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The Carmelites

Television (Full Length) – 1969

This NZBC religious programme goes where TV cameras had never gone before: behind the walls of the Carmelite monastery in Christchurch. There, it finds a community of 16 Catholic nuns, members of a 400-year-old order, who have shut themselves off from the outside world to lead lives devoted to prayer, contemplation and simple manual work. Despite their seclusion, the sisters are unphased by the intrusion and happy to discuss their lives and their beliefs; while the simplicity and ceremony of their world provides fertile ground for the monochrome camerawork.

If you believe in God, all this may make sense to you. If you don’t, I don’t know what you’re going to make of the Carmelites.
– Presenter Bernard Smythe

Key Cast & Crew

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Peter Muxlow

Director, Producer

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Bernard Smyth

Writer, Reporter

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Ian Miller

Sound

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John Denton

Editor

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Alan Clease

Sound

Generic Profile image for Frank Oakeshott

Frank Oakeshott

Camera

See all 8 credits

Produced by

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NZ Broadcasting Corporation