An Angel at My Table

An Angel at My Table 1990

7.02

Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.

1990

Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers 2003

4.20

When Melanie goes home from the pub with a handsome stranger, she’s captivated by his charm and attentiveness. He sails her away to his ‘castle’- a rundown shack on a deserted island. But when seduction becomes deception and passion becomes possession, Melanie realizes that she has been kidnapped. Torn between fear and desire, Melanie must escape – but her ardent admirer has other plans.

2003

The Monster's Christmas

The Monster's Christmas 1981

6.00

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.

1981

Young and Hooked on Chemsex

Young and Hooked on Chemsex 2021

6.00

The chemsex scene is a subculture within the gay community where men mix drugs like methamphetamine & GHB with sex to maximize pleasure and decrease inhibitions. In this documentary, three young men from New Zealand share personal accounts of what it was like to be involved in the chemsex scene.

2021

Signatures of the Soul

Signatures of the Soul 1984

1

Tattooing — "the world's oldest skin game" — is the subject of this iconic documentary. Writer/director Geoff Steven scored a major coup by signing Easy Rider legend Peter Fonda as his presenter. Travelling to Aotearoa, Samoa, Japan and the United States, the doco traces key developments in tattooing, including its importance in the Pacific, prison-inspired styles, and the influence of 1960s counterculture. Legendary tattooists feature (including Americans Ed Hardy and Jack Rudy), while the closing credits parade some eye-opening full body tattoos.

1984

No Māori Allowed

No Māori Allowed 2022

8.00

When an academic unearths a forgotten history, residents of the small township of Pukekohe, including kaumātua who have never told their personal stories before, confront its deep and dark racist past.

2022

Siege

Siege 2012

5.80

On the 7th of May 2009, Senior Constables Len Snee, Grant Diver and Bruce Miller arrived at 41 Chaucer Rd in Napier to serve a search warrant on Jan Molenaar for the growing of cannabis. This was just a routine warrant, something they had done countless times. What was meant to be an ordinary procedure turned into three of New Zealand’s darkest days and ended with one police officer dead, two officers critically injured and a member of the public fighting for his life. In some fifty hours Jan Molenaar made a permanent and devastating imprint upon the national psyche of New Zealand as he changed the lives of individuals, families, a police community, and a city. The siege was one of the worst and unexpected cases of violence both Napier and New Zealand had witnessed and it was all the more shocking because of its ordinary suburban backdrop.

2012

Skin Pics

Skin Pics 1980

1

A bold reveal of a rose tattoo opens this 1980 documentary on tattooing in New Zealand. The potted history includes visits to tattoo parlours on K' Road and Hastings, and the studios of industry legends Steve Johnson and Roger Ingerton. Tattooists discuss public stigma, people's reasons for getting inked, and popular designs: sailors, serpents, swallows and tā moko. Made for documentary slot Contact, Skin Pics chronicles a time when "folk art has become high art".

1980

Clarence

Clarence 1990

4.50

Spin off from the classic 1946 Jimmy Stewart film "It's A Wonderful Life" finds his protecting angel, Clarence, again returning to Earth to help another human.

1990

Show of Hands

Show of Hands 2008

6.70

Jess is a solo mother and reluctant parking warden. Tom is a self-obsessed greetings cards salesman with an addiction to competitions who will do anything to win. Together they are just two of the competitors in a gruelling endurance contest to win a car - whoever keeps their hand on it the longest wins. As the sleepless days wear by, what price will they pay for winning this competition?

2008

Sex, Drugs and Soft Toys - The Making of Meet the Feebles

Sex, Drugs and Soft Toys - The Making of Meet the Feebles 1989

1

This documentary looks at how the strings were pulled on Peter Jackson's low-budget puppet movie Meet the Feebles. An old Wellington railway shed fizzes with energy and imagination as a team peppered with future Oscar-winners crafts the gleefully subversive Muppets parody.

1989

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars 2015

1

When an attack on a Palmerston North fraud detective made headlines in October 1996, the New Zealand public followed the media reports with fascination. They read like a plot of a Hollywood film or detective novel. Poison pen letters, satanic worship, a police hate crime, and a mysterious and violent pyromaniac. But little did the public know that as the truth emerged, the story was going to get far more bizarre, and the police would turn the focus of their investigation on one of their own.

2015

Typhon's People

Typhon's People 1993

1

A scientist in New Zealand has a secret lab where experiments are performed on humans. When he is assassinated, opposing forces rush to his hideaway to suppress or expose his secrets.

1993

Panic at Rock Island

Panic at Rock Island 2011

5.40

An island in spectacular Sydney Harbour. Summer sun, top international artists, and tens of thousands of music fans from across the world! Idyllic...until unimaginable disaster strikes.

2011

Mark II

Mark II 1986

6.50

Three Maori youths, bored with Auckland, head south in a restored Mark II Zephyr in search of something different. One of them is on the run from drug dealers, whom he had crossed. Various mini-adventures occurs as they make their way down the North Island, but it all comes to a head while visiting a cousin. Finally, they, the drug dealers and the police all come together, with the expected fights and arrests.

1986

All Blacks at War

All Blacks at War 2024

1

Travelling the Western Front, grave to grave, former All Black Andrew Mehrtens shares the story of the 13 All Blacks killed in WW I.

2024

Safe House

Safe House 2012

6.00

Safe House is the story of a struggle for survival in an unfamiliar and threatening world, based on the true life experience of a woman in the early days of the witness protection programme in New Zealand. TV Movie

2012

Grit & Glory: The Road To The Paralympics

Grit & Glory: The Road To The Paralympics 2024

1

Gain exclusive insight into the lives of elite athletes with disabilities, as six Kiwi contenders work relentlessly to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

2024

The Lost Boys of Dilworth

The Lost Boys of Dilworth 2024

1

Through first-hand accounts and dramatic re-enactments, the survivors of historic systemic abuse at Auckland’s Dilworth School bravely tell their stories.

2024