Art and adventure

Documentary is easily one of my favourite genres of filmmaking, from tales of near-fatal mountaineering (Touching the Void) to intrepid jungle expeditions to sport (Hoop Dreams, and Murderball) and more experimental work like Koyaanisqatsi. I like to think that we leave faint traces of our lives behind, like the trail of a sugar ant, and a well-made doco leaves a larger ant-hill sized trace. It's a more formal version of traditional stories, passed down through thousands of years - but we don't know if hard-drives can last more than twenty years at this stage so those ant-hills may well be blown away.

Doco is probably the hardest genre to get funded, especially with remote overseas adventures!

Luckily I've had some chances to work on documentaries in New Zealand, PNG and Indonesia. The Creative Communities scheme in NZ provides seed funding for local projects so, teamed up with local feature film director Himiona Grace (in our collaborative Mai Kapiti), we made a short piece about local artist Alan Weihipihana. And lined up another about rising sea levels on a nearby island but the weather halted that one. Here is our local Paekakariki artist musing on art..

Wehi Art from Mai Kapiti on Vimeo.
I also made some short pieces about a photography project - a return ten years post-tsunami toAceh, Indonesia,  but we never made a final documentary. The scientist/photographer Noel Trustrum, who photographed the disaster back in 2004 and then returned and  produced a book in 2015, died in early 2016.  His book is a brilliant documentary of Aceh reviving. Here is one of the shorts advertising it.

Aceh Revives from Science Films NZ on Vimeo.

There's been other local short pieces, mainly to do with conservation ands renewable energy (the projects that led to me starting up Science Films NZ) but there is one project on the backburner which may get finished shortly.

I won't give out details as it may jinx it, except to say it involves Papua New Guinea, mountains, charity and adversity....and it also reminds me of one of the tricky aspects of docos - you can't go back and recapture anything!

This one, about a SOUL squad at the local high school, made for the suffrage anniversary here in New Zealand, was very inspiring to all of us involved in making it. Small budget, two quick shoots, one for the interviews, the other the performance but a big impact from these girls! SOUL = Sources Of Unconditional Love

ps I forgot to mention in early blogs that I hope to take on the 52-week deadly bloggers challenge ;
even though writing is not a natural task for me, I really like the challenge of a regular writing effort as a form of reflection and meditation (I think).