For this screen showcase of NZ visual arts talent, critic Mark Amery selects his top documentaries profiling artists. From the icons (Hotere, McCahon, Lye) to the unheralded (Edith Collier) to Takis the Greek, each portrait shines light on the person behind the canvas. "Naturally inquisitive, with an open wonder about the world, they make for inspiring onscreen company."

Hello Sailor's time in the sun saw them spending time in Ponsonby, LA and Sydney, becoming a legendary live act, and releasing an iconic debut album. This collection features documentary Sailor's Voyage, founder member Harry Lyon's account of the birth of the band, and tracks from Hello Sailor, both together and apart. Some of the solo songs were incorporated into the group's live set after they reunited. Included are 'Blue Lady', 'New Tattoo' and 'Gutter Black’, later reborn on TV's Outrageous Fortune.

This collection celebrates women and feminism in New Zealand — the first country in the world to give all women the vote. We shine the light on a line of female achievers: suffrage pioneers, educators, unionists, politicians, writers, musicians, mothers and feminist warriors — from Kate Sheppard to Sonja Davies to Shona Laing. In her backgrounder, TV veteran and journalism tutor Allison Webber writes how the collection helps us understand and honour our past, asks why feminism gets a bad rap, and considers the challenges faced by feminism in connecting past and present.

Great adverts are strange things: mini works of magic, with the power to make viewers smile, cry, and even buy. Kiwi directors have shown such a knack for making them, they've been invited to do so across the globe. But this collection is about local favourites; dogs on skateboards, choc bar robberies, ghost chips. NZ On Screen's Irene Gardiner backgrounds the top 10 here.

The titles made under the Loading Docs banner combine two things Kiwi filmmakers have a proven record in — short films and documentaries. Designed to give directors an online platform for “work that inspires, pushes boundaries and moves audiences”, the result has been an annual series of roughly 10 shorts, each less than four minutes long. Loading Docs launched in 2014 and its films — ranging from bungy jumpers to queer identity — have screened internationally on high profile websites. Loading Docs is produced by Notable Pictures' Julia Parnell and Anna Jackson.

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 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).

'Sui generis' is a Latin expression meaning "the only example of its kind, unique". This second edition of the anthology web series explores romantic life for Auckland’s LGBTQIA+ community in the second decade of the 21st century. Each episode is stand-alone and ranges in location from fancy dress parties, to Grindr hook-ups – "the connective tissue of each story is technology, apps and dating." These three episodes range from a tender romance which contains a surprise, to dating as dance routine, to a quirky encounter at a party. Warning: contains adult themes.