REVIEW | WEB EXCLUSIVE Written by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor Ahead of opening night, I caught up with director Grace Augustine to talk about reimagining Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People for present-day Aotearoa. You can read that interview here. She told me the production was motivated in part by increasing nitrate contamination in our freshwater, and by a desire to create political theatre that asks audiences to think critically about the systems gove

NEWS | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Caeden Tipler (they/them) | @caedentipler | Contributing Writer The time is now for Aotearoa cinema. Recent films, such as Mārama and Big Girls Don’t Cry, are garnering international attention. And films like Caterpillar and The Weed Eaters have become instant cult classics for audiences at home. It seems intuitive, then, that our largest film festival, Whānau Marama: New Zealand International Film Festival, would embrace this

REVIEW | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Trevor Pronoso | Letterboxd: @CleverGurl | Instagram: @trev.pro | Contributing Writer With Hasan in Gaza (2025) dir. Kamal Aljafari France / Germany / Palestine / Qatar / Switzerland, 106 mins Within the first 30 minutes of this film, I could already tell the differing cinematic temperaments of director Kamal Aljafari and his tour guide, Hasan Elboubou. Throughout With Hasan in Gaza, Kamal would often instruct Hasan to take

REVIEW | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Ricky Lai (he/him) | @rickthelai on IG & Letterboxd | Columnist The first UniFest short film competition resembles the kind of combination between creative outlet and filmmaking practice which I would have adored during my studies. It’s reassuring to see a body of undergrads wishing for the same, taking that into their own hands – run by the students, for the students. Each entry was held down by only two creative constraint

COLUMN | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Ricky Lai (he/him) | @rickthelai on IG & Letterboxd | Columnist Da Hip Hop Witch (Dale Resteghini, 2000) Directed by the music videographer who’d go on to lend tone-deaf visuals to Busta Rhymes’ ‘Arab Money, Da Hip Hop Witch was a Blair Witch parody riding on four plots interwoven with no discernible rhythm. (A) Female staff at the office for a tabloid magazine fight off their creep of a boss. (B) A gang of youngins from Sal

POETRY | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Leva Kusari (she/her) | @levalol | Contributing Writer (Written in 2019) important to note This is NOT my type anymore My type My type My type wears Doc Martens Has a handlebar moustache he has “ironically” And pretends he doesn’t listen to Mitski anymore My type studied English lit at Victoria Or communications at AUT And is majoring in philosophy so he can quote Simone de Beauvoir without being pretentious Swears he’s movi

KŌRERO TOI | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Isabella den Boogert (they/them) | @belladbb | Contributing Artist Isabella den Boogert is a multidisciplinary artist who works between the mediums of sculpture and printmaking. They explore the internet-driven culture of performance, self-presentation, and identity in the digital age, using text and found objects as tools for exploring culture. Often delving into the rabbit holes and dark trends of the internet and pop

EDITORIAL | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor With everything going on in the world, it feels like there isn’t much to laugh about. We’re staring down the barrel of climate collapse. Fascism is more fashionable than it’s been since World War 2. It costs $50 to leave the house, late-stage capitalism is probably as bad, if not worse, than Marx predicted, and World War 3 feels like it’s one Donald Trump tweet away. But it’s

REVIEW | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n | Associate Editor It’s taken Paolo Bertolin, the New Zealand International Film Festival’s artistic director, a couple of years to find his footing away from the prestige of his homeland of Italy to the bonkers reality of New Zealand’s film industry. While the government struggles to comprehend the value of anything less than the millions generated by Peter Jackson and Taika Waititi as

SATIRE | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Nate & Nancy et al., 2026 | Contributing Scientists Ever since I discovered the concept of sexism at age 16, I have been trying to find ways to do my part to decrease its prevalence. My studies led me to a lot of places – queer theory, postpostmodern sixth-wave feminism, intersectional speciesism, and radical bioessentialist egalitarianism. Ultimately, I found out that the world is far too complex for one person to meaningfu

HOROSCOPE | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by László Reynolds (he/him) | @laszloreynolds | Contributing Columnist Aries There’s a higher risk of the house catching fire for this period, so it could be a good idea to avoid deep frying things in the kitchen. Accept gifts from your lover or business partner if you have one. I can’t remember if I wrote this last time, but sex drive will be increasing. Don’t be afraid to get verbal (or even better: verbose) in the bedroom

NEWS | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR By AUT Ventures University students have a perhaps slightly unhealthy habit of turning stress into humour. Whether it's joking about surviving on three hours of sleep, living off five coffees a day, or laughing in the face of looming deadlines, humour often becomes a way of coping with the realities of student life. At AUT's School of Art & Design, that same spirit once took physical form in something affectionately known as the "crying

REVIEW | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Trevor Pronoso | Letterboxd: @CleverGurl | Instagram: @trev.pro | Contributing Writer Out of the Blue (2006) dir. Robert Sarkies Aotearoa New Zealand, 103 mins During the post-screening Q&A, actor Matthew Sunderland shares something remarkably revealing when asked about the process of getting into the character of David Grey: that it was relatively easy to understand the psyche of David because most of what he needed to kno

FEATURE | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Translated by Madita Petersen (she/her) | @maditaapetersen | Contributing Writer Original by Friedhelm Kändler One letter is missin. Lanuae becomes different. I think it is possible to live with what is missin. I think we can certainly do without one of the elements we use to communicate. Even so, despite this omission, we are still able to convey our thouhts and ideas. Ladies and entlemen, how important is the completeness of our wor

NEWS | ISSUE NINE | WHAKAKATA / HUMOUR Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n | Associate Editor The Student Representative Committee is the governing body of the Auckland University of Technology Students Association, consisting of student representatives across faculties, campuses, and cultural groups that help shape the direction of AUTSA in 2027 and beyond. Ballots for the 2027 election opened last week, on the 3rd of August, and remain open until next Monday,