Going West

Television (Full Length) – 2009

In 1992 Maurice Gee's autobiographical novel Going West scooped major national and international literary awards. This beautiful, handcrafted short film, commissioned by the New Zealand Book Council (now Read NZ/Te Pou Muramura) emulated this success; it won multiple awards. As Gee's lead character Jack Skeats describes his train journey from Auckland's western suburbs into the CBD, the story's pages cut up into delicate depictions of each passing landmark. London-based brother and sister Martin and Line Andersen spent eight months making it. Going West became a YouTube hit, netting over a million views.

By train, from Loomis Station, the track ran straight for several miles, with straggly town on one side. Ah Lap's grocery where you could by Chinese ginger in jars; the Scout Hall, the Anglican Church, the jam factory — and vineyards and farms on the other. Then the line began to curve and the impression one had was a "worming" into Auckland...
– The opening lines, taken from Maurice Gee's 1992 novel Going West