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The Berry Boys

2014 Television
  • Documentary
  • War
  • Animation
  • NZ History

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.