For this 2015 Marae DIY episode, presenters Ria Hall and Te Ori Paki travel deep into Tūhoe territory to makeover the unique Maungapōhatu marae. The settlement was established by prophet Rua Kenana in 1907, beneath the sacred mountain of Maungapōhatu. The remote location means the Tamakaimoana people have had to embody the DIY of the show’s name. The team uncover relics of Kenana’s circular parliament, gather native bush seasoning for the hangi, and face mud and rain, horses wandering onto the marae, and getting concrete mixers up the steep mountain.

In this 2013 short, a possum-trapping nature boy is challenged when a woman moves into a house on the edge of the bush, looking for a fresh start. Cinematographer Ginny Loane captures the wintry central plateau landscape where the fable of life and death plays out. Director Leo Woodhead co-wrote the script with Paul Stanley Ward; the result followed Woodhead’s short Cargo (2007) to the Venice Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Hong Kong Film Festival. Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) called it “a well structured, beautifully shot narrative.” 

Smash Palace is a Kiwi cinema classic and launched Roger Donaldson's American career. Al Shaw (a brilliant, brooding Bruno Lawrence) is a racing car driver who now runs a wrecker's yard in the shadow of Mount Ruapehu. His French wife Jacqui is unhappy there and leaves him, taking up with Al's best mate. When she restricts Al's access to his young daughter, his frustration explodes and he goes bush with the girl, desperate not to lose her too. "There's no road back" runs the tagline. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called the film "amazingly accomplished".