Stephen Hall
2021
Beyond Gravity
Garth Maxwell
Guy Boyce, Willy de Wit
This autobiographical story about a love affair between two men was filmed on location in inner-city Auckland. Richard an astronomy-obsessed worrier spends his time fantasising about outerspace and the cosmos, an activity which antagonises friends and family. Then one day he meets Johnny, a handsome Italian man, with an enormous appetite for life, whose idea of a holiday involves breaking into the nearest small holiday home. He offers him love and an escape from the monotony of work. This short New Zealand film is a joyous celebration of the love between two eccentrics. It is also a refreshingly matter-of-fact and comic treatment of a romance between two men who both have their sights aimed firmly amongst the stars. Released on the compiliations: Boys on Film Volume 3 (1994)
Beyond Gravity
Beaconsfield
Glendyn Ivin
Shane Jacobson, Lachy Hulme
On Anzac Day 2006 the Beaconsfield mine collapsed, trapping Russell, Webb and fellow miner Larry Knight one kilometre underground. When it was revealed that two of the men were alive, Australia prayed and the world waited in hope that the miners would make it out alive. But the rescue was far more complex than anyone ever imagined. Beaconsfield recounts this riveting story of mental and physical fortitude and two very different men who were trapped together for 14 days under rubble in a cramped, pitch-black metal basket no bigger than a dog kennel.
Beaconsfield
The King
Matthew Saville
Stephen Curry, Shaun Micallef
The King is the story of Graham Kennedy, Australia's first and greatest home grown TV superstar. It traces his rise from working class Balaclava kid, through radio, TV, film, and back to TV again. It also tracks Kennedy's personal tragedies - the loneliness, the unrealised ambitions and the terrible pressures of being Australia's first homegrown superstar in the 1950s and 60s.
The King
Siege
Mike Smith
Mark Mitchinson, Darren Young
On the 7th of May 2009, Senior Constables Len Snee, Grant Diver and Bruce Miller arrived at 41 Chaucer Rd in Napier to serve a search warrant on Jan Molenaar for the growing of cannabis. This was just a routine warrant, something they had done countless times. What was meant to be an ordinary procedure turned into three of New Zealand’s darkest days and ended with one police officer dead, two officers critically injured and a member of the public fighting for his life. In some fifty hours Jan Molenaar made a permanent and devastating imprint upon the national psyche of New Zealand as he changed the lives of individuals, families, a police community, and a city. The siege was one of the worst and unexpected cases of violence both Napier and New Zealand had witnessed and it was all the more shocking because of its ordinary suburban backdrop.
Siege
Savage Honeymoon
Mark Beesley
Nicholas Eadie, Elizabeth Hawthorne
Dean is threatening to firebomb his ex-girlfriend's wedding. Mickey is filling the garage with stolen goods - again, and pierced teenage daughter, Leesa, is an accident waiting to happen on the family's beloved Triumph motorbike. An unconventional tough family, battling to survive with humour and love, in a world of motor bikes, rock 'n' roll, classic cars and alcohol. This is a family that you probably would not want next door, but they are fun to watch, and they have their ways of holding family together.
Savage Honeymoon
