Behind Our Planes
This wartime propaganda film from the NFU celebrates the role of women in the Air Force. Established in 1941 to free up men for other duties, more than 4,700 women served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during WWII. The film is also a recruitment vehicle. It shows WAAF members in traditional (for the time) roles such as sewing and typing. But more male-dominated jobs are being taken on as women are trained as metal workers, mechanics and drivers. And when they’re not working, the women relax by "knitting, drinking a cup of tea and talking."
The Living Room - Series One, Episode Five
This episode from The Living Room is presented by Wellington band TrinityRoots. First stop is a dans paleis, where competitors (including Fat Freddys' DJ Mu) tweak samples in a battle for the MPC heavyweight title. Then Dunedin artist Phil Frost tours his studio, talks skulls and bones and skate video Tulgonia Two (where broken ankles are the price of filming mad tricks). Poet Cameron Hockly takes his words to Te Awamutu's streets; and mainlander Peter King lathe cuts bespoke records for clients from the Beastie Boys to Trinity Roots (whose True LP is cut here).
Alan Sharp
It wasn't just Alan Sharp's movies that travelled. The straight-talking scriptwriter was raised in Scotland, sold much of his work to Hollywood, and from 1983 until his death in February 2013, wrote many scripts from his "turangawaewae”, a summer house on Kawau Island. His work included Rob Roy, Burt Lancaster classic Ulzana's Raid, Night Moves and the award-winning Dean Spanley, directed by Kiwi Toa Fraser.