About Cinemas Of New Zealand
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This site records and celebrates the many independent/art house cinemas (some 100+ of them) to be found in New Zealand towns and cities. These cinemas are important to their communities, providing welcoming venues and a wide range of film experiences. The purpose of this site is to catalogue and describe such cinemas—from Kaitaia to Rakiura/Stewart Island—as well as providing a unique information source for film-lovers, travellers, and film-makers looking to distribute their films.
My hope that these cinemas—big and small, privately owned or community-run—will persist for years to come; for as long as the unique experience of watching a film, in the company of strangers in a dedicated place, remains the special experience it has long been. |
Regent Upstairs Cinema, Pahiatua
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How to use this site
You can begin by viewing the Cinema Directory in the main menu, which provides full details on cinemas, arranged by regions in New Zealand. You might also like to check out the Blog section and the Cinema of the Month. I can be contacted at: geoff.lealand@waikato.ac.nz.
You can begin by viewing the Cinema Directory in the main menu, which provides full details on cinemas, arranged by regions in New Zealand. You might also like to check out the Blog section and the Cinema of the Month. I can be contacted at: geoff.lealand@waikato.ac.nz.
About the Author
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Geoff Lealand was an Assoc Prof in Screen and Media Studies at the University of Waikato from 1992 to 2017. Now retired (not a word he favours), he keeps a link as a Research Associate with the university. These days he writes social history, teaches an occasional film course, organises the Hamilton Film Society, maintains this site and its Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as going to the cinema at least twice weekly. As penance for all those overseas conferences he used to fly to, he does regular potting, weeding and planting in Waikato bush reserves--as well as growing exotic things like bananas and pomegranates in his Hamilton East garden.
You can catch his cameo in Costa Botes' new documentary When the Cows Come Home (Lone Pine Productions, 2022) If you like this website, you can check out the Cinemas of New Zealand Facebook page. |
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A little more about this site
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...the most beautiful sight in a movie theatre is to walk down to the front, turn around and look at the light from the screen reflected on the upturned faces of the audience. (Francois Truffaut)
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non-commercial Creating a website dedicated to the pleasures of going out to the cinema may seem a little perverse, in a time when we are supposedly staying at home, bingeing on Netflix or squinting at tiny images on our smartphones. Nevertheless, evidence shows that New Zealand continues to be a film-going nation. There have been cinema closures, in towns like Whangamata and Thames, but even though times have been tough during recent lockdowns, new boutique cinemas have opened in places like Orakei (Auckland) and Wigram (Auckland).
This open-access site documents and celebrates the abundance of interesting arthouse/independent cinemas in New Zealand cities and towns; the 90+ venues I have visited and revisited since I set up this site in 2010. The focus is on what you might call ‘popcorn-free’ cinemas, so there is little about the generic, overseas-owned multiplexes such as Event or Hoyts, where you might go for the latest franchise movie, sequel or prequels. Instead, the focus of this site is on art house, independent, community-run and private cinemas (even though some multiplexes are finally acknowledging that there are potential film-going audiences beyond teenage boys).
Enjoy... and send back comments.
[updated June 2022)
This open-access site documents and celebrates the abundance of interesting arthouse/independent cinemas in New Zealand cities and towns; the 90+ venues I have visited and revisited since I set up this site in 2010. The focus is on what you might call ‘popcorn-free’ cinemas, so there is little about the generic, overseas-owned multiplexes such as Event or Hoyts, where you might go for the latest franchise movie, sequel or prequels. Instead, the focus of this site is on art house, independent, community-run and private cinemas (even though some multiplexes are finally acknowledging that there are potential film-going audiences beyond teenage boys).
Enjoy... and send back comments.
[updated June 2022)
History of TV in New Zealand
Archived here are the outcomes of an earlier research project (from 2010), which recorded viewer memories, in response to celebrations of 50 years of television in New Zealand. It will be of interest to historians or to folk just interested in television, especially with the more-muted observations of the 60th anniversary in June 2020.
This site is not yet complete (and may never be), as I continue to add or update information. One of the very best things it has inspired is Nick Homler’s documentary The Reel People of New Zealand which was first screened in the Doc Edge Festival 2017 in Wellington and Auckland, and then on the Sky Arts Channel. In November 2018, this charming 30min film was made available to freely view on the NZ On Screen site.