01 September 2008 - The Centre for New Zealand Studies, London, has a number of programmes scheduled from now through
the end of the year. Nearly all are without charge, so those in the UK might want to look further into this. Films that will be featured over these
months include: Sleeping Dogs, Leave All Fair, Early Days Yet, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Nature's Way, Middle Age Spread, Eating Sausage, Our Oldest Soldier, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, The King Boys and The Big Picture. Supporting a film masterclass
with Bridget Armstrong will be extracts from her films, Among the Cinders, Came a Hot Friday, Jack Be Nimble and Desperate Remedies.
There also will be a film masterclass, 22 October, with John Barnett that is a limited seat special event. Mr Barnett has produced many television and film productions including, Whale Rider, Sione's Wedding, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, Footrot Flats, Middle Age
Spread, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Jack Be Nimble, Jubilee and We're Here to Help. For further details on these and other events go to The Centre for New Zealand Studies website and in the middle of the page click on
"Click here for current programme".
08 August 2008 - Information on two older titles have been added. Michael Firth's followup to 'Off the Edge', The Leading Edge has more ski action, plus Billy T. James. 'Should I be Good' is based upon the Mr. Asia drug scandal of the 1970's. I should point out that there is info on the soundtrack LP of 'The Leading Edge',
including an mp3 sample from the LP. I do not yet have an exact date, but later this year there will be a dvd release of Gaylene Preston's 'Bread and Roses', which will include extras with a high quality transfer. Another new movie has been added to the
Sneak Peek Trailers section - Anthony McCarten's comedy, 'Show of Hands' featuring Melanie Lynskey. Another item has been added to the misc. section: a listing of the all-time 20 top NZ films at the box office.
23 June 2008 - Note: I have received information concerning the NZ Film Retrospective occuring during the
International Film Festival, Wroclaw, Poland - 17-27 July 2008. Those of you in Europe may want to consider attending.
This is a rare event, containing dozens of feature films, documentaries, short films and at least 10 NZ filmmakers will be there,
including: Vincent Ward, Roger Donaldson, Gaylene Preston, Christine Parker, Peter Wells, Oscar Kightley,
Donogh Rees, David Blyth, Leon Narbey, and Rob Sarkies. The festival will include introductions to screenings, and a panel
discussion on NZ film. Craig Potton will present a photographic display and there will be performances from Shonagh McCullough,
Moana and the Tribe, Pitch Black, and Manaia. There will also be a Vincent Ward retrospective that includes two featurettes and
all his feature films, plus the European premier of 'Rain of the Children'. Details about the festival and accommodations
can be found at the Official Film Festival Website.
The event is open to the public.
17 June 2008 - The Books Section has a new 300 page addition by Bruce Babington, 'A History Of The New Zealand Fiction Feature Film'. It attempts to provide insights to all the NZ feature films of the 20th century and all but the most recent in the 21st. It has an expansive bibliography and a very useful index. Hardback and Paperback versions are available from many NZ, US, UK and Canadian sources.
Recent correspondance from the New Zealand Film Commission gives me encouragement that many NZ feature films, that have never previously been on dvd, will become available on that format later this year. I will be able to report more on this in 2-3 months.
26 May 2008 - If you have not visited for a few months, you will find that most film title information has had an update. Thanks mainly to the New Zealand Film Archives, there are also additional links to trailers. The "Sneak Peek Trailers"
page has also been updated and now includes links to trailers of: 'Apron Strings', 'Pictures Of You', 'Rain Of The Children', 'Second Hand Wedding', 'Song Of Good' and 'When Night Falls'.
10 May 2008 - An R1 ntsc version of The Tattooist will be released to the U.S. and Canada markets on 24 June 2008, selling for about $20us. It is presented 1.78:1 with 5.1dolby digital English soundtrack and there are subtitles for English, French and Spanish. Four featurettes are included: 'Behind the Tattoo Designs', 'Colors of The Tattooist', 'Real-Life Samoan Tattoo', 'Becoming a Chief' and an audio commentary track by Peter Burger and Jason Behr.
If you are interested in any of the following: '50 Ways of Saying Fabulous', 'Futile Attraction', 'Kid's World', 'The Vector File', 'The Waiting Place', you might want to check out the sale coming 11 June at ezydvd.com.au. They are taking pre-orders now for these PAL titles at very attractive prices.
06 May 2008 - Two more films have been added to the database: 'The Devil Dared Me To' and
'We're Here To Help'. Two respectable efforts in two very different genres. The former is a very wacky, black comedy concerning stunt racing and the latter a docudrama about a fairly recent New Zealand "David vs Goliath" event. I am going through
and checking the links, as well as pricing info, for all titles - I am currently up to "S". As always, if you cannot find the answer from the info here,
drop me an email and I will try to find the answer - and no, I do not know the meaning of life. Black Sheep is now available on Blu-Ray in the UK and selling for about 20# and will become available on Blu-Ray in New Zealand, starting 11 June, selling for $40nz. 'Magik and Rose' becomes available on dvd, in New Zealand, starting 16 May. Aro Video is pre-selling it for $25nz. New Trailers have been added, including rare ones such as 'Lincoln County Incident', 'Pictures' and 'Saving Grace'. Finally, a wonderful gift from Russel Walder - he has provided a sample audio clip of his oboe music for 'The Lunatics' Ball', together with the New Zealand Symphony.
12 March 2008 - Information is now available on The Tattooist. Various links are included, including
one to a music video made from segments of the film with Don McGlashan singing 'I Will Not Let You Down'. It is interesting that the song was
used in both 'The Tattooist' and 'Out of the Blue'. Soundtrack fans should be interested in a composer produced cd that will be coming out
next month, initially through this website. John Charles has put together a suite from his original music for 'Spooked' and coupled it with a selection of his music from 'The Perfectionist'. This will be a very small run and I would recommend sending an email to indicate interest.
A sample of the 'Spooked' music can be downloaded from the soundtrack samples page.
24 February 2008 - All info on soundtrack CDs has been updated, including the addition of track lists and times for all titles.
Check back in a week when info on 'The Tattooist' should be up for inspection. I regret to report that two deaths
have occurred this month. Dorothy McKegg, who is better known
for her live theatre work, but film goers will remember her for roles such as Aunt Dolly in Footrot Flats and Aunty Bird in Carry Me Back. Additionally, director Barry Barclay died on the 18th of a stroke. His pioneering work with Ngati, Te Rua and numerous documentaries have given all of us insights into the world of Maori. His most recent film focused on the Moriori people of Rekohu (the Chatham Islands) in a drama-documentary called The Feathers of Peace.
11 January 2008 - Information on Eagle vs Shark is now available including reviews and interviews.
A new section, Directors, has been added that provides a cross-link from each director of New Zealand feature
films to their respective film titles. No bio or other personal details on these directors is yet included.