Actor Wi Kuki Kaa (1938 - 2006) plays Tiare, a Vietnam War veteran who is dislocated by his experiences of war, and homelessness. He wanders the city streets, collecting ephemera in plastic bags. Nancy Brunning plays his daughter, who, with her own daughter, visits their reluctant koro (old man) to convince him to visit his ancestral home. The result is a moving story about a man jolted to find his turangawaewae (place to stand), and the whanau that helps him get there. Directed by Peter Burger, the film was selected for Critics' Week at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

TV1 celebrated Christmas by throwing most of its big names into this 1977 comedy/variety show. Ringleaders Roger Gascoigne and Nice One Stu's Stu Dennison are joined by a cavalcade of newsreaders hiding under Santa beards. Among the loopy 70s oddities on show: Brian Edwards in school uniform, channelling The Goons; Selwyn Toogood doing an It's in the Bag sketch that would nowadays likely be deemed too un-PC to make it to air; plus racehorse expert Glyn Tucker talking reindeer races. Madcap band Mother Goose also appear. 

In this short a wandering flock of geese find harbour in a rainy day puddle. They give delight to Juliet, staring out the window of her state house until her axe-wielding neighbour approaches the birds with less sanguine intentions. She’s unimpressed when boyfriend Martin doesn’t act in order to avoid confrontation. When a family arrives looking for their pets, the neighbour shrugs off the enquiries, and it’s up to Martin to prove himself. Adapted from a story by Jo Sole, the Annalise Patterson-directed short was invited to Venice and Hof film festivals.

In this short film, Māori kaumātua Laly Haddon and his Pākehā wife Sharley are interviewed about their relationship to each other and the land. The couple’s kōrero ranges from computers and tapu places, to horse breeding and racism, and provides a lens through which love, biculturalism and belonging are explored. Cathy Macdonald’s film was part of international documentary Other Than, made up of 11 short films touching on the theme of diversity. A 2013 Washington Post review said Turangawaewae was “capable of great feeling”. Ngāti Wai leader Haddon died in Pakiri in July 2013.

Frequent collaborators singer Anika Moa and director Justin Pemberton cross paths again for the music video of Moa's 'Standing in this Fire' from her 2008 album In Swings the Tide, her first, slightly countrified album for EMI. In a tastefully furnished room, Moa wakes in a bed of chocolate satin sheets only to find the day is nearly done for her and the mysterious bedmate sleeping next to her. Moa exhorts her lover, “please don't be mean to me 'cos I really tried ...”, before stripping the duvet off the relationship to see what's underneath.

Scribe's first single ‘Stand Up’ conquered the charts, paired as a double A-side with soon to be signature tune ‘Not Many’. But where ‘Not Many’ is a statement of personal intent, ‘Stand Up’ flies the flag for Kiwi hip hop, and the legendary video features many of the fellow musicians namechecked in the song. Shot in a basement below Auckland's Real Groovy Records in black and white (except for the ‘Not Many’ sections), Chris Graham's NZ Music Award-winning video offers an energetic, confrontational performance from an artist who fully believes in himself and his scene.

Standing up for your rights has long linked arms with singing for your rights. This  Spotlight collection brings together some of New Zealand’s great protest songs, with subject matter ranging from Māori pride and resistance ('Parihaka'), to the nuclear free campaign ('French Letter', 'Nuclear Wa...

There were more local number ones in the 2000s than any decade before it. Most of them are featured in this Spotlight. However the decade also saw the resurgence of the TV talent show and 'made by TV' pop stars, many of whom went on to have number one singles — without music videos. Elsewhere Scr...

A pioneer of New Zealand cinema, Ramai Hayward is credited as this country’s first Māori filmmaker, camerawoman, scriptwriter and screen star. At Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2005 she received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award; the next year she was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit. Ha...

The latest movie from Taika Waititi conquered Kiwi cinemas after winning the first of many enthusiastic reviews, at the Sundance Film Festival in the US. Hunt for the Wilderpeople follows a city kid (Julian Dennison, whose Blazed ad is below) on the run in the bush with his grouchy uncle. This Sp...