Mune to reveal nation's hidden film history

Little-known New Zealand filmmaking heroes will feature in a free public lecture by veteran actor, director and writer Ian Mune at the Albany campus on July 21.

Among them are cinematic pioneer and inventor of a pre-Hollywood movie sound recording system Edwin Coubray. Mr Mune will screen rare archival footage of Mr Coubray's early experiments adding sound to motion pictures. He also plans to take his audience through a brief history of New Zealand film, discussing how technical changes continue to affect aesthetics in his talk titled Who Shot it First?

"The history of New Zealand film is largely unknown," says Mr Mune. "The general public doesn't seem to be aware of our film history, which really began in 1896."

The first public screening of a motion picture was in 1896 at the Opera House in Auckland, several years before the first New Zealand-made films were screened. He will mention some of New Zealand's film landmarks from the last century and share his insights on contemporary developments, including Sir Peter Jackson's recent critical report on the New Zealand Film Commission, as well as the current state of the local film industry.

"The marvellous thing that's happening now is that we have these drama schools all turning out great new talent. They are creating their own material, writing scripts and using new film techniques. It's all part of this historical evolution."

An icon of New Zealand film and theatre, Mr Mune's contribution includes acting in the 1970s hit film Sleeping Dogs and co-writing the script with Roger Donaldson, directing Came a Hot Friday, The End of the Golden Weather and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

His lecture is the second of five free public lectures this semester at the campus. To come are architect Marshall Cook (August 4), writer Lloyd Jones (August 18), and Associate Professor Cindy Kiro (September 1).

The lecture starts at 6pm at the Sir Neil Waters Lecture Theatre. To register to attend it or any of the upcoming lectures, please phone 09-414-0800 ext 9553.