Survey - The Day We Landed on The Most Perfect Planet In the Universe

"A film developed from the imagination of New Zealand children" is how director Tony Williams described this remarkable, free-wheeling mix of drama and documentary. Writer Michael Heath features as a teacher, who works with a class of children from Petone to explore what freedom means to them. At times their notions might seem naive, but the film remains firmly non-judgmental. The free-wheeling approach — most memorably in the fantasy scenes on Paekākariki Beach — makes for a "wonderfully idiosyncratic" (said film historian Roger Horrocks) hymn to play, the imagination, and juvenile freedom.