How Times Have Changed

In the latest television funding round, NZ On Air has funded two documentaries, one looking at prehistoric New Zealand and one looking at who we are today.

Once Were Dinosaurs focuses on New Zealand’s pre-historic past. The programme will re-create dinosaurs that roamed this part of the world millions of years ago.

"State-of-the-art animation techniques will add an extra dimension to the programme and dinosaurs will once again walk in New Zealand," said NZ On Air chief executive, Jo Tyndall.

"It is a programme we are very pleased to support because of its innovative approach to re-creating New Zealand's prehistoric times," she said.

Pavlova Paradise Revisited investigates a modern New Zealand. In the early 1970s a brash young Englishman put a burr under every New Zealander’s saddle when he published his observations of New Zealand in The Quarter Acre, Half Gallon, Pavlova Paradise. Now, thirty years later, he's come back to do it again.

British MP Austin Mitchell visits New Zealand for a six week journey from Bluff to North Cape to investigate the changes which have taken place since the sixties. Is the place recognisable? How has New Zealand changed from the quaint little demi-paradise he discovered so long ago?

“This three-part documentary series will be a challenge for us as Kiwis. Can we handle new insights from a man who has lived in and loved New Zealand, gone away and is returning to assess how much we have grown?” Ms Tyndall said.

NZ On Air has allocated $149,000 to Red Sky Film and Television to produce the one hour documentary Once Were Dinosaurs, and $235,726 to McDougall Craig North Ltd to produce the three-part documentary series, Pavlova Paradise Revisited.

Ends

Once Were Dinosaurs $149,000
1 x 1 hour documentary series
Broadcaster: TV One
Producer: Bryan Bruce, Red Sky Film and Television

Pavlova Paradise Revisited $235,726
3 x 1 hour documentary
Broadcaster: TV One
Producer: Linda McDougall, McDougall Craig North Ltd

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