This is the first book to investigate the coming-of-age genre as a significant phenomenon in New Zealand's national cinema, tracing its development and elucidating its role in cultural change. With chapters on landmark films like An Angel at My Table, Heavenly Creatures, Once Were Warriors and Boy, this book explores the influence of the French New Wave and European art cinema, and examines the dialogue between national cinema and a nation's literature. Looking at the characteristics of an indigenous "Fourth Cinema," as well as different perspectives on gendered and sexual identities, Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand considers the evidence that these films provide of significant cultural shifts that have taken place or are in the process of taking place as New Zealanders' discover their emerging national identity.