Sleeping Dogs
Film, 1977 (Trailer and Excerpts)
Smith (Sam Neill, in his breakthrough screen role) is...
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Film, 2016 (Trailer and Excerpts)
Taika Waititi's fourth feature is the tale of a city...
Cinema of Unease
Film, 1995 (Excerpts)
Sam Neill weaves portions of autobiography into an...
The Piano
Film, 1993 (Trailer and Excerpts)
Ada (Holly Hunter) has been mute since she was six....
Harry - This is Personal (First Episode)
Television, 2013 (Full Length Episode)
This first episode of this 2013 crime drama...
Architect Athfield
Film, 1977 (Full Length)
Before he achieved worldwide fame as an actor, Sam...
The City of No
Television, 1971 (Full Length)
It's Wellington in the 1970s and Bob (Jeremy Stephens)...
Dean Spanley
Film, 2008 (Trailer and Excerpts)
This offbeat father and son feature was written...
Red Mole on the Road
Short Film, 1979 (Full Length)
In 1979, Red Mole was arguably New Zealand's...
Perfect Strangers
Film, 2003 (Trailer and Excerpts)
One night in a West Coast pub, Melanie (Australian...
Hunt's Duffer
Television, 1973 (Full Length)
This 1973 TV drama is inspired by events which led to...
Flare - A Ski Trip
Short Film, 1977 (Full Length)
This short documentary about freestyle skiing was...
Landfall - A Film about Ourselves
Television, 1975 (Full Length)
In this experimental drama shot in 1975, four young...
Ashes
Television, 1975 (Full Length)
Before turning to directing, Barry Barclay did more...
Under the Mountain
Film, 2009 (Trailer, Excerpts, and Extras)
Maurice Gee's classic novel about aliens running amok...
The Water Cycle
Short Film, 1972 (Full Length)
Made by Philip McDonald (Such a Stupid Way to...
Surf Sail
Short Film, 1978 (Full Length)
A 1978 documentary that follows the attempt by three...
Anzac: Tides of Blood
Television, 2015 (Trailer)
In this acclaimed Kiwi-Aussie co-production Sam Neill...
Gallipoli
Television, 2005 (Trailer)
Made by Turkish director Tolga Örnek,...
The Man in the Hat
Film, 2009 (Full Length)
This documentary is a portrait of Wellington...
Split Enz - Spellbound
Television, 1993 (Full Length)
Sam Neill narrates this documentary plotting the...
Distinctly Grahame Sydney
Television, 2006 (Full Length)
Painter Grahame Sydney has been pigeonholed by some as...
Numero Bruno
Television, 2000 (Full Length)
Numero Bruno is a warts and all biography of widely...
New Country - New People
Short Film, 1978 (Full Length)
This 1978 National Film Unit documentary provides a...
Colin McCahon: I Am
Television, 2004 (Excerpts)
This documentary looks at the life and work of New...
Cowboys of Culture
Television, 1990 (Full Length)
Cowboys of Culture is director Geoff Steven's...
Phone
Short Film, 1974 (Full Length)
This 1974 primer on proper phone manner marks one of...
Four Shorts on Architecture
Short Film, 1975 (Full Length)
Director Sam Neill uses ‘Architect Man’...
Lovely Rita
Television, 2007 (Excerpts)
An affectionate documentary about painter Rita Angus....
Rooster Rooster Dragon Rat - Oscar's Guide to the Chinese Zodiac
Television, 2013 (Excerpts)
Comedian (and rooster) Oscar Kightley fronts this 2013...
The Sealhunters
Short Film, 1973 (Full Length)
This short black and white NFU 'drama' follows three...
Ada (Holly Hunter) has been mute since she was six. She travels from Scotland with her daughter (Anna Paquin) and her grand piano to colonial New Zealand, for an arranged marriage. When her husband, a stoic settler (Sam Neill) sells the piano to Baines (Harvey Keitel), Ada and Baines come to a secret agreement. She can win her piano back key by key by playing for him, as he acts out his desire for her. An especially big hit in Europe, Jane Campion's Oscar-winning tale of sexual emancipation in the bush is the only NZ film to have won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.
With its breathtaking visual style and careful attention to sound and movement, the movie provokes contemplation about the ways people communicate – through words, through music, through sex, and, most significantly, through touch.– Julie Salamon in The Wall Street Journal, 14 December 1993
Produced by
Jan Chapman Productions
More information
Acknowledgements
Produced with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission and the New South Wales Film and Television Office