The Berry Boys

Television (Full Length) – 2014

The Berry Boys combines animation, historical footage and poetry to tell six stories of Kiwi soldiers fighting in World War l. The documentary's genesis was a box of forgotten negatives found in an art gallery in 1991. The studio portraits of the soldiers — taken by Wellington photographer William Berry — were taken just before they left for training camps and the battlefields of WWI. Some returned home to start new chapters in their lives; others died in battle, or in the case of Rifleman Jack L Braddock, succumbed to illnesses brought on by terrible conditions. Black Seeds musician Barnaby Weir wrote the music.

I saw the most amazing wonders: the white dusted deserts of Jordan, the water of King Solomon's pools, even the salty Dead Sea where bodies float as though on clouds ...
– Soldier Burt Mossman writes home