The New Zealand film industry gathered in Los Angeles at a special function to celebrate this year's Kiwi Oscar nominees.

With 35 Kiwi Oscar nominations in four years the who's who of New Zealand film turned out to celebrate.

"We're kind of flavour of the month and I hope it's going to last longer than a month because we've got Narnia and King Kong in the next couple of years - we've got Taika at the Oscars - we've got a lot of good films in the make so we've started a momentum that we hope will continue," says actress Rena Owen.

"They're very receptive to us downunder and they think too if you're an actor in New Zealand you're doing it for the love of it so they respect you - and they still remember Once Were Warriors so they think we're tough," says actor Dean O'Gorman.

New Zealand's Oscar nomination team has been completed with the arrival of Weta Workshop envoy Joe Letteri, a nominee for the visual effects of I Robot.

"You never take it for granted, this one was a surprise like I said it was a lot of hard work in a really short period of time and it was really nice that the academy recognised it because there were some really good films this year," says Letteri.

Letteri joins the other Oscar hopefuls from New Zealand  - the makers of the nominated short film Two Cars, One Night, and Shrek 2 director Andrew Adamson.

New Zealanders working in LA expect the success to continue.

"People in New Zealand are willing to tell original stories, people in Hollywood a lot of the time try to make the same movies because they think it's going to make money," says actress Melanie Lynsky.