The following is a list of New Zealand film makers.
New Zealand film makers have won a total of sixteen Oscars at the US Film Academy Awards from 41 nominations. Eleven wins were for work on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The first New Zealand nomination was in 1958 for Snows of Aorangi with New Zealand's first wins coming in 1994 for The Piano. 1994
| Year | Category | Film | Result | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Best Short Subject (Live Action) | Snows of Aorangi | Nominated | – |
| 1964 | Best Documentary (Short) | 140 Days Under the World | Nominated | – |
| 1980 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Breaker Morant | Nominated | Jonathan Hardy |
| 1987 | Best Short Film (Animated) | The Frog, the Dog and the Devil | Nominated | Bob Stenhouse, Hugh MacDonald & Martin Townsend |
| 1994 | Best Director | The Piano | Nominated | Jane Campion |
| 1994 | Best Supporting Actress | The Piano | Won | Anna Paquin |
| 1994 | Best Original Screenplay | The Piano | Won | Jane Campion |
| 1995 | Best Original Screenplay | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Nominated | Richard Curtis |
| 1995 | Best Original Screenplay | Heavenly Creatures | Nominated | Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh |
| 1999 | Best Original Screenplay | The Truman Show | Nominated | Andrew Niccol |
| 1999 | Best Actor | The Insider | Nominated | Russell Crowe |
| 2001 | Best Actor | Gladiator | Won | Russell Crowe |
| 2002 | Best Makeup | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Won | Richard Taylor |
| 2002 | Best Visual Effects | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Won | Richard Taylor |
| 2002 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens |
| 2002 | Best Art Direction/Set Direction | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Dan Hennah & Grant Major |
| 2002 | Best Costume Design | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Richard Taylor & Ngila Dickson |
| 2002 | Best Director | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Peter Jackson |
| 2002 | Best Editing | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | John Gilbert |
| 2002 | Best Picture | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh |
| 2002 | Best Sound | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Nominated | Hammond Peek |
| 2002 | Best Actor | A Beautiful Mind | Nominated | Russell Crowe |
| 2003 | Best Art Direction/Set Decoration | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Nominated | Dan Hennah & Grant Major |
| 2003 | Best Editing | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Nominated | Michael Horton |
| 2003 | Best Picture | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Nominated | Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh |
| 2004 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boynes |
| 2004 | Best Art Direction | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Dan Hennah and Grant Major |
| 2004 | Best Costume Design | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor |
| 2004 | Best Director | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Peter Jackson |
| 2004 | Best Editing | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Jamie Selkirk |
| 2004 | Best Original Song | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Fran Walsh |
| 2004 | Best Makeup | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Richard Taylor |
| 2004 | Best Picture | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh |
| 2004 | Best Sound Mixing | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Won | Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek |
| 2004 | Best Actress | Whale Rider | Nominated | Keisha Castle-Hughes |
| 2004 | Best Costume Design | The Last Samurai | Nominated | Ngila Dickson |
| 2005 | Best Animated Feature Film | Shrek 2 | Nominated | Andrew Adamson |
| 2005 | Best Short Film | Two Cars, One Night | Nominated | Taika Cohen and Ainsley Gardener |
| 2006 | Best Visual Effects | King Kong | Won | Richard Taylor and Christian Rivers |
| 2006 | Best Sound Mixing | King Kong | Won | Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek |
| 2006 | Best Sound Editing | King Kong | Won | Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn |
| 2006 | Best Art Direction | King Kong | Nominated | Dan Hennah, Grant Major and Simon Bright |
| 2006 | Best Sound Mixing | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Nominated | Tony Johnson |
| 2008 | Best Picture | Atonement | Nominated | Tim Bevan |
| 2010 | Best Art Direction | Avatar | Won | Kim Sinclair |
| 2010 | Best Picture | District 9 | Nominated | Peter Jackson |
| 2012 | Best Original Song | The Muppets | Won | Bret McKenzie |
| 2013 | Best Art Direction | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Nominated | Dan Hennah, Grant Major and Simon Bright |
| 2013 | Best Picture | Les Misérables | Nominated | Tim Bevan |
| 2014 | Best Sound Mixing | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | Nominated | Michael Hedges |
| 2015 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Theory of Everything | Nominated | Anthony McCarten |
| 2023 | Best Sound Mixing | Avatar: The Way of Water | Nominated | Michael Hedges |
Richard Taylor, who is the head of Weta Workshop, has won a notable number of awards for his work on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and King Kong. Currently, he holds one of the largest Academy Award Collections.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson. It is based on 1955's The Return of the King, the third volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the film is the final instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Sean Bean. Continuing the plot of the previous film, Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their final way toward Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, unaware of Gollum's true intentions, while Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the others join forces together against Sauron and his legions in Minas Tirith.
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He won three Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings, with one being for the song "Into the West", an award he shared with Eurythmics lead vocalist Annie Lennox and writer/producer Fran Walsh, who wrote the lyrics. He is a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979, and collaborated with Martin Scorsese on six of his films.
Andrew Lesnie ACS ASC was an Australian cinematographer. He was best known as the cinematographer for The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and its prequel The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both directed by New Zealand director Peter Jackson. He received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2002.
The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by British author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films, the films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis and Sean Bean.
Dame Frances Rosemary Walsh is a New Zealand screenwriter and film producer.
Sir Richard Leslie Taylor is the founder, creative director and head of New Zealand film prop and special effects company Wētā Workshop.
Ngila Beryl Dickson is a costume designer from New Zealand.
Geoffrey Peter Murphy was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His second feature Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) was the first New Zealand film to win major commercial success on its soil. Murphy directed several Hollywood features during the 1990s, before returning to New Zealand as second-unit director on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Murphy was also a scriptwriter, special effects technician, schoolteacher and trumpet player at different times. He was married to Merata Mita, a film director, actor, writer.
James William Arthur "Jamie" Selkirk is a film editor and producer who has worked primarily in New Zealand. He is particularly noted for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which he co-produced with Peter Jackson. He received the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the last film of the trilogy, The Return of the King (2003).
Mark Lowell Ordesky is an American film producer, television producer and studio executive. He is best known for executive producing the Oscar winning The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Brian Bansgrove was a New Zealand gaffer best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Eric Saindon is an American visual effects supervisor for movies, including Avatar: The Way of Water, The Green Knight, Pete's Dragon, The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, Night at the Museum, X-Men: The Last Stand and worked on others such as, King Kong, I, Robot, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Over 10 Academy Awards have been given to movies he has been a part of, with 3 Oscar and BAFTA nominations himself. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
Michael J. Horton is a film editor who works primarily in New Zealand. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers that was directed by Peter Jackson.
John Gilbert is a film editor who works primarily in New Zealand. Gilbert has edited 17 feature films as well as television shows and short films. He won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing and the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, among several honors, for Mel Gibson's war drama Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Gilbert had earlier received various accolades for his work on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), including the Satellite Award for Best Editing and nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and an ACE Eddie Award.
Sir Peter Robert Jackson is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster remake film King Kong (2005), the World War I documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) and the documentary The Beatles: Get Back (2021). He is the fourth-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.
Alex Funke is a special effects photographer.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a 2012 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is the first installment in The Hobbit trilogy, acting as a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Dan Hennah is a production designer from New Zealand who worked on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. He won an Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Grant Major is an art director from New Zealand who is most famous for his work on The Lord of the Rings films. He won an Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.