Sam Hunt: Purple Balloon and other stories

Film (Full Length) – 2010

Mature

Sam Hunt is New Zealand’s best known and most visible contemporary poet. In this feature-length documentary, Ginette McDonald calls him “the most impersonated man in New Zealand”. Director Tim Rose, who has known Hunt since he was a boy, decided too little was known about him beyond his flamboyant, public persona. So Rose spent four years making this documentary — mixing a wealth of archive material with interviews with Hunt, and those who know him best, and new footage of him reading his work and performing with David Kilgour.

If there hadn’t been a Sam Hunt where I grew up, I don’t think I would have found my way to the things I ended up doing. He was the living example of someone I wanted to be.
– Gary McCormick