Neighbourhood - North Dunedin (Series One, Episode 10)
In this series celebrating diversity in Kiwi neighbourhoods, former Highlanders prop Kees Meeuws introduces an eclectic mix of migrants who call North Dunedin home. Meeuws muses that the student-filled suburb "on a clear day, sparkles like the jewel in the crown of Dunedin". A Japanese student enriches his life by volunteering to help an elderly woman, a German jewellery designer explores identity in her creations, an Afghani family celebrate New Year's Day with a feast, and an eighth generation Indonesian puppet master shows off his snake-shaped dagger.
Kaleidoscope - Frances Hodgkins
By the time she died in 1947 aged 78, expat Frances Hodgkins was recognised as a key figure in British art. Subtitled 'A Painter of Genius', this 1989 Kaleidoscope portrait mixes archival material with recreations of Hodgkins working in England in the 1940s, and being interviewed by Vogue. Her "gypsy" life ranges from a Dunedin upbringing, leaving New Zealand in 1901, to painting and teaching in Europe, and struggles with poverty and health. After embracing modernism in the 1920s, her art combined still life and landscape in original ways. TV veteran (and artist) Peter Coates directs.
Pepsismokefree Rockquest 2000
Since 1988 the Smokefreerockquest's nationwide talent competition has been a rite of passage for school-age musicians, offering substantial cash prizes and the promise of a shortcut to global (or at least local) fame. In this TV special Hugh Sundae meets the class of 2000, including Nesian Mystik, Evermore (then the youngest band ever to compete at the finals) and future members of Die! Die! Die! in Dunedin art-rockers Carriage H. True to the period, there's also plenty of squeaky nu-metal riffs and liberally-applied Dax Wax.
Fred O'Neill
Dunedin businessman and artist, Fred O’Neill, whose hobby of making quirky animated films brought him international recognition, sent his Plasticine hero to Venus thirty years before Nick Park got Wallace and Gromit to the Moon. O’Neill’s films encouraged children not to take up smoking, brought Māori legends to the screen in a novel way, and entertained young viewers in the early years of New Zealand television. Image credit: Stills Collection, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Courtesy of the Fred O'Neill collection.
Clarke Gayford
After graduating from New Zealand Broadcasting School, Clarke Gayford created student show Cow TV. Presenting gigs followed for music channel C4, United Travel Getaway, and Extraordinary Kiwis. In 2016 he swapped his microphone for a speargun to launch Fish of the Day, a Choice TV show about his lifelong passion. In 2017 Gayford became NZ’s 'first bloke', when partner Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister.
Lisa Chatfield
Lisa Chatfield began producing shorts and commercials after studying television at the NZ Broadcasting School. Her first feature, Dunedin tale Scarfies, was a solid hit. After time at companies Working Title Australia and Eyeworks, she joined the NZ Film Commission in 2009, and later rose to become Head of Production and Development. In 2016 Chatfield moved to Pūkeko Pictures, as Head of Scripted Development.
Bob Stenhouse
Bob Stenhouse, the first Kiwi animator to be nominated for an Academy Award, spent 12 years working for state television. After joining the Government’s National Film Unit in 1980, he made Oscar-nominated short The Frog, The Dog and the Devil. Stenhouse’s later films have included several Joy Cowley short stories, plus award-winning short The Orchard, a Japanese fable adapted to a New Zealand setting.
Grant Tilly
Actor Grant Tilly, who died in April 2012, displayed his gifts for understated comedy in movies Middle Age Spread and Carry Me Back. The versatile Tilly had done it all — from acclaimed theatre performances (often in Roger Hall plays) to screen roles that took in everything from adventure movies and landmark historical dramas (The Governor), to children's TV, sitcoms (Gliding On), and many voice-overs.
Christina Milligan
Christina Milligan has done time as an actor and scriptwriter, but it is producing that she loves most. Milligan began producing at TVNZ, and after classic movie The End of the Golden Weather, did eight years as a writer and script editor in Australia. Currently running company Conbrio with her partner Roger Grant, her producing resume includes documentary Let My Whakapapa Speak and executive producing hit film Mt Zion.
David Harry Baldock
After almost two decades of directing and producing documentaries, David Harry Baldock left TVNZ in 1988 to launch Ninox Television. The company’s roster of reality-based programming included export hit Sensing Murder, local award-winner Our People Our Century and nine seasons of Location Location Location. These days Baldock is busy making arts programmes from Shanghai.