Bellbird

Marshall Napier (Came a Hot Friday) has played his share of unsympathetic cops over his long career. In Bellbird he shows a gentler side, as a Northland farmer who is unable to express himself after his wife's death. His son (Cohen Holloway) and friends do their best to help. Director and schoolteacher Hamish Bennett based the script on memories of his rural Northland upbringing. The film expands on his award-winning short film Ross and Beth (2014). The cast also includes Rachel House. In November 2019 Bellbird became the first film to be released in cinemas with te reo subtitles. 

The characters of Bellbird were inspired by my childhood neighbours in the small rural Northland community of Tauraroa…you don't see many outward displays of affection or emotion, but this can't be mistaken for not caring. It's very much the opposite. The love, the loyalty, the reliance – it can all be found in the little moments, buried under the layers of cheeky banter and cow shit.

– Writer/director Hamish Bennett

Key Cast & Crew

Cohen Holloway

As: Bruce

Marshall Napier

As: Ross

Orlando Stewart

Producer

Annie Whittle

As: Beth

Catherine Fitzgerald

Producer

Hamish Bennett

Director, Writer