Funaki Dennai laid the foundations for Kaga clan cuisine in the Edo Period as a "kitchen samurai" who prepared food for the nobility. This heartwarming drama depicts the internal affairs of the Kaga clan from the perspective of a woman who marries Funaki's son. It features meals made according to the Funaki family's recipe collection "Ryori Mugonsho" and recreates the workings of samurai family kitchens at the time. Maid Haru (Ueto Aya) is a talented cook but stubborn, which leads her to divorce her husband after a year. However, she is asked by Kaga clan "kitchen samurai" Dennai (Nishida Toshiyuki) to marry his son and heir Yasunobu (Kora Kengo), and works to remedy his lack of culinary skills.

Join film archivist and historian Sarah Davy from Pou Takatū at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision as she introduces a special programme of ‘war-time’ films by Len Lye. Made during World War II, these rarely screened films demonstrate the depth of Lye’s filmmaking talents, taking us beyond his experimental work and into the realm of documentary and propaganda. Sarah Davy is a trustee of the Len Lye Foundation and a leading scholar of Lye’s practice as a filmmaker. This programme opens with Lye’s Musical Poster #1 (the last abstract colour film he made in Britain) and follows with a body of filmmaking showcasing Lye’s versatility as a filmmaker as he adapts his talents to meet the realities of filmmaking during a wartime economy. Taking on commissions from the British Government through the Realist Film Unit, Lye’s short films now educated the British public about food shortages (Planned Crops, 1942) and the women working in British munition factories (Work Party, 1942). Longer films such as Cameramen at War (1942) confirmed Lye’s talents as a documentary filmmaker, while Kill or Be Killed (1943) offered a rare insight into Lye as a director of drama as he explores a tense standoff between a British and German soldier. Largely overlooked by Len Lye fans, these works offer a more complete picture of Lye’s career and talents. The following films will be screened: Planned Crops (1942) Newspaper Train (1942) Cameramen at War (1943) Work Party (1942) Kill or Be Killed (1942) All courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London. Musical Poster #1 (1940) Courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation from material preserved and made available by Nga Taonga: Sound and Vision.

Set on an isolated farm in Shropshire in 1657. The story of Fanny Lye, a woman who learns to transcend her oppressive marriage and discover a new world of possibility - albeit at great personal cost. Living a life of Puritan stricture with husband John and young son Arthur, Fanny Lye's world is shaken to its core by the unexpected arrival of two strangers in need, a young couple closely pursued by a ruthless sheriff and his deputy.

Experiential cinema in its purest form, GUNDA chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm's ambient soundtrack, Master director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it.

99-year-old Isey lives with her adult son James on their small farm in Kawakawa, New Zealand. They are descendants of Ngāti Manu – the Bird People. Isey is turning 100 in a week. In their unique relationship, James has devoted the last 20 years to looking after his mum. He is a tohunga (shaman) and brings the spirit world onboard to get her over 100. A joyous celebration of the sacred and everyday aroha (love).

This documentary explores Pompeii, that city cloaked in mystery which, over the course of history, has influenced culture and art, from Neoclassicism to Contemporary Art, through images and words by the great artists and writers who experienced, visited and imagined it: from Pliny the Younger to Picasso, from Emily Dickinson to Jean Cocteau. The film doesn’t just deal with the volcano eruption, which has gone down in history, but with what the city of Pompeii itself was actually like: how its citizens lived their lives, spent their free time, experienced pleasure, passion, religion and their fate.

An abridgement, for UK release, of Rudall Hayward’s 1940 remake of “Rewi’s Last Stand”. Released in 1949 as THE LAST STAND, the original negatives from the 112 minute New Zealand release had been cut to meet the requirements of the British quota system. Only this shortened, 63 minute, version of the film is known to survive. Hayward had been determined to correct mistakes he’d made in his 1925 silent film of the same name, “Rewi’s Last Stand” (see F2290 for surviving footage). Like the earlier film, the sound remake is heavily indebted to historian James Cowan and his account of the invasion of the Waikato by the British during the war of the 1860s. The film takes its name from the famous battle of Ōrākau where Rewi Maniapoto and 300 supporters resisted the advance of over 2,000 imperial troops during a siege which lasted three days. Around this Hayward wove a fictional love story between a settler, Robert Beaumont, and Ariana, a young Māori woman played by his future wife Rāmai Te Miha aka Patricia Miller. In 1970, THE LAST STAND [as “Rewi’s Last Stand”] became the first New Zealand feature to be shown on New Zealand television. It was also widely distributed to schools through the National Film Library.

Burnt-out trans activist Caz Davis returns to Rūrangi, the rural dairy community he fled ten years ago, hoping to reconnect with his father, who hasn’t heard from him since before Caz transitioned. As father and son slowly reconcile, Caz finds himself swept up in the environmental fight which is dividing the town.

Adam, Nico and Su are members of Germany’s first gay rugby team, the Berlin Bruisers. Tackling Life portrays their everyday lives and follows them into the world of this dangerous niche sport, showing their struggle for recognition – in competition with the hetero regional league teams – as well as their community involvement: gathering money at colorful fundraisers and visiting schools to give anti-bullying workshops. Looking beyond the spectacular surface of self-presentation and cliché, we focus on how our trio copes with the challenges of everyday life – from self-realization to their search for belongingness. By alternating impressions of excessive, vibrant athletics with the quiet observation of its protagonists, the film is fragile and profound, but also spectacular and loud.

Alessandro and Arturo have been a couple for more than fifteen years. Although passion and love have turned into an important affection, their relationship has been in crisis for some time. The sudden arrival in their lives of two children left in custody for a few days by Alessandro's best friend, however, could give an unexpected turn to their tired routine. The solution will be a crazy gesture. But on the other hand, love is a state of pleasant madness.

This 1971 teleplay marks the first time the controversial topic of colonial conflict was portrayed on Kiwi TV screens. Taranaki writer Warren Dibble called on many sources — including Māori oral histories — to dramatise what followed after two Pākehā deserters (played by Peter Vere-Jones and Alan Jervis) joined Māori resistance leader Tītokowaru during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. Real life Reverend Napi Waaka (Ngāti Pikiao) plays Tītokowaru. The acting won praise. Shot on location in the Taranaki, The Killing of Kane was the first Kiwi TV drama filmed in colour (although it originally screened in black and white).