Friday 27 January, 2012
Hong Kong`s tradition of pantomime-style features continued for the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival as the Chinese know it. Shaw Brothers` offering took the box office honours this year.

Friday 27 January, 2012
A couple of Animfx regulars have again been elected to the board of the Visual Effects Society (VES).

Friday 27 January, 2012
Cinedigm and Edge Digital Cinema (EDC) are offering independent exhibitors rival options for going digital with the help of US studio money. Will one come out on top, or is there room for both of them?

Friday 27 January, 2012
The Taranaki-hosted WOMAD festival has announced its film programme, featuring a crop of award-winning local fare.

Friday 27 January, 2012
Despite what are politely called mixed reviews, Sione`s 2 pulled in the punters in a way most local films only dream of. It took more in its opening week than any NZ film took in its entire run last year. Its $984,058 was more than double the take for the second most popular film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Friday 27 January, 2012
The first local flick of the year dominates the box office, taking more in its first week than any local film last year took in its entire run.

Wednesday 25 January, 2012
Ten features, an average of $27,500 each - roll on the matched development deals that pay for a few more Tim Tams.

Wednesday 25 January, 2012
MTS has programmed five Kiwi shorts and one feature for Waitangi Day.

Wednesday 25 January, 2012
The world`s newest addition to the film festival calendar, Thailand`s Hua Hin Festival, opens tomorrow, closes on Sunday and crams some 60 titles into its inaugural four day edition.

Wednesday 25 January, 2012
Think TV claimed a “healthy” growth in TV ad revenue for NZ broadcasters last year, but the spend barely tipped on the right side of NZ`s 2011 inflation figure of 1.8%.

Wednesday 25 January, 2012
Several favourites for nominee status discovered shortly 2.30am this morning that the Academy`s new voting system was delivering in spades, digging holes to hide in. A couple of Kiwi finalists slipped past the gatekeepers to achieve nominee status.

Monday 23 January, 2012
Although the official numbers are not out at time of writing, Unfinished Business took around $775,000 on its opening weekend, against $635,000 for Sione`s Wedding. In Manukau alone, the sequel took well over double the original, but this time around people had to go to the cinema to see the film.

Monday 23 January, 2012
Lasy year the New Zealand box office fell 9% from 2010`s record high. The total take for the year was $161.8 million, of which almost 30% went to the top ten films. Of the distributors Paramount had the best year with five of its releases making the top ten, although Warners took top spot with the final part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Monday 23 January, 2012
VFX before and after shots for the second series of Boardwalk Empire demonstrate just how little is real in the frame.

Monday 23 January, 2012
The Adventures of Tintin took the animated feature gong at the Producers Guild of America awards yesterday. Steven Spielberg was also honoured with the David O. Selznick Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures.

Friday 20 January, 2012
The pioneer of filmstock has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

Friday 20 January, 2012
The detectives hold off the pretenders in the top five, Players drops 65% in its second week, and Christchurch is back on screen.

Friday 20 January, 2012
It`s still summer, there`s not a lot else going on, so everybody has plenty of time to climb on a bandwagon. Since NZOA`s involvement in poverty-gate was uncovered, opinions and hats have been flung merrily into the ring from left and centre, if not so much the right.

Friday 20 January, 2012
The Festival International du Film Documentaire Océanien (FIFO) has announced its 2012 line-ups, in and out of competition. 13 NZ films are selected for Tahiti, with six screening in competition and seven out. NZ films make up a third of the programmes, with Australia also well-represented.

Thursday 19 January, 2012
The Berlin international Film Festival has selected three NZ short films in competition. Sam Kelly`s Lambs, Sam Holst`s Meathead, and Justine Simei-Barton and Nikki Si’ulepa`s Snow in Paradise are the trio.

Wednesday 18 January, 2012
TV3`s scheduling of Bryan Bruce`s Inside Child Poverty created for NZ On Air`s (NZOA) a dilemma, something defined by this writer`s English teacher (some time before Noah set sail) as: if you`re standing up to your neck in vat of puke and someone throws a bucket of shit at you, do you duck?

Wednesday 18 January, 2012
Less than an hour after Monday`s ceremony ended, the publicity was flowing here to promote the winners.

Wednesday 18 January, 2012
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has announced the 78 film producers taking part in the 12th edition of the Rotterdam Lab. The participants of CineMart’s successful event for emerging producers have been nominated by the twenty-eight Rotterdam Lab partner organisations. Rotterdam Lab, part of CineMart, takes place January 28 – February 1.

Wednesday 18 January, 2012
Watching the detectives proves more popular than anything else. As the school holidays crawl towards their end, family fare continues to enjoy a day in the sun, but only metaphorically speaking during this cloudiest of summers. And last year`s NZ summer shoot, Bollywood`s Players, opens.

Wednesday 18 January, 2012
Last night the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) announced the nominees for the 6th Asian Film Awards (AFA). While the nominations spread across more of the region than in previous years, a trio of Chinese blockbusters led the way. 32 films from 11 countries and regions made the cut in 14 categories.

Monday 16 January, 2012
NZ-shot Bollywood movie Players premiered internationally on 6 January. Waiting in the wings was Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) with its campaign to convert the films Indian audiences into Kiwi visitors on the back of the NZ locations in the film. The TNZ campaign in India, "Go play in New Zealand", aims to boost the current c30,000 annual visitors from the subcontinent.

Monday 16 January, 2012
The 10th edition of the Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which runs alongside FilMart in March, has selected a record 32 projects. Notably, its geographical reach has expanded even more broadly than its numbers.

Monday 16 January, 2012
Veteran HK director Ann HUI will become the first woman to receive the Asian Film Awards` (AFA) Lifetime Achievement Award at this year`s awards ceremony in March.

Monday 16 January, 2012
There`s still a decent amount of Kiwi interest in the various awards bashes that litter the LA calendar over the first couple of months of the year, despite the gradual trimming of Academy lists. Almost every US guild or union has its own awards bash in the lead up to the Oscars in late February. Weta has its foot firmly in the door, again, at the Visual Effects Society (VES) awards.

Monday 16 January, 2012
Changes to the Academy`s qualifying rules mean that films such as Tom Burstyn`s This Way of Life will face a less certain route to Academy consideration.

Monday 16 January, 2012
In 2010 Taika Waititi`s Boy took off with a good chunk of the country`s disposable income. 2011 was never expected to match up at the box office, and it didn`t disappoint. A dozen or so Kiwi features that screened outside of the NZFF, racking up well short of half Boy`s take.