New Zealand International Film Festival 2017

Today the Christchurch programme for the New Zealand International Film Festival was launched.

Every year the New Zealand International Film Festival screens a range of films. It’s Christchurch’s turn from 3 August to 20 August.

Literary films at the Festival

If you like movies based on books — or want to read the book before you see the movie — there are plenty of films for you at the 2017 Christchurch leg of the NZ International Film Festival. Thanks to the Film Festival organisers for providing us with some of the following information:

A Monster Calls
A story-telling monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) helps a sleeping boy with his waking-life nightmares in this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ novel, spectacularly realised with lavish CGI and painterly animations.
Based on the novel A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

A Woman’s Life (Une Vie)
A literary adaptation of a story by Guy de Maupassant styled with striking immediacy, Stéphane Brizé relates the tragedy of an adventurous young 19th-century noblewoman harshly judged for an unfortunate marriage.

Bill Direen: A Memory of Others
A documentary about New Zealand musician Bill Direen.
Find books and music by Bill Direen in our collection.

Call Me By Your Name
This gorgeous and moving adaptation of André Aciman’s acclaimed novel, directed by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love), stars Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet as lovers in sun-kissed northern Italy.
Based on the book Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

Citizen Jane
A documentary capturing the showdown in the 1950s between the activist Jane Jacobs and the trumpian urban planner Robert Moses: as she fights preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects.
Based on The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs

Ethel and Ernest
This animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ graphic memoir of his parents’ lives is both humble and profound, with gorgeous renderings of Briggs’ justly famous lines. Featuring the voices of Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn.
Based on the graphic novel memoir Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs

Heal the Living
A catastrophic accident leaves one family in ruins and bestows another with precious hope in a hospital drama immeasurably enhanced by the delicate sensitivity of Katell Quillévéré’s script and the poetic force of her direction.
Based on Mend the living by Maylis de Kerangal

I Am Not Your Negro
A documentary based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, exploring the history of racism in the United States through Baldwin’s reminiscences of civil rights leaders.

Lady MacBeth
Florence Pugh is mesmerising as she transmutes from nervous bride to femme fatale in this bracing British period drama based on the 19th-century Russian classic by Nikolai Leskov – Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

The Lost City of Z
Charlie Hunnam makes a commanding flawed hero as British Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett in a sweeping giant screen epic, filmed with rare intelligence by writer/director James Gray. With Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson.
Based on the novel by David Grann, The Lost City of Z

No Ordinary Sheila
A documentary exploring the life of New Zealand writer Sheila Natusch who has written over 30 books including Animals of New Zealand, The Cruise of Acheron, Hell and High Water and Wild Fare for Wilderness Forager. No Ordinary Sheila is a documentary about her life, times – and places.

Stalker
Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 masterpiece, like his earlier Solaris, is a free and allegorical adaptation of a sci-fi novel, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic.
See also the book about the movie Stalker – Zona: A book about a film about a journey to a room by Geoff Dyer.

Swallows and Amazons
Four children (the Swallows) on holiday in the Lake District (UK) sail on their own to an island and start a war with rival children (the Amazons).
Based on the book Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

To Stay Alive: A Method
This Dutch documentary film is based on Michel Houellebecq’s 1991 essay To Stay Alive, about struggling artists, the role of the poet, and mental health problems. It features marginal artists as well as Houellebecq and the rock singer Iggy Pop.
Read books in our collection by Michel Houellebecq

Una
A young woman arrives unexpectedly at an older man’s workplace looking for answers as to their shared past in an abusive sexual relationship.
Based on the play Blackbird by David Harrower

More information

• See the full Christchurch programme
• Read our page about the NZIFF
• NZIFF website
• Visit our page about film for movie resources and information.

Culinary delights from 1917

Everything old is new again. Or so it would seem with lots of things getting a 21st century revival including sustainability, reducing food-waste, hand-made, and foraging wild foods (not that any of these things had ever really gone away).

So maybe now is the time to grab your aprons and revisit some recipes from the past.

Early last century The Press published a column with the delightful title Women’s Corner – where all matters for insertion were to be sent to the Lady Editor for consideration. While other pages of the newspaper were filled with stories of the War this column provided readers with news of weddings, who’s wearing what, who is visiting whom in the district, some news and anecdotes from overseas, and sometimes a recipe of the day.

And what recipes they are, a seemingly never ending array of pies, puddings, fritters and rissoles! Light on instruction – I think everyone just knew how to make pastry – the recipes offered us such delights as Orange Roly-Poly, Banana Pie, Rice and Meat Rissoles, and Russian Pie.

On the cooking radar around this time of year in 1917 were Baked cheese and potato cake, apple fritters, cheese pudding, Rabbit and Macaroni pie, date pudding and this recipe.

WOMEN’S CORNER., Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15940, 29 June 1917 , CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ

I’m not sure how easy it will be to source the ‘pollard’ – a byproduct of flour milling – or what else I could use it for since the only other pollard based recipe I came across was ‘Phosphorized Pollard for Poisoning Rabbits’ from the Bay of Plenty Times.

If you don’t find any of these 1917 recipes tempting you can find other culinary delights from New Zealand in our catalogue including Ladies, a plate.

Or borrow one of our many food related magazines.

         

And check out our New Zealand Cuisine Booklist for more titles. Bon appétit !

Follow our tweets from @100chch to discover life and events 100 years ago in Christchurch and Canterbury.

Tweets by @

Recent necrology, June 2017

Some well-known people who have died recently

• John Avildsen, 1935-2017
  Film director, best known for Rocky
• Michael Bond, 1926-2017
  Prolific author of children’s stories and creator of Paddington Bear
  Read Kate’s post: Of marmalade, memories, and me: A tribute to Paddington Bear
• Helen Dunmore, 1952-2017
  Versatile writer, one of Britain’s finest historical novelists

   

• John Freely, 1926-2017
  Physicist and travel writer
• Peter Sallis, 1921-2017
  English actor best known for appearing in The Last of the Summer Wine and also famous as the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit
• Jeffrey Tate, 1943-2017
  English conductor, born with spina bifida, who had been principal conductor at Covent Garden, Rotterdam Philharmonic, San Carlo in Naples and Hamburg Symphony

Of marmalade, memories, and me: A tribute to Paddington Bear

I’ve always been interested in old-fashioned toys, and find it really interesting learning what toys have been popular at different times. There have been some fascinating playthings through the years – no, fidget spinners, I don’t mean you! – but of all the toys I’ve seen, it’s always been the humble teddy bear which held a special place in my heart.

With a history dating back to just the start of the 20th century, I found the story of these furry creatures fascinating, and there was something about their personality and stature that just clicked in my little brain. As far as I was concerned, the teddy bear was my ‘spirit animal’, and quite definitely ‘the’ thing to collect. Toys, ornaments, mugs, books – if it had a teddy bear on it, I wanted it. When I got a membership to Victoria Street’s original ‘Not Just Bears’ shop for my 10th birthday, I was in teddy bear heaven.

I don’t collect teddy bears anymore, but with a background like this, you could guess how I felt when I heard that Michael Bond, creator of one of the most famous literary teddy bears of all, had died. I felt like I had lost a friend, and it was as if a little bit of my childhood had gone with him.

Paddington Bear. He of duffle coats, marmalade sandwiches, and a never-ending sense of mischief. The bear from deepest, darkest, Peru, who finds his English family on the platform of London’s Paddington Station. A bear who had been there through the many different stages of my life. A bear I had grown up with, and who I feel is just as important now as he was when I first met him.

My parents have a photograph of me in a costume parade back in my first year of primary school. There I am, dressed up as a nursery rhyme (more specifically, Mary from ‘Mary, Mary quite contrary’ with a garden growing out of my hat), and I am holding hands with my friend Katie. Gumboots, duffle coat and luggage tag, floppy hat, and a smudge of a black bear nose – she was a perfect Paddington. I remember listening to Paddington stories as books on tape as Katie and I played together at her house – we loved hearing about his mishaps, and pretending it was us getting in to all that mischief. When we were expected to be well-behaved and stay out of trouble, Paddington could do what he wanted.

As I got older and was able to read the books myself, I was kind of jealous of how independent this bear was. There are lots of different Paddington stories, and I love the fact that in all of them Paddington sees something that needs doing, and does it. Things don’t always go the way he plans, and he might end up needing the Brown family’s help to achieve what he sets out to do, but he always gives things a go, and it is always him at the centre of the action. Everyone else is just a supporting part. When I was wanting to be more independent and getting frustrated that I couldn’t go down to the park unless I was with my friends and home by teatime, Paddington was off on his own, exploring and doing what he wanted.

Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I am working at a children’s bookshop when a Paddington Bear treasury comes in. A beautifully-illustrated hardcover book, this brought back a rush of memories for me. It instantly became one of my go-to recommendations for people looking for books for young children, but with so many Paddington Bear fans out there already, I didn’t really have to work too hard to recommend it – that bear really did sell himself. I loved seeing the looks on customers’ faces when they realised they could relive their childhood joy, and share these stories with their children. I had loved Paddington when I was little, and now I could introduce him to a whole new generation of fans.

Moving on to Christmas 2014, and I am mentoring a young child through Big Brother Big Sister. This was a child who had heaps of stuff going on in their life, without the opportunities to do so many of the activities many of us take for granted. As a special treat I suggested the two of us go to see a movie, something the kiddo hadn’t done before, and Paddington was the movie of choice. I’m not mentoring this young person anymore, so I don’t know if they still remember the movie’s plot, or if they’ve read any of the books that the movie was based on, but that really doesn’t matter. For me, the best part of going to see this movie was looking over at the seat beside me, seeing a child totally engrossed in a new experience, and knowing that regardless of what happens to them in the future, they will have a memory of doing something new and fun with someone who cares about them at this moment. Sharing books and stories is as much about making memories as it is about actually reading, and now Paddington Bear is makes me think fondly of being with a particular person at a particular time of my life. Hopefully it does the same for them, too.

  

And here we are in 2017. When I think of Paddington now, I see him like a child who has ended up in care for reasons outside of their control. Sent away, to live in a different environment with a new whānau that he doesn’t know… in other words, some of the same challenges New Zealand children might face if they can’t stay in their own homes. Paddington manages to thrive in his new home, despite the difficulties he faces, and in this way he shows our kiwi tamariki that they too can get through these difficult times. It is really important for children to be able to see characters like themselves in books, and if children can look at Paddington as a role model during challenging times in their life, then I think this bear is just as relevant now as he was when Mr Bond first introduced him to us in 1958.

So join me in celebrating the life of Mr. Bond, and the wonderful, colourful, character which he has left us.

Check out the Paddington books we have available, and share his stories with your own friends and family over a nice cup of tea, a marmalade sandwich, and some of Aunt Lucy’s Sweet Potato Mash. Apparently it’s a hit with the bears in the Home for Retired Bears back in Lima, Peru.

Cabin Fever

I am totally hooked on small houses, cabins log and otherwise, tree houses, yurts, ex-railway carriages, caravans… essentially dinky living and I’m not alone I don’t think. Apart from the sheer ingeniousness required to squeeze everything into the limited space, what is that gets me?  Is it some basic psychological need coming from cavewoman days that cons me into thinking bushcraft living could be for me? Hunter Gatherer or nesting urges? Me the card carrying urban dwelling wimp who is not a big fan of the dark ?

I read The Tree house Diaries by Nick Weston from cover to cover. Devoured his knowledge of shooting and hunting game, the coppicing lessons needed to keep his vege garden safe from the farmer’s fat porker, how to build the composting loo, the pizza oven and ground oven. Never mind the actual building of his gorgeous treehouse with Bertha the stove (old oil drum) heating his recycled eyrie.

I was with Nick as he ate the game.  He knows his onions and his toadstools, is an extremely resourceful young man, writes a good diary, and brews a decent elderflower wine and nettle beer. Oh and he is crackerjack at foraging. If you’re small-living fixated — whether or not you think you want to build a tree house — you really might after reading this.

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Cabin Porn is exactly what it says it is.  For lovers of cabins, this is the real deal — more than 200 cabins handpicked for your inspiration, as well as 10 special stories and photo collections.

Zach and friends found the perfect setting for a group cabin, brought the land, and built their cabin. The first night in the cabin, the workers lay on the floor in their sleeping bags as one friend read to them all. Bliss!

As the years have passed, they have added extra cabins and a large hot water tub — all ingeniously built and heated.  The second part of the book is given over to shots of huts and cabins in the most stunning scenery and treehouses.  My favourite is attached to its host tree by upright 2 x 4s held in place by a metal band. The treehouse moves a little in time with the tree and the tree suffers not. Apparently the house has slid down the tree a little but he’s confident it will hold on until the tree expands  and stops any more slippage.

Did I mention it is mighty high up and the owner got fed up with trekking up and down the extension ladder so he installed a lift. He sits on his mother’s old bike and goes up and down on a pulley system with counterbalance weights. Ingenious.

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Tiny Houses built with Recycled Materials is by Ryan Mitchell. He obviously has the bug also as he has written more than one Tiny House book but this one is my favourite. It’s the recycled materials that complete the whole thing. The beauty of these gorgeous wee homes, most of them mobile, come with layout plans and a description of their utilities.

Part I has advice, apps, design tips, likely sources for your reused materials, even how to get the nails out of old wood easier. The sheer artiness and design brilliance of these homes makes my heart sing.

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But wait there’s more, we have one for the girls: A Woman’s Huts and Hideaways. This time they are less mobile and more getaways: yurts, a sleek silver Airstream caravan from the US all tarted up, a beach hut, a straw bale story telling hut, A MUD HUT!, an old ice cream van, a truly beautiful gypsy caravan, a converted summerhouse and garden shed. This one is more coffee table book than a how-to. But definitely worth a read whilst you’re tucked away in your quiet spot.

Have you had the courage to break out and live tiny? Do these ideas make you want to start rummaging for secondhand material? Take another look at the garden shed? Or just dream like me?

Read more:

• Huts
• Log cabins
• Holiday houses
• Cottages
• Small Houses
• Tree Houses