Reflecting on Loss and Hope
Hi all,
And welcome to a uniquely difficult issue of NZTECHO.
I was thinking about this editorial a while back, and this is what I had sketched out:
By the time you read this, maybe ten days or more after I’m writing it, the world will have changed a little more. As I write this, mandates and passes being phased out is being discussed. But in ten days time, that will already seem like old news.
And with the impending announcements, we can surely expect some positive news for the screen industry. We all know that there are international productions that are poised to come to New Zealand - and that all they need is some certainty that our uncertain time is coming to an end.
Our international reputation as being one of the best places to shoot, with great crews, a huge variety of locations and a film-friendly government is now enhanced by having come through a once-in-a-century pandemic with the lowest rates of death and hospitalisation in the world.
Over 96% of us eventually agreed that getting vaccinated was the best choice. Even without the ‘mandates’ the rate was well over 90%.
The truth is that getting vaccinated has turned out to be the most popular choice in New Zealand’s history. Let’s celebrate that, acknowledge what we can achieve when we work together and enjoy getting back to doing what we do best - making films, getting along with each other, and complaining about the catering.
And the truth is, that would have been an OK editorial. I know that plenty of you will disagree with my support of vaccination and mandates. And that’s fine. We can disagree all we want, and still be friends and colleagues every day. I love that about this industry - and about this country.
And that, surely, only makes it all the more baffling, that so many New Zealanders - and so many people in this industry - should choose to take their own lives.
In the last few months, we have been devastated to learn that two of our best have left us, by their own choice.
In this issue you will find tributes to Vincent Burke - a brilliant producer and true larger than life figure, who many of us will have worked for and with over the years. It is an honour to be able to publish a piece about him.
But this issue also contains tributes to Richard Matthews and to Ants Farrell, both of whom were well-known and well-loved figures in the Wellington and the New Zealand industry. Although the truth about Ants may never be known, we have to assume that both of these men have chosen to bring an end to their own lives, years before their time.
I’ll let the words that people have sent in speak for them. But, thank you, Giles, Sam and Jamie. Brigitte, Emma, Liz, Teuila - but especially Miranda. Thank you.
GT and Jason.
