Reading the News
This archival compendium of Kiwi newsreaders in the hot seat compresses 21 years of footage into four minutes. Sixties BBC-style newsreader Bill Toft tells viewers about a court trial involving pirate station Radio Hauraki; Philip Sherry covers the 1970 shooting of four students at Ohio's Kent State University; and pioneering female newsreader Jennie Goodwin talks weather matters, using graphics and a roller-door style arrangement that now looks sweetly low-tech. The footage also includes the late Angela D'Audney, and long-serving news team Richard Long and Judy Bailey.
NZ Disasters
This collection looks at some of New Zealand's most significant national tragedies. Spanning 150+ years, it tells stories of drama, caution, hope and recovery — from the 1863 wreck of the Orpheus at Manukau Heads, to Tarawera, the Wahine, Erebus, Pike River and Christchurch. In the backgrounder, Jock Phillips writes about the collection, and the "common sequence" to disaster.
Alister Barry: Making political films from Mururoa 1973 to Hot Air...
Alister Barry is the filmmaker behind a series of provocative and politically charged documentaries, most of them self-funded. His first documentary Mururoa 1973 tackled nuclear testing, and saw him on a boat headed into the middle of a bomb test zone. Over the next four decades Barry has continued to make significant political documentaries including Someone Else’s Country, The Hollow Men, Wildcat and Hot Air.
Susan Wood: Current affairs broadcaster extraordinaire...
Susan Wood is one of New Zealand’s most experienced TV news and current affairs presenters. Beginning in print journalism, Wood soon moved to TVNZ, where she stayed for 20+ years. Wood has a number of firsts to her career, including first TVNZ foreign correspondent (Sydney); first host of Midday News; and first host (with Mike Hosking) of TV ONE’s Breakfast.