Tracking Shots
Close Ups on NZ Film History
Fifty Feet From Extinction
The earliest moving images shot in New Zealand survive as 50 feet of film, no more than 33 seconds worth.
This moment shows New Zealand troops departing for the Boer War in January 1900. The film was handed to the Film Archive in 1993. The nitrate film had to be slowly coaxed off its reel and hand repaired over 180 painstaking hours. It was then sent to Italy for specialist printing and copying.
On its return a group of historians was called in and, from the uniforms and locations, they were able to confirm that this is New Zealand's earliest surviving film, made by AH Whitehouse on 13 or 14 January 1900.
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