Roger Horrocks: Recognising film as an art form…

Roger Horrocks is an academic and writer who has mentored many figures in the New Zealand screen industry. Horrocks began teaching film studies at Auckland University in the 1970s, at a time when film was looked down on by academics. He helped launch the Auckland Film Festival (the precursor to the New Zealand International Film Festival), and was a founding board member of funding body NZ On Air.

In this ScreenTalk, Horrocks talks about:

• How going to see movies as a kid first got him interested in films
• Working on an extremely low budget for early feature Skin Deep
• Battling opposition to set up the first film studies course at Auckland University
• The value of film history in the age before video and DVD
• Writing the libretto for an opera about legendary artist and filmmaker Len Lye
• Successfully launching the precursor to the NZ International Film Festival
• How the original board of NZ On Air were fanatical about getting more local content
• Remembering the time when New Zealand culture was rarely visible
• How film can give minorities a voice in mainstream culture

This video was first uploaded on 22 May 2018, 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