Watch Holly Arrowsmith’s Mouth of the Morning
Singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith releases her debut album, For The Weary Traveller today. Holly was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and raised in Queenstown. She now resides in Auckland and is about to set out on the road to promote her new album, including a show at the Tuning Fork on Saturday, September 5th. Holly […]
Peace Officer or Killing Machine? (Interview)
Documentary film makers Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber are in New Zealand to attend the screening of their film Peace Officer at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Peace Officer explores the militarization of the police department in the United States, particularly the SWAT teams. Their chief character in the film is Dub Lawrence, a […]
Ginger Snort – Rangatire Q Theatre (Comedy Review)
Tonight’s performance by the Snort comedy crew really showed how far they’d come. Since first starting in September 2013, they’ve developed a cult following with their Friday night improv shows at the Basement Theatre. Tonight they went large and put on a special ginger themed fundraiser at Q Theatre. They teamed up with sponsors All […]
The Last Western? (Interview)
For their latest documentary, Western, co-directing brothers Bill and Turner Ross set their sights on the West Texas town of Eagle Pass to explore the current state of great American West. The Ross Brothers focus on Eagle Pass’s mayor, Chad Foster, a dynamic character who comes complete with a ten gallon hat along with local […]
Back To The Future With The Turbo Kid (Interview)
The Turbo Kid is a Canadian/New Zealand co-production which finds Kiwi producer Ant Timpson teaming up with Canadian directors Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell. A “retro-sci-fi” based in 1997, The Turbo Kid is a sweet-natured tribute to the 1980s with stylistic nods to Mad Max and BMX Bandits and an over-abundance of blood and […]
Margot Nash’s Family Secrets (Interview)
Margot Nash has been a filmmaker since the 1970s. The Kiwi-born, Sydney-based director and academic turns the camera on her own family with her latest documentary, The Silences, which screens at this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival. Narrated by Nash herself, The Silences explores the secrets she discovered about her own family growing up […]
Mimsy Cable – Wine Cellar (Concert Review)
An early Sunday show often has a different mood about it, especially for a more intimate seated gig at the Wine Cellar. Tonight is also special as it’s Mimsy Cable’s first show in four years. She’d been working up to releasing her debut EP, The Coral Reef, for that long, so it felt like […]
Jon Spencer: Back To The Apple (Interview)
Jon Spencer brings his Blues Explosion back to Auckland for a raucous show at The Powerstation on Friday, July 31st plus 3 more NZ dates. The band has just released their latest album, Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015. The album finds the trio in top form, with the songwriting centred around their adopted […]
Watch New Gum Sarn’s 13th Floor Video Session
With a debut album just released on Spunk Record, Auckland quartet New Gum Sarn are the hottest band on the local scene right now. Just before they set out on the road to conquer the rest of the country, they stopped by The 13th Floor to record a video session. In addition to playing two […]
Shining A Light On The Sherpa (Interview)
Film director Jennifer Peedom traveled to Nepal last year to make a documentary focusing on the often under-reported role Sherpas play in the huge business that has been built around Mt Everest climbing expeditions. Specifically, she planned to shine a light on Phurba Tashi Sherpa, who held the record with another Sherpa for most ascents […]
From Scotland To New Zealand With Love (Interview)
Originally produced to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, From Scotland With Love has taken on a life of its own. The film was directed by ex-pat Kiwi Virginia Heath who combed through hundreds of hours of archival Scottish film footage, dating back a hundred years to come up with a mesmerizingly […]
Film Festival Diary: Day 2 , part 1
Blast off! 13th Floor’s team – Steve Austin, Clayton Barnett, Marty Duda, Veronica McLaughlin – have been hunkered down in cinemas around central Auckland enjoying everything the New Zealand International Film Festival has to offer. This is a daily diary of capsule reviews of movies viewed on, Friday 17th July. We’re also joined by special […]
From Bounty Hunter to Producer (Interview)
He’s been a bounty hunter, a private investigator and an author. Now Sam Brower is the producer of a feature-length documentary. Brower spent seven years investigating and tracking down Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). Brower finally got his man and Jeffs is now serving a […]
Johnny Marr – Powerstation (Concert Review)
By the time Johnny Marr finished playing How Soon Is Now, the closing song of his main set at The Powerstation tonight, he surely knew that he had played a triumphant show. From the moment he strutted and swaggered onto the tiny stage, looking somewhere between Ron Wood and Liam Gallagher gone mod and joined […]
Robert Gordon Mixes Politics & Music (Interview)
A couple of weeks ago The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke with Morgan Neville, one of two directors of Best Of Enemies, the documentary screening at this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival based around the 1968 televised debates between William F Buckley and Gore Vidal. Now, as the Film Festival gets underway, Marty speaks […]
New Zealand International Film Festival 2015 begins NOW!
Over the next seventeen days (and nights) the intrepid team of movie lovers from this here site – Steve Austin, Clayton Barnett, Margie Cooney, Marty Duda and Veronica McLaughlin, along with special guest reviewer, Radio New Zealand’s resident filmie, Sarah McMullan – will be burning the candle at both ends, balancing our day jobs and […]
Phoenix Rising (Interview)
Award-winning German film director Christian Petzold offers up his latest drama at this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival. Phoenix has all the ingredients of a classic film noir/Hitchcock-ian thriller. Set in immediate post-WWII Germany, Phoenix tells the story of a disfigured holocaust survivor, Nelly, played by Nina Hoss, who, after reconstructive surgery that leaves […]
Watch New Gum Sarn Perform Money Talks at The 13th Floor
Auckland quartet New Gum Sarn have just released their debut album, New Gold Mountain and are heading out on the road this week for a nationwide tour. The band stopped by The 13th Floor recently to record a Video Session. We’ll have the complete session posted soon, but in the meantime here they are performing […]
How To Change The World (Interview)
Greenpeace has been an integral part of the New Zealand landscape for over 30 years, with the bombing of The Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour becoming one of this country’s defining moments. But how much do you really know about how Greenpeace was formed? Director Jerry Rothwell has assembled How To Change The World, a […]
Ryan Adams – Auckland Town Hall (Concert Review)
One thing about a Ryan Adams show…you never know quite what you’re in for. Before tonight, I’d seen him three times and he had been very good, very bad and somewhere in-between. The evening began with Tiny Ruins. This time around it was just Hollie Fullbrook performing solo and she has been consistently good recently, […]