Martin Sagadin: surreal music videos, artful documentary and authentic drama

For Martin Sagadin, "the goal is always to make movies with my friends. That is pretty fundamental to what I do". Also a painter and a musician, Sagadin's work as a filmmaker spans shorts, features, documentaries and music videos, with the latter keeping them especially busy. Sagadin has become a go-to music video director in Aotearoa: their regular collaborators include Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams and Nadia Reid. Sagadin’s style explores both the surreal (Harding's music video for 'The Barrel'), and the naturalistic (movie Spring Interlude). They chat to NZ On Screen about the importance of making mistakes, writing naturalistic dialogue, Aotearoa’s abundant filming locations and the "responsibility of showing an artist how they want to be shown".

This video was first uploaded on 30 September 2021, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview by Rosie Howells, Camera by Chris Terpstra, Directed and Edited by Morgan Hopkins