Alister Barry

In a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand hunter Gibbie Gibson discovers a plane wreck from WW2. When he tells it around, a gang of crooks follows and threatens him and his daughter, because they know there are 50 million dollars in the wreck. Helicopter pilot Barney helps Gibbie against them, risking his life thereby.

Steve Guttenberg portrays Pecos Bill, the "King of the Cowboys," in this rootin' tootin' epic. Raised by coyotes, Bill puts the "wild" in the Wild West settlement of Petunia City. When his rowdy behavior gets him run out of town, he heads for Mexico. There, Bill lassos a cyclone to save the state of Texas from drought. His heroics become campfire legend, proving that selflessness and bravery are never forgotten.

Operation 8 examines the so-called 'anti-terror' raids that took place around New Zealand on October 15, 2007 - asking how and why they took place and at what cost to those targeted.

In 1973 Alister Barry joined the crew of a protest boat (The Fri) to Mururoa Atoll, where the French Government were testing nuclear weapons. Barry records the assembly of the crew, the long journey from Northland, and their reception in the test zone; when The Fri was boarded and impounded by French military he had to hide his camera in a barrel of oranges.

Women talk about the circumstances that drove them to seek illegal abortions and the often traumatic result. Interwoven with historical photographs and newsreel footage, the stories expose how the reality of women's lives were counterposed to what was socially and morally expected of them.

Delegates and workers discuss the issues that effect the Timberworkers’ Union, the reasons for the formation of the Combined Council of Timber Workers Delegates (CCD) and their industrial action.

The 'stolen' insider emails that informed Nicky Hager's best-selling account of National's 2005 election campaign return in Alister Barry's (Someone Else's Country) new film - just in time to caution us against campaigning politicians in 2008. Addressing each other like schoolboy Machiavellis, party leader Don Brash and his advisors spelled out how they'd copy the big boys in Australia and the US in order to win the votes of people who'd never support the kind of policies such men are widely presumed to represent. The dividing and conquering began at Orewa.

Rummaging through the mementos falling out of her closet, Margaret remembers moments from her life and her marriage to George.

A Century of Struggle chronicles the hundred-year history of the NZ Seamen’s Union from its formation in 1879. Using original film and archive footage, it examines the working lives of seamen and the battles fought by their union from the sailing ships of colonial days to the modern turbine-powered container vessels. Because the Seamen’s Union was frequently at the forefront of working-class struggle in New Zealand, its story involves most of the crucial issues and events in the history of the union movement generally, including the great maritime strikes of 1890 and 1913 and the waterfront dispute of 1951.

The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.

Don Brash stepped down as leader of the National Party in November 2006, the day before the release of investigative journalist, Nicky Hager's book ‘The Hollow Men’. Award-winning documentary maker Alister Barry (‘Someone Else's Country’, ‘In a Land of Plenty’) brings this exposé of behind-the-scenes politics in an all-too-real political thriller. Based on thousands of confidential emails, reports and memos written by Bash and his closest advisers, ‘The Hollow Men’ is an extraordinary story of unprincipled and anti-democratic politics.

In the years since New Zealand politicians began to grapple with climate change our greenhouse gas emissions have burgeoned. Alister Barry’s doco draws on TV archives and interviews with key participants to find out why.

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”.

A fascinating story of effort towards global peace, featuring eight peace people of Aotearoa New Zealand – spanning some seven decades – peacewalkers, petitioners, and folk in small boats and on the surfboards sailing out into the harbours in the face of huge warships. A unique documentary, bedded in the movement of aihe (dolphins), tohora (whales), kotuku (white herons), toroa (albatross) and with an original score blending contemporary waiata and traditional Maori musical instruments.

This documentary travels to nine Pacific nations, including New Zealand, to chronicle the long struggle to create a regional nuclear arms free zone.

In this award-winning children's adventure created by Ian Mune, Tony (Ian Templeton) and Suey (Julie Wilson) spend time on their uncle's farm and become country kids — riding horses to school and getting stick from mouthy classmate Harvey (Buddy Ruruku). The trio are fascinated by local drifter 'Rotten' Fred, whose dog Ratsguts is rumoured to be a sheep killer. They form the Mad Dog gang, uncovering Fred's history and protecting him from vindictive farmer Wilkie (John Bach). Directed by Ross Jennings, this telemovie combines three half-hour episodes. It was named Best Drama at the 1979 Feltex Television Awards.

A documentary exploring the battle over public education in New Zealand from the 1980s through the 1990s