Loading Docs 2015 - Waihorotiu

This short film, made for the second season of Loading Docs, goes beneath a manhole cover to explore a secret history of Auckland’s Queen Street. Waihorotiu is a quest down from the skyscraper canopy of New Zealand’s largest city to find traces of Waihorotiu — an ancient waterway situated under the concrete. Archive material and animation explore the awa's history, from tangiwha lair (the water of Horotiu) to fetid canal and brick sewer severed from its natural source. The film was directed by Frances Haszard and Louis Olsen; Pita Turei narrates.

A rainy city built over volcanoes and valleys is a city built over waterways, but there’s little evidence of that in a place like Queen Street, Auckland. We found this disconnect really interesting, and the research that followed motivated the making of this film.

– Directors Frances Haszard and Louis Olsen

Key Cast & Crew

Pita Turei

Narrator

Frances Haszard

Cinematographer, Co-Director

Louis Olsen

Cinematographer, Co-Director

Scott Elder

Producer

Vincent Paunovic

Writer

Lawrence Fergus Goodwin

Composer