NEW ZEALAND – rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films

SOMEONE ELSE’S COUNTRY (1996)

Jon W. — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 09:13:18 +0000

Someone Else’s Country looks critically at the radical economic changes implemented by the 1984 Labour Government — where privatisation of state assets was part of a wider agenda that sought to remake New Zealand as a model free-market state. The trickle-down ‘Rogernomics’ rhetoric warned of no gain without pain, and here the theory is counterpointed by the social effects (redundant workers, Post Office closures). Made by Alister Barry in 1996 when the effects were raw, the film draws extensively on archive footage and interviews with key “witnesses to history”.

Director: Alister Barry.
Writer: Alister Barry (writer & researcher).
Stars: Ian Johnstone (narrator) Jim Anderton, Jim Bolger, David Caygill, Roger Douglas, David Lange.
Cinematographers: Shane Loader, Tony Sutorius.
Composers: David Donaldson, Janet Roddick.

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MP4 | 1.22 GB | 720×540 | 25 FPS | 1501 kb/s | AAC 128 kb/s
Language: English | Subtitles: None

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HINEKARO GOES ON A PICNIC AND BLOWS UP ANOTHER OBELISK (1995)

Jon W. — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 11:47:52 +0000

This short, written and directed by Christine Parker (Channelling Baby) takes an allegorical look at the creative process. A writer has a korero with a trickster spirit guide Hinekaro (voiced by Rena Owen), and conjures worlds from the words she inks on a page. In her imaginative struggles she’s visited by a ruru owl and her younger self, and other creatures are brought strikingly to life via special effects (beetles from a book, an eel hiding in a toilet bowl). Hinekaro was adapted from a 1991 short story by Booker Prize-winner Keri Hulme.

Director: Christine Parker.
Writers: Keri Hulme (short story), Christine Parker.
Stars: Rita Te Wiata, Rena Owen, Minette Meder, George Boyle, Glynis Paraha, Ian Harrop, Shayne Radford.
Cinematographer: Simon Raby.
Composer: Peter Scholes.

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MP4 | 137 MB | 674×540 | 25 FPS | 1167 kb/s | AAC 129 kb/s
Language: English | Subtitles: None

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THE WHOLE OF THE MOON (1996)

Jon W. — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 04:31:18 +0000

When Kirk, a top roller-blader, discovers that he has bone cancer in his leg, his pleasant affluent life is shattered. Even though amputation provides the best chance for survival; to him, losing skating means the end of life. His friends cannot cope with his condition, but his hospital isolation is relieved by Marty – a street kid survivor who was found dying of leukemia. Marty bullies, taunts, and challenges Kirk, until he begins to climb out of his depression. Marty seems afraid of nothing and, knowing she will die, wants to experience everything.

Director: Ian Mune.
Writers: Richard Lymposs, Ian Mune.
Stars: Toby Fisher, Nikki Si’ulepa, Pascale Bussières, Paul Gittins, Jane Thomas, Nicola Cliff, Elliot O’Donnell, Carl Rand, Greg Johnson, Olie Rennie, Lee Metekingi, Sam Holland, Ezra Woods, Hannah Collins, William Sabin, Missy Frick, Suzie Taylor, McKay Tharp, Tineke Van Der Walle, Gina Rinnie, Chloe Jordan, Julie Sterie, Marion Holmes, Adam Middleton, Karen Routledge, Amber Cunliffe, Vivienne Stanley, Ashleigh Seagar, R. Scott Hamann, Edwin Hussey, Ben Estwood, Adam Riesharr, Robert Elliott, Kent Rowater, Kerryn Fowlie, Joe Folau, Mira Tupou, Anton Torin, Alfred Aholeiei, Joseph Naufahu.
Cinematographer: Warrick Attewell (as Warrick ‘Waka’ Attewell).
Composer: Daniel Scott.

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MP4 | 1.47GB | 702×474 | 23.976fps | 2005kb/s | AAC 192kb/s
Language: English | Subtitles: None

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(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

THE SEALHUNTERS (1973)

Jon W. — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 08:51:31 +0000

This short black and white NFU ‘drama’ follows three young people on a road trip from Wellington. The trio are meant to be finding a seal colony, but in this early film from director Paul Maunder (Sons for the Return Home), the journey is the destination. The rambling adventure along the coast past Wainuiomata sees the trio discussing paua ashtrays, waning youth, marriage, the state of New Zealand television, and life in general.

Director: Paul Maunder.
Writer: Paul Maunder.
Stars: John Anderson, Denise Maunder, Patricia Birdling.
Cinematographer: John Phillpotts.
Composer: Tony Backhouse.

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THE SOUND OF SEEING (1963)

Jon W. — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:00:41 +0000

Made on a wind-up Bolex camera, The Sound of Seeing announced the arrival of 21-year-old filmmaker Tony Williams. Based around a painter and a composer wandering the city (and beyond), the film meshes music and imagery to show the duo taking inspiration from their surroundings. The Sound of Seeing served early notice on Williams’ editing talents, his love of music, and his dislike of narration. It was also one of the first independently-made titles screened on Kiwi television. Composer/author Robin Maconie later wrote pioneering electronic music.

Director: Tony Williams (as Anthony Williams).
Stars: Ray Grover, Gary Mutton.
Cinematographer: Tony Williams (as Anthony Williams).
Composer: Robin Maconie.

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TAKIS UNLIMITED (1969)

Jon W. — Tue, 16 May 2023 11:08:34 +0000

This BBC2-screened film is a look at the European art world of the late 1960s, and a meditation on the nature of art and the pricing of art, shot by Tony Williams. The origins of this film are suitably cosmopolitan. It was initiated by an Iranian student – and underwritten by Jeremy Fry from Cadbury Fry Hudson. Its focus is Takis, a Greek artist who creates kinetic sculptures out of discarded electronic objects (at times reminiscent of Len Lye’s work), and plans to mass produce cheaper versions of his work to make his art accessible. But will it still be art?

Director: Mahmoud Khosrowshahi.
Writers: Mahmoud Khosrowshahi, Jeremy Fry.
Stars: Douglas Cooper, Takis.
Cinematographer: Tony Williams.

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FUNNY THINGS HAPPEN DOWN UNDER (1965)

Jon W. — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 23:24:59 +0000

A group of children use a cabin as the meeting place where they gather to sing. When the owner of the place has financial difficulties and thinks of selling it, the friends will devise a way to earn money: they will dye the surrounding sheep in different colors and try to sell the wool as if it were a natural product.

Director: Joe McCormick.
Writer: John Sherman (screenplay).
Stars: Susanne Haworth, Ian Turpie, Bruce Barry, Howard Morrison, Olivia Newton-John, William Hodge, David Morgan, Tanya Binning, John Gray, Frank Rich, Rodney Pearlman, Kurt Beimel, Robert McKenzie, Fiona Orr, Robert Brockman, Gary Gray, Joanna Mirams, Beverly Murch, Melissa Orr, Gavan Ellis.
Cinematographer: Roger Mirams.
Composer: Horrie Dargie.

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RIP Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022).

A STATE OF SIEGE (1978)

Jon W. — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 07:17:46 +0000

Karemoana was the final destination of Manfred Signal, retired teacher of drawing, whose life was dedicated to nursing her dying mother, and instructing generations of young girls in the art of accurately depicting shadows. But now her mother has died and Manfred feels free to break away and begin life anew. She journeys ‘up north’, and begins to settle in her idyllic island home in a little white cottage near the sea. She had looked forward to savouring the feeling of aloneness, but her first long night in her new home is one of terror.

Director: Vincent Ward.
Writers: Janet Frame (novel), Vincent Ward, Timothy White.
Stars: Anne Flannery, Peggy Walker, John Bullock, Peter McCauley, Maime White, Dorothy McKegg.
Cinematographer: Alun Bollinger.
Composer: John Cousins.

1978 Chicago International Film Festival – Winner of the Gold Hugo.