Award For Film Of Heart Operation

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30676, 16 February 1965, Page 14

Award For Film Of Heart Operation

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, February 15. A New Zealand-made film of a heart operation, produced by Mr B. G. Barrat-Boyes, director of the cardio-thoracic unit at Green Lane Hospital and made by the National Film Unit, has won two awards in the science film competition run in conjunction with the Science Congress.

The 40-minute colour film, which shows the replacement of an aortic valve with a human transplant, won a diploma of merit in the international section and diploma of honour in the New Zealand section.

Mr Barratt-Boyes and the surgical team at Green Lane were among the first to use the new operation, which has now been successful in more than 100 cases in Auckland. The certificate of honour in the international section went

to a British film, “The alder woodwasp and its insect enemies,” made by Dr. E. R. Skinner and Dr. G. H. Thompson, of the forestry department at Oxford. Sixty films, from 10 different countries, were screened for the judges, who spent more than five hours in reaching agreement over the final awards.

The two lay members of the judging panel, Messrs D. W. Lochore and Wynne Colgan, described the film on the alder woodwasp as “a fascinating piece in its own right and a splendid example of movie-making.” Only one entry gaining a merit award was beyond the grasp of the layman, they said.

This, an American film called “Organelles in living plant cells,” showed remarkable visual techniques and outstanding scientific content. Another judge, Professor R. E. F. Matthews, of the microbiology department at Auckland University, said this film revealed new details of living cell material and new relationships between the different sub-cellular structures. Other merit certificates in the international section were awarded to “Analysis by mass” and “Frontiers of friction,” two British films.

In the New Zealand section, a certificate of merit went to the National Film Unit film, produced by the wildlife branch of the Department of Internal Affairs, titled "A place to live." The awards were announced this evening by the president of the congress, Sir Gilbert Archey.