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Hero image for Kai Pūrākau - The Storyteller

Kai Pūrākau - The Storyteller

Television (Full Length) – 1987

Gaylene Preston's documentary on writer Keri Hulme — filmed two years after Hulme shot to global fame thanks to her Booker Prize-winning novel The Bone People — is both a poetic travelogue of Ōkārito (the township she lived in for 40 years), and a sampler-box of musings on Hulme's writing process, whitebait fishing, the supernatural, and the 1200 pages of notes for her next novel, the elusive Bait. Leon Narbey's camerawork is aptly alert to the magical qualities of the coast, from the resident kōtuku to the surf and birdsong peppering Hulme’s crib. The documentary was made for an English TV series about women writers.

I can think of several of my characters I wouldn’t like to meet walking down the street.
– Keri Hulme

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Thumbnail image for Today Tonight - Gaylene Preston and Keri Hulme

Today Tonight - Gaylene Preston and Keri Hulme

A news report on the making of this documentary

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Koha - Keri Hulme

Interview with author Keri Hulme

Thumbnail image for Two Rivers Meet / Te Tutakinga O Nga Awa E Rua

Two Rivers Meet / Te Tutakinga O Nga Awa E Rua

Keri Hulme also appears in this 1977 poetry film

Thumbnail image for Hinekaro Goes On a Picnic and Blows Up Another Obelisk

Hinekaro Goes On a Picnic and Blows Up Another Obelisk

A short film adapted from a Keri Hulme story

Thumbnail image for Hooks and Feelers

Hooks and Feelers

A 1983 adaptation of a Keri Hulme short story

Thumbnail image for Hone Tuwhare

Hone Tuwhare

Another literary documentary by Gaylene Preston

Thumbnail image for Hunger for the Wild - Series One, Episode Three (Mokihinui River whitebait)

Hunger for the Wild - Series One, Episode Three (Mokihinui River whitebait)

Whitebaiting on the West Coast

Thumbnail image for A Summer Place

A Summer Place

A documentary on bachs and cribs

Thumbnail image for Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes

Another well-known Ōkārito resident

Thumbnail image for Three New Zealanders: Janet Frame

Three New Zealanders: Janet Frame

A rare interview with another reclusive writer

Thumbnail image for Barefoot Cinema - The Life and Art of Cinematographer Alun Bollinger

Barefoot Cinema - The Life and Art of Cinematographer Alun Bollinger

Film about another well-known West Coaster

Thumbnail image for Ruia Taitea: The World is Where We Are

Ruia Taitea: The World is Where We Are

Documentary on another Māori writer

Thumbnail image for Journeys in National Parks: Westland / Aoraki

Journeys in National Parks: Westland / Aoraki

More journeys into the Westland landscape

Thumbnail image for Mataku - The Fishing Trip (Te Hi Ika)

Mataku - The Fishing Trip (Te Hi Ika)

A different take on local myths

Thumbnail image for Kōtuku

Kōtuku

Also features kōtuku

Thumbnail image for How I Threw Art Out the Window

How I Threw Art Out the Window

An experimental short from Gaylene Preston

Thumbnail image for Hold Up

Hold Up

A unique mixed-genre film from Gaylene Preston

Thumbnail image for Saving the Earth

Saving the Earth

Another Gaylene Preston documentary from the 1980s

Thumbnail image for Learning Fast

Learning Fast

Another documentary from Gaylene Preston

Thumbnail image for Making the Papers

Making the Papers

Behind the scenes at a West Coast newspaper