NZ On Screen and New Zealand Book Month (October)

October is New Zealand book month – a time to celebrate and showcase our many fine writers. NZ On Screen has a strong selection of programmes on NZ writers on the website, including the classic 1970s interview series Three New Zealanders featuring Janet Frame, Ngaio Marsh, and Sylvia Ashton-Warner.

Janet Frame is also represented on the site by excerpts from the 2004 documentary Wrestling with the Angel, and the trailer for the feature film An Angel At My Table (1990).

Acclaimed children’s writer Margaret Mahy features on the site in the documentaries Made in New Zealand (2004) and A Tall, Long Faced Tale (2008).

Historian and author, the late Michael King features in the documentaries History Man (2004), and Michael King, A Moment in Time (2007).

Kiwi poets also feature prominently on the site with the Allen Curnow documentary Early Days Yet (2001); an episode of the arts series Mercury Lane (2003) featuring Alistair Te Ariki Campbell; the Hone Tuwhare documentary titles Review, Hone Tuwhare (1975), Hone Tuwhare (1996), and Tuwhare (2005); the Sam Hunt titles Artists Prepare, Sam Hunt and Gary McCormick (1980) and Catching the Tide – Sam Hunt’s Cook Strait (1988); the James K Baxter documentary The Road to Jerusalem (1997); and the Denis Glover documentary Between the Lines: Denis Glover 1912 – 1980 (made in 2005).

Take some time out from reading and do some viewing…

Fashion Week and NZ On Screen

Fashion Week is on in Auckland this week, and if it’s got you thinking about matters sartorial, here are a few titles you might like to check out on NZ On Screen.

Where better to start than the first episode of the iconic 1980s drama Gloss – it was made in 1987 and the shoulder pads are so big you’d never have thought anything like them would come back in fashion again, but, lo and behold, they have, and are walking down the catwalk at Fashion Week as we speak.

The costume designer for Gloss was Liz Mitchell, and you can see an interview with Liz in our ScreenTalk section.

Other great NZ examples of costume design for the screen include 1993’s Desperate Remedies (costume designer Glenis Foster), and the Kiwi music video Philosophy by Hollie Smith (2007).

If shoes are your fashion favourite, take a look at Footage from 1996 – an award-winning excursion into documentary from feature director Niki Caro, about the cult of the shoe.

Another documentary (also from 96) worth checking out is Shirley Horrocks’ Kiwiana – about the fashion, art, architecture, attitudes and icons we call our own.

And from 2006, we have Mark Albiston’s award-winning doco The Magical World of Misery, about artist and designer Tanya Misery’s art, fashion and toy empire.

Frock on!

Barry Barclay: The Camera on the Shore

Last chance to see this on the big screen!

Fresh from the recent International Film Festival Graeme Tuckett’s documentary about Barry Barclay is screening in Auckland for one week only.

Where: The Academy Cinema. Auckland

When: 11.10am Thursday Sept 24th (+all week)

GO see it!

Congratulations to the winners!

The Qantas Film and Television Awards ceremony took place at the mighty Civic Theatre over the weekend, and NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner donned her glad rags to represent us.

Visitor from Hawkes Bay and Irene Gardiner on the red carpet

In the feature film category, Dean Spanley proved the big winner on the day, taking away seven of its 12 nominations.  These included best movie with a budget of more than $1 million, best director for Toa Fraser, and best supporting actor for British acting legend Peter O’Toole. You can watch nominated actor Sam Neill talking about the film here.

Best low-budget feature went to the hit Topp Twins documentary Untouchable Girls (NZ On Screen has a nine-minute excerpt from the film). Sima Urale’s debut feature Apron Strings also featured strongly, with awards for lead actors Jennifer Ludlam, Scott Wills, cinematographer Rewa Harre, and production designer Johnny Hawkins.

On the short film front, the team of Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland scored big again with their Cannes-awarded short The Six Dollar Fifty Man, which won best short, best screenplay, and best performance (Oscar Vandy-Connor).

When it came to television, the big drama awards went largely to Until Proven Innocent, the TV movie based on the conviction of Kiwi David Dougherty. Until Proven Innocent won best drama programme, acting gongs for Cohen Holloway (who played Dougherty) and Peter Elliott, plus a camera award for David Paul. Paul Sutorius, currently working down the hall from our offices on new series Kaitangata Twitch, took away another editing gong.

Fiona Samuel’s adoption drama Piece of My Heart scored awards for young actors Emily Barclay and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Other winners included Jason Gunn and Dancing with the Stars, The Jaquie Brown Diaries, Hunger for the Wild and Play it Strange.

The news and current affairs awards were dominated by TV One.

You can find more details of those nominated – and the winners – here.

NZ On Screen would like to congratulate everyone who worked on any of the nominated productions.

Vote for us!

NZ On Screen has put forward two presentations for the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas 2010.

We need your vote – help us get selected to be part of the programme. Voting closes 4 September.

Kim Baker – SXSW Film – talking about how online video helps drive offline sales

Brenda Leeuwenberg – SXSW Interactive – talking about putting our culture online – using NZ On Screen as a case study

We’re also supporting

Sandy Mamoli – SXSW Interactive – user experience design and agile – clash or opportunity

Please sign up and click the thumbs-up!