Cameraman Arrives To Make Documentary Film of N.Z.

Grey River Argus, 8 November 1949, Page 8

Cameraman Arrives To Make Documentary Film of N.Z.

Close-ups of tjie Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. S. G. Holland) in action, and shots of Maori candidates campaigning will be included in the documentary film on New Zealand to be made bvj 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 lie 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, M. 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 Io 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-elec-tric undertakings, modern houseing, rural life. Maori culture, sports. While he planned to fly to Western Samoa to obtain material lie was also seriously thinking of going to the Chatham Islands to photograph some cod-fishing scenes. Mr. Hennessy hopes to spent 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 abroad as comprehensive a picture as possible of New Zealand life,” he said.

Mrs. Hennessy is able to take more than a superficial 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 section. Mrs. Hennessy said that more and more women were entering the film industry in England, bpt there were still comparatively few engaged in actual camera work. As far as she knew she was the first woman in film-making. Although there were types of documentary film that a woman was perhaps better fitted artiffcically to .Produce, men were t generally preferred' for the work be- I cause of the strenuous physical I strain it sometimes entailed. ! Mrs, Hennessy did not accompany her husband to South Africa during 1 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.