You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2009.
NZ On Screen won the Best Entertainment Site award at the 2009 Qantas Media Awards in Wellington last night. We were also finalists for Best Website design (the winner was stuff.co.nz).
We know our site is awesome, and it’s great to have that recognised by our peers!
Big congratulations to our team who make everything happen, and to Chrometoaster for the fabulous site design.
Our dedicated rights and legal executives have taken themselves off to Cannes this week with their Inspire Films hats on.
Kim and Catherine living it up by the seaside in Cannes.
We’ll be getting regular updates of the red carpet dramas, the fabulous films and fabulous people, and no doubt the fabulous parties. It’s all work and no play for these girls! Not.
In a lovely story by TV3’s Nightline last night, it was announced that NZ On Screen has music videos online for free!
Well they were almost right, we are going to have music videos online, and they will be free – but they’re not there yet.
James Coleman has been collating a selection of fine NZ music videos through the ages and we’ll have them up in the last week of May – so stay tuned! You can join our mailing list or follow our Twitter feed to keep updated with our progress 
A lovely list of What’s New on NZ On Screen this month. Some amazing titles – many full length, 2 new collections and ScreenTalk interviews! Enjoy.
Full Length
Our Oldest Soldier (2002)
Children of Gallipoli (2001)
The Shadow of Vietnam (1995)
Turangawaewae – A place to stand (2003)
Dead Letters (2006)
Tama Tū (2004)
Gallipoli – the New Zealand Story (1984)
Vietnam – My Father’s War (2006)
Gung Ho – Rewi Alley of China (1979)
Tangata Whenua – Waikato (1974) [1 episode in full]
New Zild – the Story of New Zealand english (2005)
Von Tempsky’s Ghost (2002)
Score (1980)
In A Land of Plenty (2002)
Trio at the Top (2001)
Excerpts
The Time of Our Lives (2007)
The Mighty Moa (1998)
Ngati (1987)
Trailers
The Ferryman (2007)
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous (2005)
The Locals (2003)
The Irrefutable Truth about Demons (2000)
The Amazing Extraordinary Friends (2007)
The Ugly (1997)
Collections
Anzac Day (18 titles)
Phil Wakefield’s Top 5 Feature Films (5 titles)
ScreenTalk
NZ On Screen had a great month in April, with some amazing programmes like The Governor and an episode of Tangata Whenua made available for the first time. We also had a fantastic Anzac Day Collection – bringing you as many war stories as we could lay our hands on.
There are over 430 titles on the site now – it’s always fascinating to see what people want to watch. So here’s how it panned out – the Top 10 Titles for April!
Circuits of Gold
Documentary, 1987, Full Length
We have come to realise that the speedway and motorcycling communities are some of the most connected online in the world! Our top titles are consistently recognising our speeding heroes. This documentary is about champion speedway driver Ivan Mauger.
Britten Backyard Visionary
TV Documentary, 1993, Full Length
Kiwi inventor John Britten is loved by motorcyclists worldwide. This doco just keeps getting sent around from club to club, forum to forum. It’s fabulous to see it getting so much attention!
The Governor
Television, 1977, Full Length – Episode One
Many people said it couldn’t be done. The Governor is an iconic NZ television series that is fraught with issues – most significant for our team has been clearing the copyright to enable us to put this online. There will be more episodes as we get them cleared. It’s great that so many people are enjoying this show.
The Living Room – Series One
TV Series, 2003, Excerpts from each episode
This series includes the Flight of the Conchords trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the international FOTC fan club are happy about that. But this series has some amazing episodes from an extremely talented bunch of directors, including Mark Albiston, Louis Sutherland, Sima Urale, Chris Graham, and many more.
Peter Snell – Athlete
NFU Short, 1964, Full Length
No one saw this one coming! Peter Snell has a huge online following and this documentary has spread like wildfire through online running communities. Peter Snell continues to be an inspiration 45 years down the track.
Gloss
TV Series, 1987, Full Length – Episode One
Before the NZ On Screen site went live, whoever we talked to about it always said “Will you have Gloss??” This much anticipated series gains new followers every month – hopefully not from those looking for fashion tips.
Double Booking
TV Comedy, 1998, Full Length (now excerpt)
This one-off comedy starring Kevin Smith was part of the Tribute to Kevin Smith Collection. As well as Kevin and the lovely Teresa Healey, the cast was a virtual Gloss reunion – it obviously struck a chord with many of you!
Billy T Live
Television, 1990, Excerpts
This show has been a consistent favourite since the NZ On Screen site went live. His unique brand of humour is captured in these clips at its affable, non-PC best.
Queer Nation
TV Series, 1996-2004, A selection of 8 Full Length episodes
This show did something amazing. It put our lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people on the tele. The positive response we’ve had to putting it on NZ On Screen shows these stories stand the test of time.
Maori Battalion March To Victory
Television, 1990, Full Length
A key part of our Anzac Day collection, Maori Battalion March To Victory tells the story of the New Zealand Army’s (28th) Māori Battalion that fought in campaigns during World War Two. Produced, directed and written by Tainui Stephens, this documentary is a hugely popular title on NZ On Screen.
Colin McKenzie
Extra Bonus Favourite, Profile
I’m not sure what it says about our viewing public but the most popular profile on the site in April was Colin McKenzie. Take a look and see if you can figure out why that’s weird! (clue – it was added on April 1st)
The first episode (Tangata Whenua: Waikato) of Michael King and Barry Barclay’s landmark 1970s Māori documentary series “Tangata Whenua – The People of the Land” is now available on NZ On Screen.
NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner says Tangata Whenua is one of the most significant titles to be added to the website so far.
“We’ve been working on clearing it for some time. These six documentaries about Māori life and culture were absolutely ground-breaking at the time they first screened, and the series remains significant and relevant.”
“The production team behind the documentary series was just extraordinary. Michael King was the researcher, writer and interviewer, Barry Barclay was the director, and John O’Shea was the producer. The fact that we have since lost all three of these legendary figures adds even greater poignance to Tangata Whenua’s re-emergence into the public domain.”
Tangata Whenua won a Feltex Television Award for its script and was praised in the NZBC’s 1975 annual report as having “possibly done more towards helping the European understand the Māori people, their traditions and way of life, than anything else previously shown on television”.
The series first screened on Sunday evenings in late 1974. Around a million viewers watched the documentaries, with Pākehā viewers getting a window into a Māori world still foreign to many New Zealanders at that time. Gardiner says one of the notable features of the series was the close access Barclay, King and their crew were able to get to their subjects. “There was a real generosity shown to the production crew by the people they were filming.”
NZ On Screen Māori Content Adviser Whai Ngata said Tangata Whenua was a hugely important series when it screened in 1974, but it had also stood the test of time. “At the time, the series was a real break-through in getting Pākehā New Zealanders to see and understand the Māori world. But more than 30 years later, the documentaries work as important historical pieces.”
In his book Being Pakeha Now, Michael King wrote that Tangata Whenua broke the “mono-cultural” mould of New Zealand television.
“It gave Māori an opportunity to speak for themselves about their lives. It went some way towards informing Pākehā New Zealanders about Māori attitudes and values, it whetted a Māori audience’s appetite for more documentaries reflecting Maori viewpoints, and it opened the way for later programmes, such as Koha and Te Karere, produced by Māori.”
The first Tangata Whenua documentary on the NZ On Screen website is the Waikato episode. This episode looks at the Kingitanga (King Movement), illustrating why a movement formed in the 19th century to halt land sales and promote Māori authority has contemporary relevance. Other episodes will be added throughout the year.
