Te Waipounamu (the South Island) provides the picturesque backdrop for this Ngāi Tahu web series about mahinga kai (food gathering). Tangata whenua are interviewed about all aspects of mahinga kai, from transport (mōkihi) and storage (pōhā), to what they put on their plates — pāua, kōura (crayfish), and pātiki (flounder). Episode one showcases the elusive "vampire of the sea" kanakana (lamprey) in Murihiku (Southland). The last episode of the 12-part web series features Kaikōura local Butch McDonald catching and eating the town's seafood specialty, crayfish. 

After being spotted performing for tourists in Rotorua, 11-year-old Temuera Morrison was given his very first starring role in this British TV series, shot downunder by expat Kiwi director Michael Forlong. In this clip, Rangi (Morrison) and co have adventures with sharks, crayfish and a stranded sheep near their remote South Island farm. Meanwhile two robbers (Ian Mune and Michael Woolf) sneak into the house. The scene is set for crims and and children to chase each other all the way to Rotorua. The series was seen in New Zealand cinemas in a shortened movie version.

This 1968 Looking at New Zealand episode travels to NZ’s third-largest island: Stewart Island/Rakiura. The history of the people who've faced the “raging southerlies” ranges from Norwegian whalers to the 400-odd modern folk drawn there by a self-reliant way of life. Mod-cons (phone, TV) alleviate the isolation, and the post office, store, wharf and pub are hubs. The booming industry is crayfish and cod fishing (an old mariner wisely feeds an albatross); and the arrival of tourists to enjoy the native birds and wildness anticipates future prospects for the island.

“I’d no idea what I’d been missing!” This 1985 film pitches Aotearoa as a destination to our Aussie cobbers. Long haul air travel had led to a tourism boom, and promo campaigns were becoming increasingly sophisticated. This effort tries to overcome expectations of NZ as a place for oldies where “nothing is ever open”. A dinky-di Sydney family go on a tour of “Kiwiland” for a smorgasbord of sun, sea and snow. There’s crayfish and wine on the sand, and Barry Crump tells a less than 100% Pure tale at the pub. Australian John Sheerin (McLeod's Daughters) plays Dad.

This wryly-titled show was a homegrown take on US show That's Incredible!, with the spectacular stunts and supernatural happenings of the original replaced with more downbeat kiwiana kitsch subjects. It was the first series from production company Communicado. Presenters included mayor Tim Shadbolt, Neil Roberts, future Green-MP Sue Kedgley and rugby writer Phil Gifford. This highlights and bloopers episode from the first series, includes crayfish hypnotism, obese cats, a wind-turbine powered catamaran, dancing cows, and Gifford as a Gorillagram.

In this bilingual cooking series made for Māori Television, globetrotting chef Joe McLeod presents international dishes combined with New Zealand ingredients and elements of traditional Māori cuisine. In this episode, fish is the order of the day as McLeod prepares pan fried groper fillet, a southern crayfish medley, salmon and potato cakes, and Fijian baked fish on succulent vegetables. The less piscatorial desserts include crepes with diced mango and apple, vanilla custard with a tangy mango jelly, and lemon and honey cake. 

This award-winning film looks at the strange and ethereal world of New Zealand's limestone areas. The rocks and caves reveal ancient whale fossils, moa hunter art — and evolutionary one-offs (like giant carnivorous snails) that live in a limestone world. The film goes into the darkness to find glow-worms, cave wētā, albino crayfish and skeletons of moa who met their death falling down tomos (shafts). In underground cathedrals, exquisite formations formed by the alchemy of water and limestone are captured. There is also footage of Waitomo Caves and Te Waikoropupu Springs.

Whanganui-born chef Peter Gordon helmed the Sugar Club in Wellington in the 80s, before moving to the UK and started up a series of acclaimed restaurants, including Providores and Tapa Room (opened shortly after this doco was made). Plaudits as a pioneer of ‘fusion’ cooking followed. Here the ‘kai magpie’, takes in everything from paw paw to paua on a homecoming taste trip: raw fish in Rarotonga, Waikato River 'tuna', deer at Wairarapa’s Te Parae, Seresin organic olive oil, Marlborough koura, Stewart Island oysters, and more. The one-off special screened on TV One and on BBC2.

One of the last films shot by longtime cameraman Bert Bridgman before his death, this 1958 promotional film follows an American tourist with a licence to fish in New Zealand, her “passport to pleasure”. Narrated by Pulitzer-Prize winning writer and conservationist Louis Bromfield, the film quotes liberally from English 'father of fishing' Izaak Walton, as the “gal from the States” is given fly fishing instruction. The life cycle of trout is shown, and the film — directed by onetime war correspondent Ron McIntyre — ends with a contest of wits between wily angler and trout. 

Director Vea Mafile'o's Tongan father Saia drives this deeply personal film. Vea raises thorny questions about the relationship between money and the church in Tongan culture, questions that caused her Kiwi/Tongan family pain. Pensioner Saia Mafile'o's dedication to raising large amounts of money for Misinale (an annual church celebration) upset his children and splintered his marriage. Mafile'o returns to Tonga with her father and siblings, to attend the Misinale and learn why the financial sacrifice matters to him. The documentary debuted at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.