Tracking Shots
Close Ups on NZ Film History
Maoriland Films
Otaki's dream to be “the Los Angelos of New Zealand's moving picture industry” was fleeting.
In the early 1920s Australian company Federated Feature Films Ltd proposed a New Zealand branch for the purpose of producing feature films. Mr Frank Moore visited on their behalf and suggested Otaki as a likely place to establish a studio because of the town’s varied scenery and "potent actinic rays" (white light). Interest in Otaki was strong, but in favour of local producers.
The New Zealand Moving Picture Company (Maoriland Films) was established and the company produced three films:Otaki Gorge Buller Lake and Otaki Maori Life; Historic Otaki; and Charlie’s Capers (a comedy starring a Charlie Chaplin impersonator) in the six short months it survived.
- Historic Otaki (0,000kb)
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