NZ On Screen — the bril­liant web­site ded­i­cat­ed to putting New Zealand film, tele­vi­sion and music video online — is cel­e­brat­ing its sec­ond birth­day.

So to help cel­e­brate, let us delve into the NZ On Screen archives and see what Welling­ton gems are to be seen.

Mona­co Mon­za Macao Welling­ton (1990)

A TV doco look­ing at a Euro­pean rac­ing team’s prepa­ra­tion for the Nis­san Mobil 500. Includes plen­ty of footage of the water­front when it was going through that awk­ward post-wharfie, pre-fan­cy phase, when we were rather pleased to have cars hooning along it.



Aeon (2004)

This gor­geous work was made by then Massey Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dent Richard Sidey. It cap­tures the city, using sped-up and thought­ful­ly edit­ed footage, along with a sound­track by per­cus­sion group Strike.


A Nice Sort of Day (1977)

This short film con­trasts the hus­tle and bus­tle of down­town Welling­ton with the tran­quil­i­ty of Mana Island. Fea­ture awe­some 1970s bushy hair­dos, but is a love­ly piece besides that.


You’ll have to click through to NZ On Screen to watch these clips, but they’re all worth a look:

Town and Around (1968)

A clip show of the Welling­ton news pro­gram­me’s best sto­ries from 1968. It includes the famous “turkeys with gum­boots” sto­ry.

Queer Nation — Welling­ton Queer Peo­ple, Queer Places, Queer Sto­ries (2002)

A spe­cial edi­tion of mag­a­zine show Queer Nation looks at the cap­tial’s rich gay his­to­ry.

City of No (1971)

A tele-dra­ma that tack­les the issue of mid-life cri­sis. Fea­tures love­ly streetscapes of Welling­ton, and a young Sam Neil as a foxy dude.

The Ele­gant Shed — ‘The Extro­verts’ (1984)

Archi­tect David Mitchell looks at Welling­ton archi­tects Ian Ath­field and Roger Walk­er, the hip young gun­slingers who were chang­ing the face of the city with their bold designs.

The March­ing Girls (1987)

Fiona Samuel’s dra­ma series about an under­dog Tai­ta march­ing team’s shot at the North Island champs. The series fea­tures two things we don’t nor­mal­ly see on the tel­ly — Low­er Hutt and a core cast of 10 women.