Open Door is a community-based TV series where groups or individuals make a documentary about an issue that concerns them. This episode is about Shakti - a support organisation for women from ethnic communities who are in crisis because of domestic violence. Shakti offers immigrant women in violent relationships a safe haven and a helping hand to make a fresh start. Shakti NZ founder Farida Sultana says it is so culturally difficult for some of the women to leave their marriages they can get to the point of being in fear for their lives.

This Vice documentary, made as part of its women's suffrage series, asks four past and present politicians — Golriz Ghahraman, Paula Bennett, Louisa Wall and former Prime Minister Helen Clark — about their experience of being a female MP in Aotearoa. It's a mixed picture. Clark celebrates the fact that issues facing half the population are now being addressed by a more equal Parliament, but Ghahraman, whose family fled Iran for New Zealand, regularly receives abusive communications. While each politician responds differently, they all share strong personal beliefs.

This documentary chronicles the story of Waikato women’s refuge Te Whakaruruhau, and shines a light on a subject not often shown in mainstream New Zealand media: family violence in rural areas. Written "by the women of the Waikato", the film features interviews with the women behind the refuge, who have created a space for victims of domestic violence, safe from danger. Directed by Richard Allan Litt, the documentary screens in Kiwi cinemas from March 2018, with proceeds going to the refuge. Te Whakaruruhau, founded in 1987, was the first Māori women’s refuge.

Anna Campion directs her mother Edith and younger sister Jane in this slyly observed short: a re-imagining of Edith’s (reluctant) audition for a small role in Jane’s An Angel at My Table. From when Edith picks Jane up at the airport en route to her Otaki home, the professional and personal roles blur. Anxiety, huffs and matriarchal needling ensue as an often comic, sometimes poignant domestic tango between the former stage actress and film director Jane plays out in front of the camera. Anna was studying at London’s Royal College of Art when the film was made.

This mid '70s ad campaign, made by the National Film Unit for the Tourist and Publicity Department, was aimed at the domestic market and offers nostalgic delights aplenty. 'Nightlife' focused on city bars and clubs, and 'Oldies' showcased options for retirees (scenic bus tours). Another version urged families to ditch the car (amidst the oil crisis) and take public transport to see the country; and in a classic of the genre pop star Craig Scott was a beach pied piper for adoring young Kiwis: "We're in God's own country, we gotta take the tiiiime ...".

Kingi (Mitchell Manuel) is a sultry teenager who encounters domestic violence and racism and veers down a path of petty crime. School ground punch-ups, stealing milk money and shoplifting see him placed under care of a social worker — and eventually Kingi runs out of chances. From writer-director Mike Walker, Kingi's Story tackles Māori youth and the path to delinquency and is based on the lives of a group of boys (including Manuel) who became wards of the state. It is the first part of a loose trilogy that includes Kingpin (1985) and Mark II (1986).

This black comedy sees Kiwi blokes Barry (Tim Gordon) and Kev (Jason Hoyte) set off into the sunrise for a day’s fishing. The ‘men alone’ glories of Godzone in a runabout are disrupted when they discover their attitudes towards domestic violence and sexuality are at odds. Director Adam Stevens adapted the story from a scene in Atrocities, a play written by Hoyte and Jonathon Brugh (aka Sugar and Spice). In 2001 Beautiful went to the New York, Melbourne and Montreal film festivals, before screening at Sundance; it won Best Short Film at the 2003 NZ Film Awards.

Lee Tamahori's searing drama Once Were Warriors made Rena Owen a household name in New Zealand. The 1994 film's depiction of domestic violence within a Māori family left cinema goers shaken, and Owen's performance as the resolute Beth Heke made her career. In this documentary, Owen visits Māori women and men whose lives have been marred by family violence. Men who, with the help of organisations like Homai Te Rongopai Trust, are facing their abusive past, and women rape and abuse survivors who are finding new strength in their Māoritanga.

A father attempts to discipline his son for throwing orange peel out the window on a summertime car-trip. Said director Jane Campion of the film: "I knew these people who all had red hair and they were part of a family. They were also alike in character, extreme and stubborn. Their drive in the country begins an intrigue of awesome belligerence." This tale of domestic tension might have been subtitled "gingernuts". At the 1986 Cannes Film Festival Peel won the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film (1986) making Campion the first woman (and only New Zealander) to achieve the honour.

Once Were Warriors opened the eyes of cinemagoers around the globe to an unexamined aspect of modern New Zealand life. Director Lee Tamahori's hard-hitting depiction of domestic and gang violence amongst an urban Māori whānau was adapted from the best-selling Alan Duff novel. The film provided career-defining roles for Temuera Morrison and Rena Owen as Jake the Muss and Beth Heke. It remains NZ's most watched local release in terms of bums on seats. Among a trio of backgrounders, Riwia Brown writes about adapting Duff's book for the screen.