Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Edgar Allen Poe's tales of murder, burial, and ominous ravens have inspired movies, nightmares ... and an eclectic musical suite by saxophonist Lucien Johnson, which he first performed live with Wellington’s Village of the Idiots. With the aid of some home-cooked CGI, director Geoff Murphy mixes concert footage, fantastical imagery, interviews and spoken word to put it on screen. Family and friends help round out the crew. The results echo Murphy's early, genre-stretching days with ensemble Blerta, this time with themes of mortality mixing in with the horns.
The Mystery of North Head
Riddled with old military tunnels, Auckland’s North Head has long been the focus of speculation. In this documentary Philip Alpers explores theories that a hidden tunnel network contains tonnes of decaying ammunition — and two old Boeing airplanes. Archeologist Dave Veart sets about finding the truth. The man responsible for closing the tunnels says there's nothing there; others recall seeing a plane. Filmmaker John Earnshaw is convinced of its existence. Earnshaw would spend years battling the crown in court, over claims of a breached agreement to search North Head.
Spying
With the expansion of technology turning us into a global village, there’s also a potential downside – spying. It’s not a new concept, but surveillance has certainly got more sophisticated of late: James Bond, eat your heart out! From spies downunder in The Alpha Plan and the 1970s Ngaio Marsh mu...
Neill Rea: From Hercules to The Brokenwood Mysteries...
Neill Rea is an actor and casting director who began his screen career with a guest role in the 100th episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. He went on to appear in other TV shows including Duggan, Mercy Peak, The Strip and Ivanhoe show Dark Knight. Having created a stir by playing a rapist in nightly soap Shortland Street, he is now back on screens as good guy detective Mike Shepherd in Prime TV series The Brokenwood Mysteries.
The Hello Sailor Collection
Hello Sailor's time in the sun saw them spending time in Ponsonby, LA and Sydney, becoming a legendary live act, and releasing an iconic debut album. This collection features documentary Sailor's Voyage, founder member Harry Lyon's account of the birth of the band, and tracks from Hello Sailor, both together and apart. Some of the solo songs were incorporated into the group's live set after they reunited. Included are 'Blue Lady', 'New Tattoo' and 'Gutter Black’, later reborn on TV's Outrageous Fortune.
The Nature Collection
To celebrate NZ's unique natural taonga, Peter Hayden has curated a highlights collection from three decades of NHNZ productions. Aotearoa's landforms and its magnificent menagerie of natural oddities - birds, insects, trees like nowhere else on the planet - are showcased in 15 award-winning titles. From Discovery Channel and David Bellamy, to Wild South and Our World classics.
Ngaio Marsh Theatre - Died in the Wool
Died in the Wool was part of a TV anthology adapting the murder mysteries of Dame Ngaio Marsh. MP Flossie Rubrick has been found dead in a wool bale, and it's up to Inspector Roderick Alleyn (UK actor George Baker — Bond, Z Cars, I, Claudius) to unravel the secrets of a South Island sheep station. The tale of a cultured Englishman amidst World War II spies, Bach and seamy colonial crimes — like Marsh's books — found a global audience: it was the first NZ TV drama to screen in the US (on PBS). Includes a Cluedo-style sitting room inquest and a wool shed reveal.
The Blue Rose - Episode One
In this 2013 murder mystery from writers Rachel Lang and James Griffin (Outrageous Fortune, Almighty Johnsons), Outrageous stars Antonia Prebble and Siobhan Marshall are cast east to Auckland's CBD as a sleuthing odd couple. This opening 10 minutes of the TV3 series begins with a body floating in the Viaduct. Then temp Jane March (Prebble) finds more drama than stationary in her first day at a law firm: her predecessor — Rose — is dead rather than on holiday, and she meets Rose’s brassy best mate Linda (Marshall) when she barges in to collect Rose’s possessions.
When Night Falls
When Night Falls is a mystery thriller involving an isolated house, a dark night and an unseen killer. Tania Nolan (Go Girls, The Hothouse) takes centre stage as a 30s-era nurse with a soft spot for her only patient (Kevin Keys, from The Blue Rose). But as darkness falls she finds herself facing off against a killer on the loose, who is seemingly out to play games with her mind. The full length film marks the feature debut of writer/director Alex Galvin (Eternity). Galvin took on multiple roles behind the scenes, some under assumed names; he also cameos early on, as a doctor.
Conversations with Pets
Faye Rogers claims to have a unique ability — to converse with animals. In this quirky short documentary Rogers shares her talent and introduces some of her favourite animals, including her donkey Thistle, who has a penchant for swearing and watching crime shows. It’s not just her own pets she can talk to either: while filming she takes a Skype call from an American client whose kitten Finn has gone missing. It's up to Faye to convince Finn to come out of hiding. The film was made as part of the 2015 series of Loading Docs, a collection of short films made for viewing online.