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MUST-SEE MOVIES
Spending an evening or three reeling off some classic NZ films doesn't just reward you with advance screenings of some much-publicised scenery. It also allows you to dig past the country's distractingly grand surface and get right under its skin to an often-bleak mysticism that's been well-captured on celluloid.
- An Angel at My Table (1990) Director: Jane Campion
- Heavenly Creatures (1994) Director: Peter Jackson
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Director: Peter Jackson
- Once Were Warriors (1994) Director: Lee Tamahori
- The Piano (1993) Director: Jane Campion
- Rain (2001) Director: Christine Jeffs
- Sleeping Dogs (1977) Director: Roger Donaldson
- Smash Palace (1977) Director: Roger Donaldson
- Vigil (1984) Director: Vincent Ward
- Whale Rider (2003) Director: Niki Caro
TOP READS
Be it through escapist plots, multilayered fiction, reinvented realities or character-driven social commentary, the significant body of Kiwi literature presents an opportunity to learn much about the islands. NZ's unsettled history, its burgeoning cultural awareness and the physical power of the landscape go well beyond a camera lens.
- Bone People (1988) Keri Hulme
- The Book of Fame (2000) Lloyd Jones
- The Carpathians (1988) Janet Frame
- Dreams Lost Never Walked (2003) Raumoa Ormsby
- Electric (2003) Chad Taylor
- Going West (1993) Maurice Gee
- In a Fishbone Church (1998) Catherine Chidgey
- The Season of the Jew (1987) Maurice Shadbolt
- The Vintner's Luck (2000) Elizabeth Knox
- Whale Rider (1987) Witi Ihimaera
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