NZ On Screen - Top 10 for October 2009

October was a big month for NZ On Screen as we celebrated being online for one year. We now have more than 750 titles on the site - hours of entertainment, enrichment and sometimes enlightenment from homegrown NZ screen produce. Our pressie to fans of Kiwi telly was the first episode of classic 70s soap Close To Home.

We also launched a Labour Day Collection, bringing together 13 titles that relate to Kiwi working life, from economic revolutions and industrial disputes to Gliding On New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim an eight-hour working day when, in 1840, carpenter Samuel Parnell won this right for workers in the Wellington settlement. "There are 24 hours per day given us. Eight of these should be for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves."

So, in the hours intended for the "little things", check out the collection and the Top 10 titles for October - led by a breakout doco on the world's smartest bird, the kea.

OCTOBER TOP 10

Kea - Mountain Parrot
Television, 1993, Full Length
This superb NHNZ documentary went global this month thanks to a mention on the popular website BoingBoing.net. Tens of thousands of visitors have checked out extraordinary footage that reveals the inventive and usually delightful kea in horror movie mode eating live sheep (as a last resort as food sources run out - see clip four).

Revolution
Television series, 1996, 4 Full Length Episodes
Four-part series Revolution mapped sweeping social and economic change in New Zealand society in the 1980s and early 1990s The fascinating collection of interviews and archive footage continues to generate debate on political blogs, and is particularly interesting viewed alongside Alister Barry doco Someone Else's Country.

Country Calendar - Spoofs Special
Television, 1999, Full Length
Ask Country Calendar viewers which shows they remember and inevitably the answer is “the spoofs”. This special episode collects together the best of the spoofs; including the fencing wire-playing farmer and his “rural music”, the infamous radio-controlled dog, and more malarkey besides.

New Zild - The Story of New Zealand English
Television, 2005, Full Length
This doco charts on the back of the news that our unique twang was recently voted the UK's favourite off-island English accent in a BBC survey. New Zild follows the evolution of the accent previously derided across the dutch for its vowel-mangling (sex fush'n'chups anyone?), and too fast-paced for tourists and Elton John to understand.

The Best of the Billy T James Collection
Television, 1992, Full Length
As news of an upcoming authorised biography of beloved Kiwi joker Billy T does the rounds, this compilation of skits from his popular 80s TV shows continues to draw laughs. Includes Te News, Turangi Vice. and classic spoofs of Pixie Caramel’s “last requests” and Lands For Bags’ “where’d you get your bag” ads.

Gliding On
Television, 1981, Full Length Episode
In an age before Rogernomics, well before The Office, there was the afternoon tea fund, Golden Kiwi, and four o’clock closing: welcome to the early 80s world of the New Zealand Public Service. Gliding On (1981 - 1985) was the first locally-made sitcom to become a bona-fide classic. This first episode was posted on site last month.

ScreenTalk -Taika Waititi
ScreenTalk Interview
Taika Waititi (writer and director of short films Tama Tū, Oscar-nominated Two Cars, One Night; and feature Eagle vs Shark) talks about his upcoming feature, East Coast-set Volcano and also details the now infamous “falling asleep” gag at the Oscars, and how he was left holding the baby.

Gloss
Television, 1987, Full Length Episode
Gloss just keeps on shining. In the heady 80s, New Zealanders wanted to see themselves as less bottom of the world and more "here we come and we are sailing" (as the infamous Cup campaign song warbled) and Gloss was just what the era demanded. Yuppies, shoulder-pads and methode champenoise abound.

Railway Worker (Weekly Review 355)
NFU Short, 1948, Full length
A trainspotter's delight, this 1948 doco follows 24 hours of work on the railways. It was directed for the National Film Unit by NZ’s first female film director, Margaret Thomson. It shows trains in Wellington, and the overnighter arriving from Auckland. Workers toil on the lines above Waimakariri Gorge, and Otira gets ready to dance.

Tama Tū
Short FIlm, 2004, Full Length
In this acclaimed short film from director Taika Waititi six Māori Battalion soldiers are camped in Italian ruins and wait for night to fall. In the silence the bros-in-arms distract themselves with jokes. A tohu (sign) brings them back to reality and they gather to say a karakia before returning to the fray.

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