The Young Giant Kāingaroa

Short Film (Full Length) – 1966

The ‘Young Giant’ is Kāingaroa Forest: the largest plantation in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the largest exotic forests in the world. 1,300 square kilometres produce “50 million cubic feet of timber a year” for pulp, paper, and building. Directed by Brian Cross, and made by the NFU for the forest’s then-managers — the New Zealand Forest Service — this documentary showcases the industry in the pines: scrub clearance for forest extension, burn-offs, machine planting, pruning, felling, grafting, and kiln-drying cones to extract seeds for sowing.

As the fires converge so do the winds, drawn inwards from all sides by fierce updraft. Even rotation of the earth gets into the act, combining updraft and converging winds into small playful tornados.
– Narrator Alan Jervis describes a controlled burn-off