Edith Gibson shares her suburban home with 3000 dolls, a collection she has dedicated her life to maintaining - but caring for these unusual flatmates is often more involved than just brushing hair.
Edith Gibson
as Self
Whoever came up with the term 'bird brain' never met these feathered thinkers, who use their claws and beaks to solve puzzles, make tools and more.
A harsh winter in Canada’s Muskoka, where players face sub-zero temperatures, contrasts with New Zealand, where hockey is just starting to take root. Yet, between these two far-apart nations, there’s one thing they share: a deep love for the game of hockey.
Alan Yentob explores the work of Martin Parr, considered to be the most influential photographer of his generation
Max Gimblett: Original Mind documents the life and process of eccentric, creative genius Max Gimblett. One of New Zealand’s most successful and internationally prominent living painters, Gimblett has been working in America since 1962. The filmmakers spent a week in Gimblett’s Soho loft where he and his devoted studio assistants generously revealed the techniques and philosophy behind his beautiful art.
Caminito del Rey is a feature-length documentary that takes viewers on a journey along one of the world's most spectacular and dangerous walkways. From its humble beginnings in 1901, when daring sailors hung suspended in mid-air to construct an impossible path, to its stunning restoration in 2015, this documentary explores the incredible story of a place that defied the laws of nature and time. It is not just a documentary about a place; it is a celebration of the human stories that have made it timeless.
A documentary about Takahanga Marae in Kaikōura, New Zealand. Rangi Solomon said he wanted to “build the future of our people on the bones of our past”.
A comprehensive and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the restoration process of restoring 3-strip Cinerama for the 1962 film "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm".
In 1966 a group of determined young men defied the New Zealand government and launched a pirate radio station aboard a ship in the Hauraki Gulf.
Someone Else’s Country looks critically at the radical economic changes implemented by the 1984 Labour Government - where privatisation of state assets was part of a wider agenda that sought to remake New Zealand as a model free market state. The trickle-down ‘Rogernomics’ rhetoric warned of no gain without pain, and here the theory is counterpointed by the social effects (redundant workers, Post Office closures). Made by Alister Barry in 1996 when the effects were raw, the film draws extensively on archive footage and interviews with key “witnesses to history”.
The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.
This documentary tells the story of the revitalization of the Longwood Garden's (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) Main Fountain Garden, a lavish jewel in the crown of one of the greatest collections of fountains in the United States.
Waiuku Vistas is observational documentary exploring the feeling and mana of Waiuku, New Zealand. Follow two filmmakers as they shoot, capture and document the beauty of the land in the space of a day.
Researchers investigate whether orcas have begun hunting great white sharks off the coast of New Zealand.
In the spring of 1984, a strange new comic book sat beside cash registers in select shops, too big to fit in the racks, and too weird to ignore. Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presented a completely original breed of super hero. It was too bizarre, too crazy. It broke all the rules and should never have worked. Until it sold out. Again and again and again. For 30 years. Now, peek under the shell and see how this so-called "happy accident" defied every naysayer to become one of the most popular and beloved franchises in the world.
A made for TV BBC documentary exploring Jack Donovan's antique automaton collection. The documentary focuses on the toys themselves, displaying their range of movements in plain settings while the narrator weaves stories and comments about them to the synth sounds of library music.
Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau is New Zealand's largest city and the main commercial hub of the country. Auckland has always been regarded as "different"; it has always been a contested place, a crossroads. In 2009, just before Auckland was to become the Super City, we asked some of the city's best informed and outspoken residents to help us tell the story of the place. The result is a rich and at times contradictory composite of views which yet add up to something deeply informative and memorable.
In the years since New Zealand politicians began to grapple with climate change our greenhouse gas emissions have burgeoned. Alister Barry’s doco draws on TV archives and interviews with key participants to find out why.
