History of New Zealand Film
In 1898, two years after the first movie had been shown in New Zealand A H Whitehouse shot the first film in the nation. He was one of those pioneer men, carrying his show around the country, through all weather, bringing moving pictures to small New Zealand towns. He captured events of the time including the Auckland Exhibition and racing. These news reels, by Whitehouse and later Joseph Perry, were supplements to those shown of the wider British Empire. They were the first images of New Zealand.
The first feature film however was Hinemoa in 1914. Based on a Maori legend of love and determination, its cast included many locals from the Rotorua area. Movies including New Zealand’s indigenous people were to become a mainstay of the nations film making. Many overseas film makers came over, bringing with them their expertise, and eager to capture unique footage of the Maori. New Zealand had its own version of the Rocky story shot nearly seventy years later with the amusingly titled The Kid from Timaru in 1917.
During the 1920s and 1930s most film shot was scenic or newsreels, with the major exception of The Birth of New Zealand, which featured a re-enactment of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. On that shoot, was a young man named Rudall Hayward, who might have only been assistant director, but would go on to become one of the real pioneers of New Zealand film. In 1921 Hayward had completed his first feature The Bloke from Freeman’s Bay, which his uncle Henry thought was so bad he offered his nephew one hundred and fifty pounds to burn it. But despite that Hayward would become renowned for his 1925 film Rewi’s Last Stand, which he later remade with sound and was released in 1940. He was a determined film maker, and despite the lack of financial success and small budgets, he traveled from town to town, soldiering on. Another ground breaking film maker of the period was Edwin Coubray., whose company New Zealand Radio Films Ltd, pioneered the use of sound, even designing and using their own recording equipment.
New Zealand’s first feature including sound was Down on the Farm.
Once again in the 1930s many overseas directors arrived, trying to capture New Zealand’s unique heritage and wonderful landscape on film. Unfortunately many of these directors misrepresented Maori culture, perhaps because they did not fully understand it, and also some offended the local tribes. The American director Alexander Mackay so incensed local traditions and values that they refused to work with him. In 1941 the National Film Unit was established. It began producing newsreels, and bought New Zealander’s news of their soldiers fighting in World War Two. Weekly Review finished in 1950, but the NFU continued to produce shorts that showed New Zealand as it was. Many independent production comapnues had also sprung up just after the war, the most influential was Pacific Films Ltd, producing many ground breaking documentaries, and even dabbling in the risky business of feature production.
During the 1960s with the advent of television, it was a mixed decade. Though film makers now had a more constant stream of income through making advertisements for the new medium, it took up more of their creativity and time. However by the 1970s their determination was paying off. In 1972 was the first New Zealand movie made in colour.
A landmark film of this decade was Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs. Critics loved its cinematography and fascinating concepts, even though it had its faults. It also incidentally started off the career of a young New Zealand actor who would go onto overseas acclaim, Sam Neil. This decade was also when the film industry began to put pressure on the government, the result was the New Zealand Film Commission, funded by the Arts Council. The NZFC quickly became an important part of getting films made in New Zealand.
The 1980s were marked by the increase of production, mainly due to the tax shelter that the government had inadvertently created. So while a large number of movies were being made in this decade, few were any good. The tax shelter had been torn down by the end of 1984.
Some of the better movies to come out of the 1980s; Goodbye Pork Pie (for light relief), The Scarecrow (for comedy and horror), and Geoff Murphy’s movie Utu set in the colonial past of New Zealand. In 1985 The Quiet Earth examined a New Zealand written science fiction work, where only three people seemed to be left alive after a terrible accident. It’s memorable for the terrific acting by Bruno Lawrence. He also appeared in Smash Palace another hardhitting New Zealand film. In 1989 NZ On Air was established, using the Public Broadcasting Fee to fund productions.
And the 1990s was a time where production may have been lower, but some great movies still made it through against the odds - The End of the Golden Weather and Crush, both in 1992. Also in that year, a young director from Wellington released his own first effort Braindead. It’s mix of humour and over the top gore is unsettling for many people, though it went on to become a cult classic. 1993 saw the release of Jane Campion’s the Piano, to much critical acclaim. It won both the Palm d’Or at Cannes and then three Oscars.
Peter Jackson after delving into the splatter genre, also gained recognition with his Heavenly Creatures in 1994. This unnerving psychological look into the world of two teens, showed he was capable of a wide range of work. Once Were Warriors, also released in 1994, was a dark examination of a different world, but was just as disturbing in its portrayl of violence.
New Zealand, for such a small country has a rich history of film, and this is reflected in the fact that the government is considering a museum of film for Wellington. And the future looks bright. With Peter Jackson’s mammoth undertaking of bringing Lord of the Rings to the screen, the world’s eyes are turning to New Zealand, and its film making is getting the attention it deserves.
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