Cross-Cultural Filmmaking in New Zealand National Cinema

Pitts, V. 2008. Cross-Cultural Filmmaking in New Zealand National Cinema. PhD thesis University of Auckland Media, Film and Television

TitleCross-Cultural Filmmaking in New Zealand National Cinema
TypePhD thesis
AuthorsPitts, V.
Abstract

This thesis argues that the processes and resulting products of cross-cultural creative collaboration and financial partnerships in fiction filmmaking affect both the output and the very notion of New Zealand national cinema. Although the culture of commercialism in transnational financial partnerships is volatile and, therefore, the degree to which authorial control and cultural ‘veracity’ are compromised remains unpredictable, a great deal of intra-national cross-cultural collaboration in the creative processes of filmmaking is being undertaken with high levels of mutual respect and considerable awareness of both what differentiates and what connects peoples from different cultures. At a grass roots level, substantial goodwill is being generated by dialogic models of cross-cultural collaboration that provide exemplars for both the film industry and other spheres of cultural and national activity.

While the speed and degree to which perspectives formed on the nation’s cultural peripheries are welcomed into ‘mainstream’ cinematic projections remain unsatisfactory, progress is being made. Much contemporary cross-cultural filmmaking is characterised by the bending and democratisation of traditional production cultures, resulting in higher levels of multiple authorship than is the norm, and the creation of new types of aesthetically hybridised films that bear the marks of their cross-cultural origins. The parameters of ‘mainstream’ national cinema in Aotearoa New Zealand are thus broadened by a burgeoning cinema that operates beyond damaging stereotypes, combines naturalistic and symbolic registers in new ways, makes visible and allows identification with the nation’s under-represented minority communities and, in doing so, inscribes a permanent place for these peoples in the national imaginary.

By foregrounding the creative processes and attitudes of filmmakers and their collaborators, this thesis contributes to a growing body of work that re-appropriates and elevates authorial process and intent for a consideration of ‘the national’ in cinema and, in doing so, reveals the practicality of hoping that the cross-cultural creative collaborations increasingly producing mainstream culture indicate the evolution of a genuinely more inclusive and plural concept of New Zealand national identity.

Keywordscross-cultural filmmaking, transnational film funding, national cinema, New Zealand film, dialogism,
Year2008
FunderUniversity of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship

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Pitts, V. 2016. Meeting.

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Pitts, V. 2015. Character, Performance, Dialogue & Structure: a Comparative Analysis of Improvised & Scripted Filmmaking. Screenwriting Research Network International Conference. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia 14 - 16 Sep 2012

Contestations of Intercultural Collaboration: the Case of Whale Rider
Pitts, V. 2014. Contestations of Intercultural Collaboration: the Case of Whale Rider. in: Nagib, L. and Jerslev, A. (ed.) Impure Cinema: Intermedial and Intercultural Approaches to Film New York; London I.B. Tauris. pp. 43-65

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Pitts, V. 2013. Beat: Artist's Statement. The Soundtrack Journal. 5 (1), pp. 103-105. https://doi.org/10.1386/st.5.1.73_7

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Pitts, V. 2012. Writing from the body: kinesthetic empathy and screenwriting. Screenwriting Research Network International Conference. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia 14 - 16 Sep 2012

Technologies of Culture: Digital Feature Filmmaking in New Zealand
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Pitts, V. 2010. Beat. Aotearoa New Zealand

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Pitts, V. 2010. From Process to Product: Intercultural Collaboration in the Making of Whale Rider. Impure Cinema Conference. University of Leeds 02 - 05 Dec 2010 University of Leeds.

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Pitts, V. 2007. Cross-cultural Filmmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand . MEDIANZ Conference . Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand 08 - 10 Feb 2007

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Pitts, V. 2006. Intercultural Short Filmmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand. Metro: Media and Education Magazine. 148, pp. 140-146.

Fleeting Beauty
Pitts, V. 2004. Fleeting Beauty. Aotearoa New Zealand

Form and Politics in Punitive Damage
Pitts, V. 1999. Form and Politics in Punitive Damage. Australian Screen Education. 20/21, pp. 18-23.

From novel to film : Le journal d'un curé de campagne and the art of adaptation
Pitts, V. 1997. From novel to film : Le journal d'un curé de campagne and the art of adaptation. The European Connection. 3, pp. 31-39.

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