Filmmaker John O’Shea died in Wellington in July 2001. John’s career in film began in the 1940s, when he became assistant to the Censor. He was later involved in the establishment of the Wellington Film Society, the NZ Film Commission and Film Archive.

The following essays, written in his honour, were originally published in Illusions 33, Autumn 2002.

	Broken Barrier (1952)

Cinematically speaking, New Zealand was a barren wilderness between the years 1940 and 1970. Only three feature films were produced in that time (Broken Barrier, 1952; Runaway, 1964; Don’t Let It Get You, 1966); all of them by John O’Shea for Pacific Films. Almost single-handedly, Pacific Films kept alive the notion of independent filmmaking in New Zealand until the establishment of the Film Commission in 1978.

Leave All Fair (1985)

The Pacific Film Unit was established in 1948 by ex-National Film Unit staff Alun Falconer (writer-director) and Roger Mirams (cameraman). Disgruntled by the peacetime political agenda of the Weekly Review, their ambition was to create an independent company. Short sponsored documentary films such The Story of a Store, 1949, for Hays Department Store were the company’s staple product. In 1950 John O’Shea joined; Alun Falconer left to pursue a career in China; and the company changed its name to Pacific Film Productions Ltd. Roger Mirams left Pacific Films in 1957 to set up a subsidiary company in Australia and from that time John O’Shea became synonymous with Pacific Films.

	Don’t Let it Get You (1966)

Pacific Films survived by making road safety films presented as 1 and 2-reel mini-movie-dramas; sponsored documentaries; and by covering sports events, between 1956 and 1962 for example, the company covered every All Black test match played in New Zealand. The introduction of television in 1960 raised the hopes of independent companies. Although it did provide Pacific Films some opportunities, most notably the Survey and Tangata Whenua series, in the main television was not a rich source of programming for the independents. The production of television commercials did become an increasingly important source of income however.

Runaway (1964)

The late 1960s and 1970s were Pacific Films’ boom time. The permanent staff grew to 28, many of whom – Gaylene Preston, Michael Seresin, Barry Barclay – were to become important filmmakers both locally and internationally. In the absence of any film schools in New Zealand John O’Shea and Pacific Films filled an important gap. By the mid 1970s new government directives for “competitive and complementary programming” crippled independent production and Pacific’s staff dwindled to only six.

With the upturn in the New Zealand film industry in the 1980s Pacific Films returned to feature film production, releasing Sons for the Return Home (1979), Pictures (1981), Among the Cinders (1984), Leave all Fair (1985), Ngati (1987) and Te Rua (1991).

John O’Shea’s contribution to the New Zealand film industry is indisputable, for more than 50 years he was totally committed to New Zealand filmmaking and film culture. In 1990 John received an OBE for his services to film and in 1992 he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Film Commission.