If you’re in the mood for viewing of a local flavour, head over to NZ On Screen for a wealth of new and nostalgic content. Here are a few recent highlights to enjoy this February.
For over a decade now, NZ On Screen has been busy building a library of content from the beginning of the screen industry to the present day. More than 4500 titles are all free to watch in this online showcase of NZ television, film, music video and web series—with more added all the time.
The Waitangi Collection
The history of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is explored in this collection of 17 full-length episodes and excerpts spanning fifty years. Historian Jock Phillips ONZM has written a great backgrounder, expanding on the continuing evolution of the treaty and saying this collection as “tells the story of how attitudes have changed for both peoples over the last half-century”. In this collection, you’ll be able to discover everything from Mike King on the treaty trail, to trench warfare, waka-building and epic drama.
Who Ate All the Pies?
Jon Bridges travels around Aotearoa in this documentary, examining how a common culinary treat has impacted our culture, our economy (and our cholesterol). Bridges visits the spectrum of piemakers, from handcrafted to Big Ben’s mass-produced offerings, and reveals how the humble pie affects the country’s health and finances. Spoiler alert—at the start of the 21st century, the pie contributed over $140M a year to the economy.
Bloodlines
A multiple award-winner at the NZ Film and TV Awards for its feature-length true crime dramatisation, Bloodlines follows the investigation of a death by poisoning. A Dunedin doctor and policeman found there were suspicious circumstances, uncovering a web of forgeries, deceit (and of course something much more serious) committed by a South African-born psychiatrist, one who’s supposedly mourning his recently-deceased wife…
Runaway Revisited
One of only two New Zealand feature films released in the 1960s, Runaway (aka Runaway Killer) is examined in this 1994 short. Alongside many excerpts from this “moody outcast tale”, there are interviews with writer/director John O’Shea, co-writer John Graham and the cast (which notably included early appearances by Kiri Te Kanawa, Barry Crump and Ray Columbus).
Tuned Out
Winning Best Overall Film at the 2023 New Zealand Youth Film Festival, this 10-minute short examines protracted war, compassion fatigue, and the role and responsibilities of the media. As two young people shelter during a wartime bombardment, they’re interrupted by a film crew, and a reporter whose sole aim is to get a decent interview from the traumatised pair.
Gisborne Strikes Back
East Coast artistic talent comes to Auckland in this 1992 doco, and presenter Gary McCormick is on hand to take it in, and learn more from those who’ve traveled north. Cited as an inspiration for McCormick’s subsequent, much-loved series Heartland, Māori and Pākehā locals including carver Greg Whakataka Brightwell, publican Peter Gardner and musician Nigel Pullyn discuss Gisborne’s special bicultural spirit before the doco ends with a concert at once-iconic, now sadly non-existent venue The Gluepot.
