Standing Room Only for Sunday 16 August 2020

12:36 Loading Docs

In a new documentary, we meet a young Muslim man who became a spokesperson for his people after the Christchurch Mosque Attack.   In One year on, he talks candidly about his reluctance to step back into the public eye as the one year commemoration approaches. 

Guled Mire wants to speak out about how racism is still an issue for his community.  But he also hates the media attention and often vicious social media comments.

One Year On is just one of this year's batch of Loading Docs mini-documentaries, that are about to be go on line.  In fact one of them went up recently, featuring a Covid-19 expert who's constantly reminding a panicked public how to stay safe.

That's Dr Siouxsie Wiles with her calming voice, science-grounded advice and bright pink hair.

Lynn Freeman talks with Gwen Isaac, director of Siouxsie & The Virus and with Francesca Mackenzie who made One Year On.  Francesca explains how her 8-minute long documentary is very different to what she had planned.

The 2020 Loading Docs collection  will release on August 20th 

 

12:47  After the on-line film festivals 

One of the casualties of the last lockdown was the International Film Festival - or at least the Festival as we know it.

Like other festivals around the world, ours went "virtual" - meaning going online, with tickets on sale for a limited time.  And it's fair to say there were many rumblings and complaints about how it could possibly work.

Apart from the issues about going online, the Festival had to work with far fewer well-known titles and personalities this year.  Many highly publicised films simply failed to be released overseas.

So, now that it's over, how did it go?  Was it a total failure, or did it prove to be the way of the future, once the pandemic subsides?

Lynn Freeman talks with the Director of the International Film Festival, Marten Rabarts, and also with Dan Shanan, whose Documentary Edge Festival went on-line earlier in the year.   
 

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews New Zealand comedy This Town and Netflix superhero film The Old Guard.  He also talks with Oscar winning editor, expat editor John Gilbert about opportunities - or lack of them - during a world-wide lockdown.

 

1:45  Rebecca Gibney - a lowdown criminal at last!  

The secret weapon in the upcoming comedy heist movie Lowdown dirty criminals is undoubtedly the woman who left New Zealand a raw Kiwi kid and became one of the most successful and most loved actors in Australia.  She's not only the star of shows like Packed to the Rafters, Halifax fp and Wanted, but these days half the time she produces them as well.

It's Rebecca Gibney of course, who as far as we know hasn't made a New Zealand feature film since she played the challenging role of "Clive's secretary" in Mr Wrong back in the 1980s.

Simon Morris talks with Rebecca Gibney on the line in her current hometown in Dunedin.

Lowdown dirty criminals opens nationwide on August the 20th.  And expect to see Back to the Rafters and Halifax Retribution on TV later in the year.

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Johanna Cosgrove and Hannah Kelly

Around this time every three years, the whole country's attention turns to the upcoming election.  Obviously this is a wonderful opportunity for political satire.

Well, that's not the case this year.  The General Election has slipped to about Number 6 on our To Do List.  So where does that leave Wellington's legendary satirical stage show Public Service Announcements?  Can there be political satire during a pandemic?   

Our guests on the Laugh Track are two of the stars of the 2020 Public Service Announcements - Skyping in for Lynn Freeman from backstage at Circa Theatre are Johanna Cosgrove and Hannah Kelly.

Their picks include Amanda Bynes in All That, Drew Droege, Kura Forrester and Amanda Seales.
 

2:25 Covid photographers from both sides of the Tasman

When three Australasian photographers decided to create a Zine of Covid-19 related images during the initial outbreak, they could never have guessed it would come out just as New Zealand and Australia are facing a second round of infections.

Palmerston North-based Tony Reddrop got in touch with expat Simon Ross in Sydney and Australian photographer Marty Walker in the Blue Mountains, to talk about a joint project about the pandemic.

The result  - Now It's Getting Serious - includes images that range from a Barbie doll wearing a mask and a sole bus passenger, to a hastily hand written sign saying "Go Home Now!! Don't Stay Here. Or near anyone."

Lynn Freeman talks with all three photographers of the zine.    Now Its Getting Serious is by Tony Reddrop, Marty Walker and Simon Ross. 

 

2:40  Carl Nixon's latest spine-chilling thriller

 

A family disappears without a trace after a road-trip along the West Coast highway.

More than 30 years later, the body of one of the children is discovered. But he's several years older than when he went missing.

This is the head-cratching scenario for the latest literary thriller by Christchurch writer Carl Nixon.  He talks with Lynn Freeman about The Tally Stick.

The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon is published by Vintage, part of Pengun Random House.  It was reviewed recently on Nine to Noon.
 

 

 

2:49  Kate di Goldi - our first Reading Ambassador

Here in New Zealand we rather pride ourselves in our enthusiasm for reading.  But it doesn't happen by accident, here or overseas.

The most recent OECD Programme for International Students assessment showed a marked decline in reading for pleasure.   Alarmingly it discovered that half of New Zealand's 15-year-olds have never read for enjoyment.

Clearly they need help. 

Helping to create a 'nation of readers' is the job of New Zealand's first Reading Ambassador - a new role that is being created, with award-winning children's writer, Kate De Goldi. a member of the organising panel.

It's a new two year long job that will also advocate for the importance of reading in the lives of young New Zealanders, their whānau and communities.

Lynn Freeman asks Kate what resources she's being given to achieve these goals.

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - The Moehau by Gary Henderson

Today's Classic Drama is a modern murder mystery with connections to the Māori myths and legends about the Moehau man (the Hairy man).

A young woman hiker lies in a psychiatric hospital, traumatised, babbling in a language she has never learned, and refusing to open her eyes.

Has she unwittingly awakened something dark, primitive and unspeakable in the mountains and ravines of the remote Moehau Range in the north island of New Zealand? Or has she herself committed an unspeakable crime and is feigning insanity?

Lock your windows, pack away your camping gear and brace yourself for The Moehau by Gary Henderson, starring Mick Rose, Danielle Mason and Jim Moriarty.  

Music played in this show

Artist: Nick Lowe
Song: I read a lot
Composer: Lowe
Album: The old magic
Label: Proper
Played at: 12.32

Artist: The Killers
Song: Read my mind
Composer:  Flowers-Keuning
Album:  Sam's Town
Label: Island
Played at: 12.58

Artist: Dave's True Story
Song: I'll never read Trollope again
Composer: Cantor
Album: Sex without bodies
Label: Chesky
Played at: 2.04

Artist: Nina Simone
Song: Please read me
Composer: Gibb-Gibb
Album: To love somebody
Label: RCA
Played at: 2.36

Artist: Midnight Oil
Song: Read about it
Composer: Garrett-Oils
Album: Essential Oils
Label:  Sony
Played at: 2.58

Artist: Kate Nash
Song: Do Wah Doo
Composer: Nash
Album: My best friend is you
Label: Fiction
Played at: 3.04

Artist: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Song: Please read the letter
Composer:  Plant-Page
Album: Raising Sand
Label:  Rounder
Played at: 3.58