Here’s your chance to catch-up on some of the best television and film made in New Zealand in the last year.
The 2025 New Zealand Screen Awards were held in Auckland on Friday to celebrate the best in New Zealand film and television over the last year. And there were plenty of notable wins – including best feature film for Ka Whawhai Tonu, best current affairs programme for The Hui, best children’s programme to First Place and best presenter: news and current affairs to John Campbell. Scotty Morrison took home the personality of the year award – but what about some of the other big winners, and more importantly where can we watch them?
We’ve hand-picked 10 winners from the night, with all the details about where to stream (or rent) them. (Check out the full list of 2025 NZ Screen Awards winners and finalists here.)
The Gone (TVNZ+)
Photo: TVNZ
Following on from its five award wins at the 2023 NZ TV Awards, The Gone earned four awards this year, including best drama, best production design, best director: drama series and best original score. The moody Irish-New Zealand co-production follows two detectives – one from Ireland, one from Aotearoa – as they search for two Irish tourists who go missing from small town New Zealand. “What elevates The Gone are the unique New Zealand stories woven throughout,” we wrote earlier this year. “This is a rural community where hurt runs generations deep, and storylines about big business acquiring Māori land and the legacy of colonialism make the show feel current and relevant.”
Homesteads (Māori+)
Homesteads won best Māori programme for 2025, and it’s a well-deserved win for a documentary series that so thoughtfully explores the meaning of home. Each episode tells a story of what home means to different generations of Māori whanau, exploring how home can be a place of history, belonging, challenge and triumph. It’s an insightful and inspiring watch, with stunning photography that captures the quiet beauty of rural and urban Aotearoa landscapes. The two other TV finalists in this category were Dead Ahead (TVNZ+), Mata Reports (Aotearoa Media Collective/RNZ/YouTube) and Māori All Blacks: Bound by Blood (Māori+).
Watch Homesteads on Māori+ (streaming worldwide) and TVNZ+.
Vince (ThreeNow)
Anna Jullienne as Lou and Jono Pryor as Vince in Vince
Written by and starring Jono Pryor (Jono and Ben), Vince was crowned best comedy programme, beating out Madam (ThreeNow, Netflix) and Happiness (also ThreeNow, which is clearly becoming the home of New Zealand’s best comedy). The sitcom follows the exploits of a charming but self-absorbed broadcaster who is sacked from his job and needs to fix his life to improve his reputation. “Pryor has taken what he’s learned about the brutal and sometimes ridiculous world of working in television and taken it upon himself to gently and lovingly skewer the artifice, ego and superficiality involved,” Anna Rawhiti-Connell wrote in her review of the series. “There are plenty of winks and nudges at the state of the industry, its weird characters and the craven interests that sometimes drive decision-making. The call, as they say, is coming from inside the house.”
The Convert (Māori+)
Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne on-set. (Photo: Supplied/Kirsty Griffin)
The late Lee Tamahori was honoured with the best director drama feature award for The Convert, set in 1830s Aotearoa as a British preacher (played by Guy Pearce) finds himself embroiled in an inter-hapū conflict during the Musket Wars. The film also won feature awards for best cinematography, best production design, best costume design and best makeup design. As The Spinoff reviewed last year, The Convert is a must-watch for fans of local history, with its impressive acting performances, well-choreographed fight scenes and integration of te reo Māori, bringing a fascinating time period to life.
Watch The Convert on Māori+ here.
Moving Houses (TVNZ+)
Photo: Screengrab
New Zealand’s favourite television show about trucks driving slowly won best factual series this year, proving that a simple concept done well can create compelling television. Moving Houses also reflects who we are in New Zealand in an unusual way, as we mentioned in our review of a 2024 episode. “It has all the hallmarks of gripping TV: suspense, danger, risk and reward, as well as genuine New Zealand characters. There’s a reassuring comfort in its predictability, but there’s also unlimited potential for chaos. It speaks to New Zealand’s adventurous, ingenious heart, and resonates with our desire to have a home of our own, even if it is in one of the remotest parts of the country.”
Watch Moving Houses on TVNZ+ here.
Motuhaketonga (Māori+)
A still from Motuhaketonga (Photo: Supplied)
This year’s winner of best documentary series and best director: documentary/factual series was Motuhaketonga, a two-part docuseries that follows three wāhine Māori as they prepare to leave prison. The series explores the challenges these women face as they aim to reintegrate into society and rebuild their relationships with their children and whānau, and also asks the question: how does New Zealand treat its wāhine Māori? “Producer/director Kathleen Mantel commits to a cognisant tone and knows how to remain there through the joy and, more importantly, the intimate struggles. She doesn’t overplay the pain or vulnerability but rather lets the utter compelling nature of these women lead the way,” Dana Leaming wrote in her recent review.
Watch Motuhaketonga on Māori+ here.
The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes NZ (TVNZ+)
It’s the reality TV show with a heart, which is probably why The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes took home the gong for best reality series. Led by renowned chef Ben Bayly, the gentle observational series follows volunteers with dementia as they take over the running of a successful restaurant, in the hope of proving that people with dementia can still make a valuable contribution to society. “The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes wants to help people with dementia, but it’s also helping viewers by quietly challenging our assumptions of what living with dementia means,” we wrote in our review of the show’s first season in 2023. “It wants us to consider how we create a more inclusive, flexible society that allows everyone in our community to thrive, which is something reality television rarely does.”
Watch The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes on TVNZ+ here.
The Rule of Jenny Pen (rent on various streaming services)
The Rule of Jenny Pen (Photo: Supplied)
Stephen King called it “one of the best movies I’ve seen all year”, The Spinoff’s Alex Casey described it as “the most brutal and bold local film in years,” and it seems The NZ Screen Award judges agreed. This dark and terrifying psychological thriller – set in a New Zealand rest home and based on a short story by Owen Marshall – scooped up an impressive four feature film awards, including best actor for John Lithgow (who received the award from afar), best supporting actor for George Henare, best contribution to a soundtrack and best script for Eli Kent and James Ashcroft.
The Rule of Jenny Pen is available to rent on AroVision and most streaming services.
Taskmaster NZ (TVNZ+)
The award-winning season five of Taskmaster NZ. Photo: TVNZ
After six chaotic seasons on New Zealand screens, Taskmaster NZ has earned its place as one of our best entertainment shows. Season five won the award for best entertainment programme, nudging out season two of Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee (ThreeNow) and Whakanuia (Māori+). This was the season with comedian Ben Hurley’s spectacular Olympic-level feat of athleticism, as he joined four other New Zealand comedians put themselves through a series of pointless and perplexing tasks in the hope of impressing the Taskmaster Jeremy Wells. Great news: TVNZ+ has all six seasons and 60 whopping episodes waiting for you to dive into.
Watch Taskmaster NZ on TVNZ+ now.
Bryn and Ku’s Singles Club (The Spinoff, YouTube)
Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester in Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club (Photo: Todd Karehana)
Kura Forrester won two awards on Friday night – the first for best supporting actress for her work in comedy series Double Parked, and the second with her pal Brynley Stent as best presenter: entertainment for short docuseries Bryn and Ku’s Singles Club. Made by your old mates at The Spinoff, Bryn and Ku’s Singles Club sees the two comedians embark on a cross-country quest to find love, as they venture beyond their comfort zones to tackle the dating scene. “This may be a quest for romantic love, but it’s also a celebration of female friendship,” we wrote earlier this year. “Watching this is like hanging out with your best mates as they constantly try to make each other laugh the hardest. The support and solidarity they show each other is beautiful, and their journey is filled with warmth and sincerity.”
Watch Bryn and Ku’s Single’s Club on The Spinoff and YouTube.