Story Arc
Project status: pilot stories filmed; development phase two underway.
Telling simple stories of people and place. Story Arc pulls up in a van, parks outside a place and invites a person in to tell their story. We ask why is this place important to them, what is their connection with it.
Conceived with a digital outcome in mind, this project offers intimate insight into Wellington life. It is a mobile story collector with a cameraperson, a director/interviewer, two cameras and a microphone all folded up in a ubiquitous white van.
Story Arc is a model we hope to develop and collaborate with others on so that we can create a diverse picture of not only Wellington, but of all Aotearoa. We could literally put the stories on the map as a digital application.
It is an idea that can provide fertile ground for emerging filmmakers to practice their craft and we are currently in conversation with an educational institution about a partnership. We are keen to extend these conversations to other wāngana, to community groups and Marae.
Our nine pilot stories were made the support of a Wellington Creative Communities Grant.
Stories of place and people so far:
Holloway Road, academic filmmaker & writer Russell Campbell has lived in Holloway Road (once a socialist hot-spot) for almost his entire adult life
Cuba St Fruit Shop, Sanjay Dayal, tells how this shop has been in the family for three generations
Te Whare Waka & Te Aro Pa, Liz Mellish of the 'Tenths Trust' tells us story of Wellington's inception
Bar Bodega, trucks run through what used to be the back bar of Fraser McInnes' famous Bar Bodega
Wellington Home of Compassion Soup Kitchen, Adele Chapman admires the nuns who are all about treating each person who crosses the threshold with dignity
Victoria University, Wanwei Jiang came from China study here. Now six years later she is a New Zealander
Owen St, Newtown, Will Moore, a social activist tells of his monthly street garage party
Oriental Parade, Mrs Kedgley tells us about her life during wartime Wellington
The Beehive & Parliament, Ken Piddington regales us with stories of the Beehive under construction and the art of recycling demolition cast-offs.