including jobs and budgeting. The fathers-to-be provide some of the most humorous lines, mostly displaying their naivety (one looks forward to the chance to "laze back a bit"). But all the participants show an honesty that makes for fascinating viewing.   

Disappear is a wordless tale of a man who wishes life wasn't always so busy. Described by its creator as being about the way "our dreams often take a backseat to the daily grind", the short film has a unique look thanks to its black and white stop motion animation. Kiwi Hendrikus De Vaan created the passion project in his garage over two and a half years, utilising complex camera moves that are far harder to pull off in stop motion than with live action. The result won a place in the 2014 NZ International Film Festival, and the approval of Aardman Animations legend Peter Lord.

This award-winning 1973 TV drama follows the career of PM Richard 'King Dick' Seddon from the events leading to his premiership in 1893, until his death in 1906. Writer Michael Noonan intersperses speeches and cabinet discussions with vignettes of Seddon's interaction with pressure groups and voters. Tony Currie (Close to Home) won a Feltex Award as the colourful Seddon, who forced through groundbreaking legislation. Listener reviewer Roger Hall praised it as New Zealand's "best historical documentary" to date. Watch out for broadcaster Brian Edwards as an opposition MP.

John Wills joined the New Zealand Army as soon as he could when war broke out in 1939. He ended up serving in North Africa and Italy until war’s end in 1945. Now 96, Wills looks back at his time as a driver for an artillery battery. Taken prisoner and held by the Italians in Libya, he was liberated by Indian troops in time to see action at the battle of El Alamein. He was also present, behind the lines, at the brutal Battle of Cassino, north of Naples. Tales of fighting, hardship and bravery are balanced with humour.

Home by Christmas sees Gaylene Preston returning to the hidden stories of ordinary New Zealanders. Inspired by attempts to get her father Ed to reveal his WWII experiences, this finely-balanced docu-drama moves between three strands: Preston’s father (Goodbye Pork Pie's Tony Barry, in a Qantas award-winning performance) retelling his story; recreations of Ed’s wartime OE; and life for the woman he left behind in Greymouth. The dream cast sees Preston’s own daughter Chelsie Preston Crayford playing Preston's mother Tui, alongside Martin Henderson.