Christchurch On Screen
This celebration of Christchurch on screen marks NZ On Screen’s first collection honouring a city’s screen legacy. As a showcase history it is by definition backwards looking; but the devastation caused by the 22 February earthquake gives it a poignancy that is much more than nostalgic.
“... a feeling of loss winds through this collection.”
As Christchurch-raised media commentator Russell Brown reflects in his introduction, the titles are mementos from, “a place whose face has changed”.
Featuring newsreels, documentaries, comedy, drama, iconic music videos and feature films — with the shadow of the quakes inescapably cast over many scenes — the collection both mourns and celebrates the city.
“Join together” (as the Games 74 anthem went) for a Cantabrian screen taster: from cathedrals and coronations to “Jeez Wayne”, from the alps to the ocean, from Victoriana to Dance Exponents' Victoria, from Scribe to Praise Be, boosters to beatniks, garden city to gunge, Heavenly Creatures to Heartland, Lyttelton and more ...
The titles testify to the buildings, culture and life of a city now lost, but sure to rise.
Chimney Book takes rubble from the Christchurch earthquake, and turns it into the building blocks of a film exploring life in the quake zone. Christchurch musician Blair Parkes took bricks from his chimney — destroyed in the 22 February 2011 aftershocks — painted a letter or symbol on each, then scanned them into his computer. Sound and word form the spine of the result, which is part diary, part experimental film. Parkes explores his experiences of living in Christchurch since the quake through words like 'dust', 'memory', 'place', and a question: 'is it over?'
