A Winter Collection For Nz On Screen

A Winter Collection For Nz On Screen

NZ On Screen has today added a snow-themed collection of titles to the website to mark the winter ski season and all things to do with snow.

Snow collects together 13 titles celebrating the scenic, recreational and spiritual call of New Zealand’s mountains. They feature everything from ski ballet, Middle Earth glaciers, mountain jazz and mountain parrots, to ice-fishing in Antarctica.

Flare, directed by one Sam Neill (who was shortly to achieve fame as an actor) while at the National Film Unit, features the then-new discipline of freestyle skiing and glorious 70s ski fashion and beards.

More retro snow styles are to be found in the full-length Michael Firth-directed feature film, The Leading Edge, where a bunch of extreme thrill-seekers throw themselves off volcanoes, glaciers, mountains and into an Iron Man with "get more go" abandon. The film is notable for its Stuart Dryburgh -shot action pieces set to an 80s pop soundtrack, and for Billy T James as a mad pilot.

The Snow collection includes classic early National Film Unit promotional films. Two of the early titles - Snows of Aorangi (featuring stunning shots of alpine skiing to a James K Baxter script) and Prelude to Aspiring - were directed by legendary New Zealand photographer Brian Brake. Snows of Aorangi was the first New Zealand film to be nominated for an Oscar, in 1958. In Hillary Returns , Sir Ed, fresh from knocking off Everest, talks about his apprenticeship in the Southern Alps.
In the award-winning Natural History New Zealand documentary Young Mountains, spectacular four seasons footage illustrates life in the rugged Southern Alps (kea, thar, Mount Cook lily).

Climbing saga No Mean Feat follows climber Mark Inglis to Aoraki-Mt Cook, where he attempts to summit the mountain that had earlier taken his legs. The story of courage-against-the-odds won best documentary at the 2003 NZ TV Awards.

NZ On Screen Project Director Brenda Leeuwenberg saidKiwis are drawn to the mountains and Snow collects together some great titles celebrating that connection on screen.

“The collection will appeal to the thousands of skiers, boarders, climbers and hikers who head to the snow each winter. It will also appeal to people who have an interest in New Zealand natural history generally, or who just can’t get enough of the awesome scenery.”

The Snow collection, and more than 500 other television and film titles, are all available to view free on www.nzonscreen.com

ENDS

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