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To mark Matariki NZ On Screen has today launched a special collection of iconic Māori television and films.
The collection has been curated by NZ On Screen’s Māori Content Curator Whai Ngata, the former Head of TVNZ Māori Programmes.
Ngata says it was a pleasure and a privilege to curate the Matariki collection. “As someone who has been heavily involved in Māori broadcasting through the years, I really appreciated the opportunity to work on a project celebrating achievement in this area.”
In making his choices for the collection, Ngata considered the significance of programmes in terms of both Māori social history and the development of Māori broadcasting, as well as the quality of the title itself.
“The titles I have chosen should not be seen in any order of merit, and the list does not detract in any way from the importance of and enjoyment given by many other programmes.”
The titles in the Matariki collection include the early 1970s documentary series Tangata Whenua, made by Michael King, Barry Barclay and John O’Shea, and acknowledged as the first time Pākehā television viewers got a significant window into the Māori world. Also from the 1970s, is episode one of the landmark drama series The Governor, which gave a then rare Māori perspective on our colonial history.
The long-running TVNZ Māori Programmes’ productions Koha, Te Karere, Waka Huia, and Marae also feature in the collection, as does TVNZ’s coverage of the Te Maori exhibition and Te Arikinui, Dame Te Atairangikaahu the Māori Queen’s Tangi.
Ngata acknowledges the talent of Māori entertainers on television, by including the work of Billy T James in his collection. He also includes the Māori biography series Pounamu, and the drama series Mataku, which told Māori supernatural stories.
The acclaimed New Zealand movies Ngati and Once Were Warriors are also in the collection. Ngata says of Warriors: “this movie has to be included for highlighting the problem of domestic violence, not only among Māori, but all societies. It gave a very strong message of the huge problem that transcends race and social status.”
There’s a programme in this year’s International Film Festival devoted to rare Lye films. It has one screening in Auckland at the Academy Cinema, at 6.15 pm on Sunday July 12, and two screenings in Wellington at the Film Archive on Saturday August 1 at 3 pm and 5.15pm.
Called “Discoveries and Rarities,” the programme will contain the first New Zealand screenings of some Len Lye films re-discovered and restored in recent years, in association with the Museum of Modern Art and the NZ Film Archive. There are some surprises among them, including a Busby Berkeley-style space-travel dance sequence which Lye contributed to a British feature-film, a March of Time episode on the dangers of nuclear power, and some high-energy short animations.
The programme will also include the premiere of Art that Moves, an 18-minute film about Lye that Roger Horrocks directed and Shirley Horrocks produced, with camerawork by Leon Narbey and music by Eve de Castro-Robinson. It’s a look inside Lye’s head as a teenager, as he has his ‘Eureka!’ moment, coming up with radical ideas about a new art of motion.
See the Film Festival programme on the website for more details.
On NZ On Screen you can find the earliest music video Swinging the Lambeth Walk from Len Lye in 1939. Also the 1995 documentary Flip & Two Twisters by Shirley Horrocks.
De Uitkijk Down Under: July 4th to August 16th
This summer is all about Australia and New Zealand at Filmtheater De Uitkijk in Amsterdam.
Every day the best films from Down Under will be screened and every Saturday there will be special Down Under activities like lectures, workshops (didgeridoo playing etc), wine tasting evenings and musical performances.
The NZ movies included in this event are:
- Whale Rider – screening from July 4th to July 8th
- An Angel at my Table – screening from July 16th to July 22nd
- The Piano – screening from August 13th to August 16th
More information about this unique festival can be found at www.uitkijk.nl.
We have some beautiful imagery on the site, and we’ve got a series of banners that we created to go on other sites, that we’re making available to anyone who’d like to have them!
You can add them to your blogs, presentations, websites … anywhere you’d like to link back to NZ On Screen – feel free to use one of these delightful banners!
Just right-click to download and you’re away:
This month we have launched a collection of New Zealand music videos. It’s a collection that has been months in the making – a lot of selection, rights clearances and tracking down videos were involved in getting it all together.
A selection of 80 New Zealand clips was put live on June 2, with more to come.
Broadcaster and Kiwi music fan – former TV3 and C4 (retro show Flashbacks) host – James Coleman kicked off music videos on NZ On Screen by curating a choice selection of clips for the site. He says this was a highly enjoyable but daunting task. “We’ve never had the big budgets for music videos that overseas artists enjoy, but we’ve had an admirable DIY resourcefulness within our budgetary limitations, and this has produced a stash of stunning clips.
“Because NZ On Screen exists to showcase and celebrate the NZ screen industry, I’ve chosen the music videos based on the concept, execution and impact of the clip itself, quite apart from the success of the song. Having said that, most of our top artists are represented in the collection.
“The oldest title in the collection is Len Lye’s ‘Swinging the Lambeth Walk‘ from 1939, which was something of a proto-type music video. Then there’s The Swingers from the early 1980s, through to recent gems for Gin Wigmore, Tiki Taane, Hollie Smith and Midnight Youth.”
NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner says the new music video collection is just the start, many more will be added to the site in the coming months.
“This is a very exciting development for us. Music video is an important part of our screen industry. It’s the place where a lot of our top directors and other crew members got their start, and many still return to music video from time to time for the creative outlet it provides. As well as a calling card for the band and creative team behind the clip, it’s also a sophisticated art-form in its own right.
NZ On Screen is very grateful to the music video directors, artists, and record companies for their help in clearing the videos for inclusion on the website.
Take a look – music videos, on NZ On Screen.
