Nanna Maria (Ruby Dee), the matriarch of a Fijian family in Auckland, feels that the heart has gone out of her clan. She demands that her grown grandchildren put on a traditional feast, at which she will name her successor. The grandchildren reluctantly turn up, but tiffs spin things into chaos and she calls the whole thing off. Based on his second play, this love letter to the suburb of Mt Roskill marked the first film for director Toa Fraser (Dean Spanley). It screened at many festivals internationally, and won the 2006 World Cinema audience award at American festival Sundance.

Lala Rolls (Children of the Migration) wrote and directed this short film, which gives a view of family life from a child's perspective. A young girl (Chelsie Preston Crayford) is disturbed from sleep by the sound of adults arguing. She tries to shut out this grown-up world by pretending to be "adult" and taking care of the dinner wasting in the kitchen while her parents unwittingly carry on arguing.

Christmas time can mix joy and stress in equal measure. Both feature in this documentary, which follows four New Zealand families in the lead up to Christmas Day celebrations. Jenny Johnson is preparing for an "old-fashioned" Christmas with her two adult daughters back in town, while the Hinds children adjust to Christmas post divorce. The Thayer family remind us that no one loves Christmas more than kids, but for Piripi and his grandparents the focus is spiritual, not material. As the day arrives, presents are ripped open and new memories are formed.

This episode of the te reo Māori anthology series follows a scandalous relationship between Siva (Pua Magasiva), a 19-year-old Samoan man, and Haka (radio DJ Ngawai Greenwood) a 45-year-old Māori poet. Unable to contain their passion, the couple's public lovemaking hits the headlines. Siva's family take matters into their own hands. This episode marked the first on-screen starring role for Magasiva, who would make his name as nurse Vinnie Kruse in Shortland Street. Director Paora Maxwell later spent three years as Chief Executive at Māori Television.  

This excerpt from the acclaimed miniseries about Kiwi mountaineer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary includes his 1930s childhood in sleepy Tuakau, and scenes from the 1940s, when his desire to join the war effort clashes with the beliefs of his pacifist father. Ed's young life is sketched in three chapters: a stolen library book ignites a passion for the mountains, teenage Ed experiences the grandeur of Mt Ruapehu, and adult Ed (played for the remainder of the series by Andrew Munro) grows restless with life as a beekeeper while being labelled a coward for his family's war stance. 

Nina (Aleksandra Vujcic) has emigrated downunder from wartime Croatia. When she falls in love with Māori cook Eddie (Julian Arahanga) and marries a Chinese man who is trying to stay in NZ, her domineering father Ivan is furious. The second movie from Gregor Nicholas remains one of the few from NZ in which Pākehā culture hardly features. The result was one of the highest-grossing NZ films of the 1990s. International reviews praised its power and strong cast — especially Croatian discovery Aleksandra Vujcic ("instantly alluring" said Janet Maslin). Vujcic won one of five NZ Film awards.

In this episode of boy racer drama Ride with the Devil (a rare Kiwi TV drama built around an Asian character), Lin (Andy Wong) faces an uncertain future after telling police he was driving the car that accidentally killed a boy. This episode features Shortland Street veteran Angela Bloomfield, who was nominated for a Qantas award for her portrayal of grieving mother Shona. Meanwhile Wendy (Lynette Forday) reads the riot act to daughter Amy (Kellie Michelle Cheung) who continues to romance garage owner Kurt (Xavier Horan); and Kurt's enemy sees the chance for revenge. 

Open Door is a unique form of community-based television that allows groups or individuals to apply to make a documentary programme about an issue that concerns them. This episode focuses on Burundian refugees living in New Zealand and the importance of reuniting families separated by ethnic conflict in their home country. A number of refugees share their stories and explain the way their lives have changed since coming to New Zealand and the efforts they go to bringing other family members here.     

In 1983, after riots in Sri Lanka ushered in an extended civil war, the number of arrivals from Sri Lanka to New Zealand rose dramatically. This episode, one of the most moving in the Immigrant Nation series, profiles two Sri Lankan families down under - one from the island's Sinhalese majority, one from the minority Tamils. Both families left home out of fear for their children's future. Amidst the challenge of a new culture, there is celebration too: including double marriage ceremonies which require multiple outfits, when a Tamal Christian marries a Hindu.

Qantas-nominated 'dramedy' Rude Awakenings revolved around the conflict between two neighbouring families, living in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby. Rush family matriarch Dimity (Danielle Cormack) has her eyes on climbing the property ladder, by acquiring the house next door (occupied by solo Dad Arthur and his teenage daughters). Created by Garth Maxwell (movie Jack Be Nimble), the 2007 series was produced by Michele Fantl for TV One. The Listener’s Diana Wichtel welcomed it as a rare contemporary satire on New Zealand television, but it only ran for a single season.