DOCUMENTARY FILM ON N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25954, 7 November 1949, Page 6

DOCUMENTARY FILM ON N.Z.

PRODUCTION BY RANK ORGANISATION

DIRECTOR-CAMERAMAN IN SOUTH ISLAND

Close-ups of the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) end the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) in action, and shots of Maori candidates campaigning, will be included in tne documentary film on New Zealand to be made by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation for inclusion in its “This Modern Age” series. The film will not in any sense be political, but the General Election will be part of the New Zealand scene to be presented to the British public in a 20-minute production.

A director-cameraman for the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, Mr Peter Hennessy, who will make the film, is now in the South Island. He timed his arrival in New Zealand to coincide with the General Election, and had to curtail his stay in Hong Kong, which he left only a week ago. Mr Hennessy is no stranger to New Zealand, which he visited during the war. His father, Captain G. T. Hennessy, of Waimate, has been in Canterbury since 1922, and his brother, J. Hennessy, is farming on Banks Peninsula.

Outlining his plans for the film, Mr Hennessy said that New Zealand, apart from magnificent scenery, had much to offer—hydro-electric undertakings, modern housing, rural life, Maori culture, sports. While he planned to fly to Western Samoa to obtain material, he was also seriously thinking of going to the Chatham Islands to photograph some cod-fishing scenes. Mr Hennessy hopes to spend from four to six months in New Zealand, travelling from one end of it to the other, and including Western Samoa, and possibly the Cook Islands in his travels. “We want to give people aboard as comprehensive a picture as possible of New Zealand life.” he said. Mrs Hennessy is able to take more than a superficial interest in her husband's work for she has had considerable experience in film-making herself. For a time she helped to make documentary films for the Ministry of Information, and before her marriage also worked in the research department of the documentary films section. Mrs Hennessy said that more and more women were entering the film industry in England, but there were still comparatively few engaged in actual camera work. As far as she knew she was the first woman in England to take up documentary filmmaking. Although there were types of documentary film that a woman was perhaps better fitted artistically to produce, men were generally preferred for the work because of the strenuous physical strain it sometimes entailed. Mrs Hennessy did not accompany her husband to South Africa during his recent visit as their 14-month-old son, at present with his grandfather, interrupted travel plans temporarily. Mrs Hennessy and Paul travelled to New Zealand in the Rangitoto. meeting Mr Hennessy in Auckland on his arrival from Hong Kong.