Editing
Examines the practical philosophy, the achievements and frustrations of one of New Zealand's most lively and innovative architects, Ian Athfield. The film provides a portrait of the architect and his work both in New Zealand and his project to design housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area of Manila in the Philippines, for which Athfield won an international competition in 1975.
Cumberland, 1348. The plague is spreading in medieval England. The remote village of little Griffin is also threatened. But the 9-year-old boy has a recurring dream that holds the key to a tiny hope of survival: a lake with a coffin floating on it. A white church with an iron cross. A falling glove. A falling silhouette. A torch tumble through a dark shaft into infinity. With his brother he recognizes in it a prophecy to escape the Black Death. So they embark with a few men on a journey to a distant cathedral, where they want to set up an iron cross as an offering to God. Her path leads them through a deep and dark mine shaft into an unknown land and completely outlandish time - into the present-day New Zealand of the 1980s.
An aging Hong Kong couple move to Australia with their two youngest sons. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile their eldest daughter lives in Germany and their eldest son remains in Hong Kong. The film explores the different ways the family members cope with isolation and alienation.
The tuatara is the sole survivor of a reptile species that has been extinct for 135 million years. This nocturnal creature which once lived world-wide, is now confined to a few off-shore islands in New Zealand. Tuataras grow up to 60 cm (two feet) in length, live to 150 years of age and have survived virtually unchanged since primeval times. The film is set on tiny Stephen's Island, a wildlife sanctuary which is a home for 100,000 of these unique reptiles.
In a town called Hope on the edge of Britain's empire, desperations clash: the beautiful Dorothea Brook is desperate to free her pregnant sister Rose from the clutches of Fraser, a fortune hunter. A local politician, William Poyner, is desperate for cash and thinks marriage to Dorothea will save him. Dorothea hires Lawrence Hayes, a rough but handsome Argonaut, to bribe Fraser with jewels and to marry Rose; Hayes desperately loves Dorothea and may marry Rose to stay close to her. But Dorothea has a lover, the ravishing Anne Cooper, who encourages the match with Poyser to give the lovers cover. Are these remedies, each desperate in its turn, going to make anyone happy?
An Australian shopper phoning Coles Myer, an English housewife ringing Harrods and a New York stockbroker calling American Express all have one thing in common―their customer service queries are likely to be re-routed to India and answered by Indians impersonating local operators. It’s an increasingly attractive business proposition―labour and set-up costs are low yet the staff is keen and highly educated. Diverted to Delhi follows university graduates through a training course as they put aside their own identities and learn to speak and think like their international callers.
A documentary following the attempt by three young people to be the first windsurfers to cross Cook Strait.
