30 years of Kiwi film making revisited

Extensive search revisits 30 years of Kiwi film making

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Three decades of NZ feature film making will be celebrated at the NZ Film Archive in Wellington on 6 October with a special gala screening of Sleeping Dogs followed by a public screening on Wednesday 10 October.

After mounting an extensive search around the country for the film's cast and crew, the Film Archive is ready to roll out the red carpet for the talented Kiwis who helped take NZ film making to the world.

Sleeping Dogs was the first NZ feature to be released in the United States, was highly successful in the Soviet Union and is credited with being the leading driver for the establishment of the New Zealand Film Commission.

"It's been an exceptional task tracking people down around the country and overseas," says Film Archive Publicist Anna Dean. "After putting out an extra search call via media a month ago we've have been talking to everyone from Iroquois helicopter pilots, one of the catering team who picked fresh puha and stole the occasional pumpkin and now lives in Vancouver, to a man who was a 16 year-old runner at the time, now living in Nelson, who recalls one of the lead actors being covered in sheep snot on the back of a sheet truck – such a classic teenage memory.”

“We've had farm owners in the Coromandel sharing stories of their farms being blasted by bombs and flame-throwers and have heard quite an exceptional number of comments about the partying that went on at the time."

"While we haven't managed to track everyone down – if anyone knows of the whereabouts of stuntman Jerry Popov we'd be fascinated to hear where he is now – we have connected a few old friends who had lost contact, which has been a nice surprise."

A display of costumes and props, as well as some of the original design sketches for the iconic posters, will be on display at the Film Archive foyer for the duration of the Sleepers Awake season. "It was quite exciting to get out the actual pistol Sam Neill's character Smith held all those years ago and to see how the costume department had to hand-draw their own police badges," says Dean.

First premiered at the Wintergarden in Auckland on 6 October 1977, Sleeping Dogs stars Sam Neill and Ian Mune, and was directed by Roger Donaldson (in his feature film making debut).
The film was also recognised as NZ's first real action movie, featuring helicopters, explosions, bombs and full riot scenes in Auckland city streets. The film ran at the box office for a total of 12 weeks in Auckland, something unheard of at the time.

Based on the novel Smith's Dream by CK Stead the story follows a man named Smith (Sam Neill) who ends up running from the law during a time of militaristic tyranny. In The Village Voice in 1982, Carrie Rickey wrote "Like Hitchcock’s Saboteur, Sleeping Dogs is suffused with paranoia, mistaken identity and breathless chase. Unconventionally and convincingly, Donaldson makes the case that there's no such thing as existentialism, no personal giants to flying solo. Despite its obscure political context, better not let this Sleeping Dog lie, because it's sure to rouse you."

This anniversary screening marks the second week of Sleepers Awake – a programme of films from the early 1980s that really put NZ filmmaking on the international map: Goodbye Pork Pie, Smash Palace and Utu. Curated by Film Archive Projects Developer Diane Pivac, the season will finish with screenings of Spooked and The World's Fastest Indian – the latest NZ films from Roger Donaldson and Geoff Murphy, key players in 1980s New Zealand filmmaking.

“When I first started at the Archive I remember putting away photos that I assumed had been taken during the Springbok Tour and which must therefore come from Patu! I was wrong, they were from the riot scene in Sleeping Dogs, the collision of fact and fiction and what might have been has stayed with me ever since. Goodbye Pork Pie is a perennial favourite, I reckon it must be New Zealand’s best-loved film - I love its irreverence. I saw Smash Palace for liberal studies when I was at school. As a 6th former it packed a real wallop – and it still does. And Utu is such a strong, well-made film. It’s a western and it makes you think about our colonial history (and Bruno Lawrence keeps his clothes on!).”

SCREENING DETAILS:
October 6 (Saturday by invitation) and 10 (Wednesday)
Sleeping Dogs
(1977, PG, 103 mins)
“Better not let this Sleeping Dog lie, because it’s sure to rouse you.” —Carrie Rickey, Village Voice 1982.
Celebrating 30 years since the World Premiere on 6 October 1977 at the Wintergarden Cinema, Auckland.

October 17
Goodbye Pork Pie
(1981, PG–coarse material, 105 mins)
Nothing could stop the men, the mini, the madness!

October 24
Smash Palace
(1982, R16, 100 mins)
“Roger Donaldson’s second feature establishes him at world rank, without doubt.” – Variety, 1981

October 31
Utu
(1983, PG–contains violence, 116 mins)
“The first NZ feature in the blockbuster category. Undoubtedly the work of a film maker who cares passionately, both about the process of filmmaking and about the subject being treated.” — Nick Roddick, Monthly Film Bulletin, 1985

November 7
Spooked

(2004, M, 90 mins)
Director Geoff Murphy’s first New Zealand film after fifteen years in Hollywood.

November 14

The World’s Fastest Indian
(2005, PG-contains coarse language, 127 mins)
Based on one hell of a true story.

All films screen on Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm at the NZ Community Trust mediatheatre, New Zealand Film Archive, cnr Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts, Wellington. Tickets $8/6

ENDS

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