The Piano is a 1993 period drama film written and directed by Jane Campion. Starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin in her first major acting role, the film focuses on a mute Scottish woman who travels to a remote part of New Zealand with her young daughter after her arranged marriage to a frontiersman.
William James Te Wehi Taitoko better known by his stage name Billy T. James, was a New Zealand entertainer, comedian, musician and actor. He became a key figure in the development of New Zealand comedy and a household name during his lifetime.
Terence Cooper was a British film actor, best known for his roles in Australian and New Zealand television and film.
Andrew Niccol is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca (1997), Simone (2002), Lord of War (2005), In Time (2011), The Host (2013), and Good Kill (2014). He wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won him the BAFTA Award in the same category. His films tend to explore social, cultural and political issues, as well as artificial realities, simulations and the male gaze.
Ian Barry Mune is a New Zealand character actor, director, and screenwriter. His screen acting career spans four decades and more than 50 roles. His work as a film director includes hit comedy Came a Hot Friday, an adaptation of classic New Zealand play The End of the Golden Weather, and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, the sequel to Once Were Warriors.
Donald McGlashan is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for cinema and television. Among other instruments, McGlashan has played guitar, drums, euphonium and French horn.
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequently moved to Australia, where he played Dr. John Forrest in The Young Doctors from 1979 to 1982. He later appeared as Jim Robinson in Neighbours, a part he played from 1985 until 1993. He left the series when he fell out with the producers over the pay he and the rest of the cast received. In 2018, it was revealed that Dale would reprise his role as Jim for one episode of Neighbours, 25 years after his last appearance.
Rain is a 2001 New Zealand film directed by Christine Jeffs. A debut film by Jeffs, it was released in New Zealand in 2001 and internationally in 2002. It concerns the coming of age of 13-year-old Janey, and is based on the novel Rain, written by Kirsty Gunn. Rain was produced by Philippa Campbell.
The greater cane rat, also known as the grasscutter, is one of two species of cane rats, a small family of African hystricognath rodents. It lives by reed-beds and riverbanks in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The World's Fastest Indian is a 2005 New Zealand biographical sports drama film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand, speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less than 1,000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. The film stars Anthony Hopkins, and was produced, written and directed by Roger Donaldson.
Taika David Cohen, known professionally as Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world on its annual list in 2022.
Once Were Warriors is a 1994 New Zealand drama film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling 1990 first novel. The film tells the story of the Hekes, an urban Māori family, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence, mostly brought on by the patriarch, Jake. The film was directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Riwia Brown, and stars Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis. It became the highest-grossing film of all-time in New Zealand, and has won numerous awards.
The Gorgon is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
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 third-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.
Boy is a 2010 New Zealand comedy-drama film, written and directed by Taika Waititi. The film stars James Rolleston, Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu, and Waititi. It is produced by Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner and Emanuel Michael and financed by the New Zealand Film Commission. In New Zealand, the film eclipsed previous records for a first week's box office takings for a local production. Boy went on to become the highest-grossing New Zealand film at the local box office. The soundtrack to Boy features New Zealand artists such as The Phoenix Foundation, who previously provided music for Waititi's film Eagle vs Shark.
Samoa's first ever feature film, The Orator, was released in 2011. Shot and set in Samoa, in the Samoan language, it features a Samoan cast. It was produced with financial support from the Samoan government, in the hopes of showcasing Samoan culture to an international audience, and of promoting Samoa as a tourist destination.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a 2016 New Zealand adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, whose screenplay was based on the book Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. Sam Neill and Julian Dennison play "Uncle" Hector and Ricky Baker; a father figure and foster son who become the targets of a manhunt after fleeing into the New Zealand bush. Carthew Neal, Leanne Saunders, Matt Noonan, and Waititi produced the film.
Ghansi or Ghasi was a Nepali grasscutter who is best remembered for inspiring Bhanubhakta Acharya to translate the Sanskrit epic Ramayana into the Nepali language. He made money by cutting grass and selling it. Ghansi built a well in order to be remembered after his death. Not much is known about him except that he belonged to the Pantha caste and lived near the well. He has been portrayed by multiple actors in film, and the tourist destination Ghansikuwa was named after him.
Akata Warrior is a 2017 young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor. It is a sequel to Akata Witch and the second book in The Nsibidi Scripts series. It won the inaugural Lodestar Award in 2018 as well as the 2018 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel.
