Poor Man's Spitfire

This chronicle of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games marked one of the National Film Unit's most ambitious productions. Though a range of events (including famous runs by John Walker and Dick Tayler), are covered, the film often bypasses the pomp and glory approach; instead it dares to talk to the injured and mention that most competitors lose. The closing ceremonies of the "friendly games" feature the athletes gathering to — as the official song's chorus put it — "join together". Four directors joined together to work on it: Arthur Everard, John King, Paul Maunder and Sam Pillsbury.

Operation 8 examines the so-called 'anti-terror' raids that took place around New Zealand on October 15, 2007 - asking how and why they took place and at what cost to those targeted.

A dramatization to promote the Territorial Army.

Cold War Peacemaker is the amazing and unique story of the development of the B-36 very-long-long-range nuclear bomber. From its beginnings during WWII, through construction in a former wild-west cattle town and deployment into the Cold War, the story of the Convair B-36 and how it intimidated the Soviet Union is a fascinating study in politics and technology. In Cold War Peacemaker, experience life during the Cold War as your parents and grandparents lived it and discover and understand how the Convair B-36 played a vital role in saving the free world from communist domination.

It wasn't until 1993 that American women were officially allowed to fly combat aircraft. Learn about the struggles, the accomplishments, and contributions of women pilots of the past, present, and future.

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.

In 1916, while France was bogged down in trench wars, a young engineer named Marcel Bloch was inventing a revolutionary propeller, the Eclair propeller. It would prove very effective in air combat. Today, Dassault Aviation, named after the moniker its founder took on after the war, is among the jewels of the worldwide aeronautics industry. From astonishing growth to unexpected crises, the Dassault group's destiny is closely linked to the history of France and the saga of modern aviation. As it marks its first century of existence, the company continues to fly in civil and military aviation, still following the path of its founder's visionary spirit, Marcel Dassault.

Leaky home experts John Gray and Roger Levie uncover the shocking truth about the dreadful and dangerous state of many apartment buildings in New Zealand. Buildings that look sound turn out to be seriously defective, costing millions to fix, and in the worst cases, only fit to be pulled down. The owners who thought they were making a good step on the property ladder, now find themselves faced with an emotional and financial cost that will affect the rest of their lives. How did this building disaster come about and can it be fixed?

Someone Else’s Country looks critically at the radical economic changes implemented by the 1984 Labour Government - where privatisation of state assets was part of a wider agenda that sought to remake New Zealand as a model free market state. The trickle-down ‘Rogernomics’ rhetoric warned of no gain without pain, and here the theory is counterpointed by the social effects (redundant workers, Post Office closures). Made by Alister Barry in 1996 when the effects were raw, the film draws extensively on archive footage and interviews with key “witnesses to history”.

The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.

Olympic Champion, Kiwi Icon, Tongan Leader, Orphan, Mother...winning was just part of the journey.