New Zealand films will be in the spotlight at the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC) which runs 7-10 December. Five documentaries directed by New Zealand women will be showcased at the festival which hosts screenings in both Guangzhou and Beijing.
One of the most important platforms for international documentary filmmaking, GZDOC is China’s only state-level documentary film festival. Founded in 2003, it is hosted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT).
The five films selected are Sarah Grohnert’s Ever the Land, Pietra Brettkelly’s Māori Boy Genius, Jess Feast’s Gardening with Soul, Miriam Smith and Chris Pryor’s How Far is Heaven and Kim Webby’s The Price of Peace. All five filmmakers will attend the festival to present their films.
Directed by Sarah Grohnert and produced by Alexander Behse, Ever the Land tracks the birth of New Zealand’s first ‘living building’, Tu Wharehou o Tūhoe, and details how the building connects the Māori iwi, Ngāi Tūhoe, to the land. Eschewing talking heads, narration or titles, the film keenly observes New Zealand’s most independent tribe.
Māori Boy Genius, directed and produced by Pietra Brettkelly, profiles the coming-of-age of Ngaa Rauuira, a future Māori leader struggling to break the stereotypes of his people and live up to their high expectations of him as he leaves New Zealand to spend a year at Yale University.
Directed by Jess Feast and produced by Vicky Pope, Gardening With Soul follows 90-year-old nun, Sister Loyola Galvin, through four seasons in the garden she loves. Themes of faith, aging and compassion sit alongside the practicalities of community life, issues within the Catholic Church and the importance of good compost in this intimate, funny and moving portrait of a woman approaching the end of her life.
For How Far is Heaven, producer and co-director (with husband and cameraman Chris Pryor) Miriam Smith spent a year observing the Sisters of Compassion who have lived in Jerusalem/Hiruharama on the Whanganui River for 120 years. Today, only three nuns remain – their legacy on the river is coming to an end. This is a complex world of powerful dualities; Māori & Christian spirituality, parties and prayers, pig hunting and perfume appreciation.
Directed by Kim Webby and produced by Christina Milligan, Roger Grant and Kim Webby, The Price of Peace charts the trial of the ‘Urewera Four’ who were accused of terrorist acts after surveillance indicated an alleged paramilitary camp had been set up in the Urewera in 2007. In investigating the trial and its aftermath, the film also provides an enlightening and moving portrait of Tūhoe activist, Tame Iti. The Price of Peace received the Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award at Toronto's imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival in September 2015.
Two New Zealand projects – Shooting Fish in a Barrel (producer, Alex Lee and director/co-producer, Dan Salmon) and The Godwit Group (producer, George Andrews) – have been selected for DocuMart Pitching, two of only 16 international projects selected from over 120 submitted.
NHNZ, the recipient of the Cathay Pacific Award for Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand China Relationship at this year’s New Zealand China Trade Association Business Awards, will be represented by General Manager, John Crawford.
The nine filmmakers will be joined in China by New Zealand Film Commission Head of Marketing, Jasmin McSweeney and Head of International Relations, Chris Payne.
“We are delighted to be bringing these outstanding films and filmmakers to audiences in Beijing and Guangzhou, as part of the NZFC’s first official delegation to GZDOC,” says Jasmin McSweeney. “We look forward to sharing these diverse slices of contemporary New Zealand life and to seeing New Zealand, Chinese and international filmmakers explore opportunities for new project collaborations.”