New Zealand National Film Unit

An award-winning short exploring man-made impacts on New Zealand’s water cycle.

A visual essay on contemporary Kiwi architecture.

A documentary about the New Zealand theatre troupe "Red Mole".

A documentary about the history of settler groups that came to New Zealand from Europe.

Three Brits travel and settle down in New Zealand, and the film records their hopes, jobs, challenges, and adventures in the new country.

The same night as a girl is slain in the woods, the teenagers Sam and Les are robbed of all of their hard earned hens. In the quest for their hens they cross the murderer's path.

On Christmas Eve, a nameless little girl reads 'The Monster's Christmas' storybook to her teddy bear, as something sneaks around in the trees outside her window. She hears a noise in the other room, and thinking that it's Father Christmas, she goes to investigate. She finds one of the monsters, who has come seeking help to defeat an evil witch that has stolen all the monsters' voices.

A short documentary tracking the transportation of New Zealand products into ports in the Philippines, China, Japan, and Hong Kong, with a focus on cultural differences and economic opportunities.

140 Days Under the World is a 1964 New Zealand short documentary film about Antarctica. It depicts one summer's work by New Zealand scientists in the Ross Dependency in the Antarctic and the exploration of some of the last unmapped regions. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

A primer on proper phone manners produced for the New Zealand Post Office.

Expat Kiwi Rewi Alley became one of the best known foreigners in 20th Century China and advocate for the Communist Revolution. When China was under siege from Japan in the late 1930s, Alley instigated an industrial co-op movement he termed ‘gung ho' (work together). Its success led to the phrase entering the global idiom. For this documentary a Geoff Steven-led crew travelled 15,000km in China in 1979, filming Alley as he gave his account of an engrossing, complex life story. Co-writer Geoff Chapple later wrote a biography of Alley.

Set in post-war (1949) rural New Zealand, this film traces the efforts of two con men to run a betting scam in a small town (Tainuea) already rife with illegal gambling corruption, and eccentricity.

A documentary about New Zealanders in Antarctica: researching International Geophysical Year, and supporting the Trans-Antarctic Expedition by laying supply depots for Vivian Fuchs’ overland crossing.

Account of the royal tour of New Zealand taken by the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Includes film of various visits and ceremonies attended during the state visit.

Road safety instructional film using child actors and amusing animals.

An educational short made by the New Zealand National Film Unit for the National Mountain Safety Council to promote awareness of bush safety.

Discovered to be using illegal drugs by a local policeman, the members of the commune kill him and bury him in their garden. After this pivotal event, distinctions between reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred.

The short tells the story of a drunkard going through alcohol withdrawal, as personified by the Devil. Director Bob Stenhouse takes what could be a dark subject and makes it a funny madcap romp.

An entertaining look at life in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1960s, giving a colourful impression of Wellington city: hills, winding streets, busy people and strong winds.

Examines the practical philosophy, the achievements and frustrations of one of New Zealand's most lively and innovative architects, Ian Athfield. The film provides a portrait of the architect and his work both in New Zealand and his project to design housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area of Manila in the Philippines, for which Athfield won an international competition in 1975.