We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
If you love kapa haka: Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025 (TVNZ+ and Whakaata Māori)
From February 25 to March 1, 55 incredible kapa haka groups from Aotearoa and Australia will descend upon Ngāmotu for the world’s largest Māori performing arts festival, Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga. The festival brings together the stories and traditions of hapū, iwi, and waka, highlighting the many faces of kapa haka and providing “a glimpse into a Māori future”. Check out our guide to the 2025 festival here and be sure to tune into this celebration of the richness of te ao Māori this week.
If you enjoy locally-made police procedurals: The Gone (TVNZ+, February 25)
The second season of the hit Irish-New Zealand co-production The Gone begins where the first season left off. Having solved the case of a missing Irish couple, troubled Detective Theo Richter (Richard Flood) is about to return to Ireland from Mt Affinity when he discovers that tabloid crime reporter and old-flame Aileen Ryan (Carolyn Bracken) has gone missing. Filmed in and around Te Aroha and Tāmaki Makaurau, Richter and local detective Diana Huia (Acushla-Tara Kupe) must reunite to lead the search for Ryan, who was chasing a lead on a gruesome cold-case. Winning five New Zealand Television Awards, The Gone is a compelling and not-to-be missed thriller.
If you like swoon-worthy rom-coms: A Copenhagen Love Story (Netflix, February 26)
Based on Tine Hoeg’s 2022 novel SULT, A Copenhagen Love Story follows Mia (Rosalinde Mynster), a successful author who falls for charming single dad Emi (Joachim Fjelstrup). Directed by Danish comedy duo Louise Mieritz and Ditte Hansen, the couple’s happiness is soon tested when they discover that they cannot conceive naturally and must turn to fertility treatment. As the publicity material asks: “can love last when artificial hormones and scheduled sex pushes their relationship – and sanity – to the brink?” Expect this to be an amusing Danish twist on classic rom-coms like Juno and Knocked Up.
If you love feel-good comedies: Running Point (Netflix, February 27)
In the hilarious new series from Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson is Isla Gordon, a reformed party girl turned business executive, who is unexpectedly appointed team president of her family’s basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves. Inspired by Jeanie Buss, the first female owner of a team to win an NBA championship, Hudson must revive the failing basketball franchise and stake a place in the male-dominated sports world. Also starring Brenda Song, Justin Theroux, Max Greenfield, and Chet Hanks, Running Point is sure to be a slam-dunk.
If you like award-winning documentaries: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (DocPlay, February 24)
If you missed out on seeing Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat at the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival fear not, this “densely detailed and fascinating film” is coming to DocPlay. Recently nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat explores the 1961 CIA-backed assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba and how American jazz royalty were weaponised as a soft-power cultural smokescreen. The film, “as grimy and gripping as any spy novel” is an exhilarating must-watch for music nerds and history buffs.
Pick of the Flicks: Nickel Boys (Prime Video, February 27)
RaMell Ross’ ground-breaking adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s award-winning novel is up for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars next week. Described as “a sublime piece of film-making” and a “new American masterpiece”, Nickel Boys follows Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) whose college dreams are shattered when he’s sentenced to an abusive institution in the Jim Crow south for an innocent misstep. Largely shot from the point of view of its protagonist, the film has been described as a “cinematic experience unlike any other.”
