After combing through 700 entries across 57 categories, the New Zealand Screen Awards have their finalists for 2025.
“We’re delighted to announce this year’s finalists,” commented Kelly Martin, NZSA committee member and CEO of South Pacific Pictures. “The response to the awards has surpassed expectations – especially with the exciting inclusion of film, which has brought a wonderful new energy to this year’s awards. Each of our finalists stand as a testament to the talent and innovation that make our screen community so extraordinary.”
Winners will be revealed at the New Zealand Screen Awards (NZSA) ceremony on Friday, 21 November 2025 at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre. Read on to learn more about this year’s big nominees, where you can watch them, and all remaining categories.
Tinā
Nominated for Best Feature Film, Director (Miki Magasiva), Actress (Anapela Polata’ivao), Supporting Actress (Antonia Eaton), Supporting Actor (Beulah Koale), Cinematography, Contribution to a Soundtrack, Original Score & Script
The local Box Office smash hit stars Polata’ivao as a Samoan teacher who, struggling after the death of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquakes, reluctantly takes on a role as a substitute teacher at an elite private school and is surprised to find children in desperate need of guidance, inspiration, and love.
Ka Whawhai Tonu
Nominated for Best Feature Film, Supporting Actress (Miriama Smith), Supporting Actor (Temuera Morrison), Contribution to a Soundtrack, Original Score, Post Production Design, Production Design & Costume Design
Screen veteran Michael Jonathan makes his feature directorial debut with this story set during a pivotal 1864 battle in the country’s first land wars, a battle fought with impossible odds between Māori and colonial forces.
We Were Dangerous
Nominated for Best Feature Film, Actress (Erana James), Supporting Actress (Rima Te Wiata), Cinematography, Production Design & Costume Design
Set in 1950s Aotearoa, this coming-of-age drama somewhat doubles as a prison escape thriller with its story of three teenage ‘delinquent’ girls sent to a reforming institution situated on a remote island and under the command of a devout Matron.
The Rule of Jenny Pen
Nominated for Best Director, Actor (Geoffrey Rush), Actor (John Lithgow), Supporting Actor (George Henare), Editing, Contribution to a Soundtrack, Original Score, Makeup Design & Script
James Ashcroft, writer-director of Coming Home in the Dark, adapts another one of Owen Marshall’s short stories. Rush plays a curmudgeon judge placed in a rest home against his wishes, co-starring Lithgow as a fellow resident who sneakily torments him with his baby hand puppet.
The Convert
Nominated for Best Director, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design & Makeup Design
Guy Pearce stars in Lee Tamahori’s Musket Wars thriller as a lay preacher caught in the middle of a generational blood feud between Māori tribes.
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Season 11
Nominated for Best Drama Series, Costume Design, Makeup Design & Script
New Zealand’s juggernaut murder mystery series cannot be stopped with the 11th season tackling the curious killings of a devoted music fan, a radio host, a science teacher, and even Santa (well, someone dressed as him) in the now-iconic quiet country town.
Dead Ahead
Nominated for Best Drama Series, Māori Programme, Actress (Miriama Smith), Actor (Xavier Horan) & Makeup Design
Smith leads this ghostly comedy series as a high-powered Māori lawyer who returns home with her family and accidentally unleashes her chaotic tūpuna into their lives—forcing the living and the dead to navigate identity, legacy, and unfinished business.
The Gone: Season 2
Nominated for Best Drama Series, Director (Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger), Supporting Actor (Richard Flood), Editing, Original Score & Production Design
Irish detective Theo Richter (Flood) and Kiwi cop Diana Huia (Acushla-Tara Kupe) remain in Mt Affinity for a new mystery: the disappearance of an Irish journalist.
A Remarkable Place to Die
Nominated for Best Drama Series, Cinematography & Original Score
Chelsie Preston Crayford leads this local crime series detective who returns home to picturesque Queenstown only to be faced with shocking homicides and disturbing echoes from her past.
Madam
Nominated for Best Comedy Programme, Supporting Actress (Ariāna Osborne), Supporting Actor (Martin Henderson), Cinematography & Costume Design
Oscar-nominee Rachel Griffiths leads this comedy series based on a real-life case of a woman’s attempt to start an ethical brothel in small town New Zealand.
Happiness
Nominated for Best Comedy Programme, Supporting Actor (Peter Hambleton), Editing, Makeup Design & Script
Desperate to get a visa and get out of Tauranga, a Broadway wannabe reluctantly agrees to help out a local theatre group put on a stage musical called The Trojan Horse.
End of the Valley
Nominated for Best Reo Māori Programme, Director, Post Production Design, Production Design & Script
A court case between opposing iwi about a historical land claim brews to boiling point in this drama-thriller series starring Miriama Smith, Roimata Fox and Temuera Morrison.
Secrets at Red Rocks
Nominated for Best Children’s Programme, Cinematography, Contribution to a Soundtrack, Original Score & Post Production Design
A 12-year-old boy is drawn into a lifechanging adventure in this children’s series filmed on Wellington’s wild south coast, exploring the Celtic myth of the selkie through the landscape of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
Double Parked: Season 2
Nominated for Best Director, Actress (Antonia Prebble), Actress (Madeleine Sami), Supporting Actress (Kura Forrester), Supporting Actor (Dominic Ona-Ariki) & Editing
Having dealt with an IVF clinic that accidentally left them both pregnant, couple Nat and Steph must now confront the issues in their relationship raised by their predicament.
Vince
Nominated for Best Comedy Programme & Supporting Actress (Natalie Medlock)
Jono Pryor plays a popular TV host who accidentally drops trou live on air and must claw back and piece of his reputation in the aftermath.
Homesteads: Season 2
Nominated for Best Māori Programme & Camerawork: Documentary
The return of the factual series uncovering the stories of seven homesteads through the eyes of the ahi kā that occupy them, highlighting the culturally significant role they’ve played in maintaining and strengthening Māori ties to their tūrangawaewae.
Ash
The Moon is Upside Down
Other nominees include Ash (two for Post Production Design and one for Cinematography), Forgive Us All (Best Makeup Design), Head South (Best Actor for Ed Oxenbould), Joika (Best Editing, Contribution to a Soundtrack & Score), A Mistake (Best Script), The Moon is Upside Down (two Best Actress nods for Elizabeth Hawthorne & Victoria Haralabidou), My Life is Murder (Best Costume Design), n00b (Best Script), Under the Vines: Season 3 (Best Production Design), Uproar (Best Actor for Julian Dennison) and Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line (Best Camerawork: Documentary).
Other Categories
Best Short Film: First Horse, Lea Tupu’anga | Mother Tongue, Rochelle
Best Reo Māori Programme: Ruamata: It’s More Than Hockey 2, Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga, End of the Valley
Best Māori Programme: Māori All Blacks: Bound by Blood, Homesteads Season 2, Dead Ahead, Mata Reports
Best Pasifika Programme: Being Niuean, Fight For The Pacific, We The South: The Manukau Rovers Story, First Place
Best Children’s Programme: First Place, Secrets at Red Rocks, Kea Kids News
Best Documentary – Series: Motuhaketanga, Live and Let Dai, Patrick Gower: On Ice
Best Documentary – Feature: Never Look Away, Stylebender, Maurice and I, The Lie
Best Director: Documentary Feature: The Haka Party Incident, The Stolen Children of Aotearoa, Maurice and I
Best Director: Documentary/Factual Series: Polk: The Trial of Philip Polkinghorne, Diary of a Junior Doctor, Motuhaketanga
Best Editing: Documentary / Factual – Series: Live and Let Dai, Choir Games, Polk: The Trial of Philip Polkinghorne
Best Editing: Documentary / Factual – Feature: Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara, Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua Two Worlds, Maurice and I
Best Camerawork: Documentary / Factual – Feature: Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua Two Worlds, Unmasking The Monsters, The Stolen Children of Aotearoa
Best Director: Multi-Camera: Constellation Cup – Silver Ferns v Australia, 2024 Bledisloe Cup – Wellington, Anzac 2025, 2025 Super Rugby – Crusaders v Blues
Best Sports Programme: Māori All Blacks: Bound by Blood, Grit & Glory, We The South: The Manukau Rovers Story
Best Factual Series: Hyundai Country Calendar, Moving Houses, Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club
Best Reality Series: The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, The Traitors New Zealand, Match Fit: Union vs League
Best Current Affairs Programme: Te Ao with Moana, The Hui, Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes
Best News Coverage: Tasman Flooding, America’s Cup Coverage, Hikoi ki Paremata, Kiingitanga Tangihanga
Best Live Event Coverage: Matariki mā Puanga 2025, Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga, Te Raa Nehu o te Tangihanga o te Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII
Best Entertainment Programme: Taskmaster New Zealand Season 5, Guy Montgomery’s Guy-Mont Spelling Bee Season 2, Whakanuia
Reporter of the Year: Indira Stewart (TVNZ+ In-Depth), Paula Penfold (ThreeNews), Michael Morrah (Michael Morrah Investigates), Barbara Dreaver (1 News)
Best Presenter: Entertainment: Jeremy Corbett (7 Days), Brynley Stent & Kura Forrester (Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club), Guy Montgomery & Sanjay Patel (Guy Montgomery’s Guy-Mont Spelling Bee Season 2), Dave Letele (Heavyweight with Dave Letele)
Best Presenter: News and Current Affairs: Ryan Bridge (HeraldNOW), Moana Maniapoto (Te Ao with Moana), Jack Tame (Q+A with Jack Tame), John Campbell (TVNZ 1 & TVNZ+)
