Paul Callaghan: Dancing with Atoms

Paul Callaghan (1947 - 2012) was an internationally celebrated scientist, and a passionate advocate for Aotearoa. He was a popular science communicator (including a radio show with Kim Hill), campaigned to make New Zealand “a place where talent wants to live”, and championed the idea of a predator-free New Zealand. Shirley Horrocks' documentary focuses on the field that Callaghan became a world expert in — magnetic resonance — and interviews Callaghan's family, colleagues, students and friends. The film was invited to play at the 2018 NZ International Film Festival. 

He got his energy from other people, he sparked off other people all the time. There's nothing more exciting than if you think something is really cool and then someone that you respect starts to also say it is really cool. Once he became involved with something and was invigorated by it he was a bit of a machine really.

– Professor Kathryn McGrath, who worked with Paul Callaghan at the MacDiarmid Institute, The Dominion Post, 24 March 2012

Key Cast & Crew

Craig Wright

Camera

Roger Horrocks

Research

Shirley Horrocks

Director, Writer, Producer, Research

Lani-rain Feltham

Production Manager

Steven Mountjoy

Editor

Dick Reade

Sound Mix