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Autumn Fires
Television (Full Length) – 1977
An old woman (Olive Bracey) recounts to her nephew (actor Martyn Sanderson) memories of her life in Hokianga. The film is a mix of personal return journey for Sanderson and an affectionate record of his spirited aunt (she's "the one who ate wheatgerm" in the family). Autumn Fires mixes conversations, photos, and dramatisations of romantic letters. Sanderson rambles on the farm, picks mussels in bull kelp sandals, muses on industrial agriculture and on the "unambitious peaceful life". Directed by Barry Barclay, the elegiac film screened in TV1's Scene series.
I think Autumn Fires is perhaps one of the most layered films I've made. It is a metaphor created at a time when it was still possible to make metaphors in documentary in this country.– Director Barry Barclay
Key Cast & Crew
See all 15 credits
Produced by
Pacific Films
Acknowledgements
Presented with thanks to the New Zealand Film Heritage Trust – Te Puna Ataata
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