John Bates: Documenting New Zealand...

Award-winning documentary maker John Bates is a Scotsman who has lived in New Zealand for over 40 years. His documentaries have covered a range of genres, from the arts — Sense of Place: Robin Morrison Photographer, Reflections - Gretchen Albrecht — to social issues — New Faces Old Fears, Crime and Punishment — to history: 1951, Banned - 100 Years of Censorship in New Zealand. In 2010, Bates directed and produced acclaimed series 50 Years of New Zealand Television.

In this ScreenTalk, Bates talks about:

• Being told initially he couldn’t direct documentary Sense of Place
• How photographer Robin Morrison passed away while filming was still in progress
• Putting abstract art on screen in documentary Reflections - Gretchen Albrecht
• How copyright issues mean that Banned – A History of Censorship will likely never be rescreened
• How his award-winning documentary 1951 told the suppressed history of the waterside lockout
• Series 50 Years of New Zealand Television, and why it was better for being made outside of TVNZ

This video was first uploaded on 5 July 2011, 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, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside