Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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while at Ilam, and his student colleagues gave insights into the experience of being a
student at this art school during the 1970s.
In order to reach an understanding of Ward’s working methods, and to test auteur
notions, I conducted a number of interviews with his colleagues and collaborators. I
attempted to interview a range of people who had worked on each of Ward’s films.
These included Alun Bollinger (director of photography, A State of Siege and Vigil),
Chris King (editor, A State of Siege), Leon Narbey (camera operator, In Spring One
Plants Alone), Graham Tetley (scriptwriter, Vigil), Graham Morris (sound recordist,
Vigil), Bridget Ikin (production assistant, Vigil), Elizabeth McRae (voice tutor, Vigil,
The Navigator: a Medieval Odyssey), John Maynard (producer, Vigil, and The
Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey), Jeff Simpson (director of photography, The
Navigator), Frank Whitten (actor who played the part of Ethan in Vigil), Hamish
McFarlane (actor who played the part of Griffin in The Navigator), Alison Carter
(researcher for The Navigator and co-writer of Ward’s book, Edge of the Earth), and
Louis Nowra (scriptwriter, Map of the Human Heart). I was able to conduct these
interviews in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Sydney with the assistance of
funding from the New Zealand Film Archive. I was not able to interview anyone who
had worked on What Dreams May Come, due to the difficulties of contacting them in
the USA. I did, however, conduct two interviews with Ward, one during the postproduction
of What Dreams May Come when I was en route to Auckland via Los
Angeles, and one in New Zealand, shortly after What Dreams May Come was released.
Another group of people I interviewed were members of the Tuhoe community from the
Matahi Valley in the Ureweras, who had known Ward when he was living in the area
and working on In Spring One Plants Alone: Kero and Maui Te Pou, Bay Takao, Helen
and Toka Tewara (local schoolteachers), and Eric Caton (former minister of Waimana
Presbyterian church). How these interviews came about was that when I talked with
Barry Barclay about the somewhat negative reception of In Spring One Plants Alone, by
Maori critics, he recalled that amongst the community where the film was made, it had
been warmly received. His suggestion was that with his assistance (involving
introductions to the local people), I should go to the Matahi Valley myself and find out
what Tuhoe thought about the film. I took with me one of my students from UNITEC,
Jillian White and her partner Eruera Morgan, who speaks fluent Maori. This trip proved