Better Safe than Sorry
Long before Ghost Chips, even before "don't use your back like a crane", life in Godzone was fraught with hazards. This collection shows public safety awareness films spanning from the 50s to the 70s. If there's kitsch enjoyment to be had in the looking back (chimps on bikes?!) the lessons remain timeless. Remember: It's better to be safe than sorry.
Good Morning - Final Episode
On 11 December 2015 the morning telly watching nation mourned the end of a long-running TV One staple. Good Morning’s 9000 hours spanned nearly two decades, from faxes to Facebook. In this final episode, presenters Jeanette Thomas, Matai Smith and Astar wrangle a two-hour curtain call of ex-hosts. Included are the last Men’s Panel, cooking bloopers, and of course, advertorials (with a Suzanne Paul tribute, and a promo for Stiffy fabric stiffener). There’s tautoko to the show’s te reo, support for the arts, and disaster appeals, and Shortland Street's Will Hall lip synchs to Def Leppard.
Sir Howard Morrison Collection
Sir Howard Morrison (1935 - 2009) was a Kiwi show business icon. This collection is a celebration of 'Ol' Brown Eyes' on screen. From classic concerts and performances of 'Whakaaria Mai', to riffing with with Billy T James; from hosting Top Town, to starring in 60s feature film Don't Let it Get You, to a This is Your Life tribute. Ray Columbus: "He was a master entertainer".
More Legendary NZ TV Moments
This collection celebrates more of the legendary TV moments that Kiwis gawked at, chortled with, and choked on our tea over. In the collection primer Paul (Eating Media Lunch) Casserly chews on rapper Redhead Kingpin’s equine advice to 3:45 LIVE! and mo’ memorable moments: from a NSFW Angela D'Audney to screen folk heroes Colin McKenzie and the Ingham twins.
Land of Plenty
'Land of Plenty' is a love letter to Aotearoa, featuring another take on the conversational vocal stylings heard on global smash 'How Bizarre'. Channelling his Niuean father's love of NZ, Pauly Fuemana namechecks favourite streets, Mt Ruapehu, white water and "open caves that glow supreme". Taisha Khutze (now in The Lady Killers) supplies some impressive vocal stylings of her own. In 2013 co-writer Alan Jansson joined Fuemana's widow in criticising what they saw as "noticeable similarities" between this top five hit, and the song for a 'Land of Plenty, Land of Quattro' car ad.
Andy Anderson
Andy Anderson began drumming and singing as a Hutt Valley teenager. Since then his diverse trans-Tasman performing career has included playing in rock bands, starring as Sweeney Todd and the Pirate King on-stage — plus more than 50 acting roles on-screen, often playing rogues and diamonds in the rough, in shows from Roche, Gloss and Marlin Bay, to The Sullivans.
Off the Rails - Rail Rider (Episode Nine)
Marcus Lush goes "right up the guts" of the North Island from Wairarapa to Gisborne, in this episode of his award-winning romance with New Zealand's railways. He meets railcar restorers and recounts the murders by rail porter Rowland Edwards in 1884. Particular praise is reserved for the "spectacular and beautiful" Napier to Gisborne line (now mothballed) with its viaducts at Mohaka and Kopuawhara. The latter is on the site of a flash flood that killed 21 workers in 1938; it inspires an idiosyncratic Lush demonstration of Aotearoa's then 10 worst disasters.
David Fane
David Fane is an award-winning actor and writer on stage and screen. He played multiple characters in animated TV hit bro’Town, dispensed wise words as Falani on Outrageous Fortune, and was a founding member of comedy group The Naked Samoans.
Stuart Dryburgh
Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh has helped create some of the most iconic images of New Zealand cinema: the girl with a mop of red hair, standing at the end of a country road in Angel at my Table; the piano on a deserted beach in The Piano, and the charged kitchen scenes of Once Were Warriors.
Nik Beachman
Producer Nik Beachman worked on a run of Cannes Film Festival successes in the mid 2000s, as executive producer of short films Fog, Run and Nature's Way (Run was runner-up in 2007 for Cannes' top prize for shorts, the Palme d'Or). Beachman began his screen career as an Assistant Director. In 2000 he produced three short films in a single year. On the feature front, he was part of the producing team on Lee Tamahori's Mahana and 2018's Vermillion. Beachman's production company Thick as Thieves has worked on many high-profile commercials, including a Utah-shot Hallensteins ad featuring motorcyclists in suits.