Christine Mackenzie is showing her documentaries to a Katikati audience. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
Christine Mackenzie is showing her documentaries to a Katikati audience. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
Peak behind the scenes of famous Hollywood actors and directors right here in Katikati.
Actress, writer and local resident Christine Mackenzie will be showcasing two documentaries she has written and produced.
The first screening is Inside the Dreamfactory filmed by Radio Television Luxembourg (RTL).
The gig came about by achance encounter sitting beside the RTL manager on a plane from Munich to London.
‘’I told him I would love to make a series of what goes on with the actors and directors in Hollywood — and call it Inside the Dreamfactory. And bounce around on different sets with different directors and have fun with it.’’
The result was a pilot with Christine as the presenter. She never wanted the interviews to be static. For example, she had fun painting with powerhouse director Oliver Stone.
‘’Oliver Stone likes to paint which many people don’t know so I turned up with my overalls and we painted on a canvas laughing and splashing each other with paint.
‘’I didn’t want it to be a talk show, sitting down and talking. I wanted the series to be fun... you know, ride horses on the beach, paint, play guitar.’’The first part of the documentary was directed by French filmmaker Francois Taborelli on the Hollywood movie set for the film Red Corner (which was shot in a reconstructed Chinese town on what once was Howard Hughes’s private airport) starring Richard Gere.
It features an interview with Oscar-winning production designer Richard Sylbert (The Graduate, China Town, Dick Tracy and My Best Friend’s Wedding). A videotaped interview with Richard Gere was lost as the tape was not replaced so instead he was filmed running over set rooftops. There’s also an interview with Chinese lead actress Bai Ling.
The second screening is The Spirit of Clay which was filmed for The Arts & Entertainment channel, produced by Christine and Muriel Fariello. The art documentary is about four women potters creating claywork in the historic village of Galisteo, New Mexico.
Christine at The Arts Junction theatre.
To Christine’s delight, the National Museum of Women in the Arts ran it at an annual fundraiser event in Santa Fe.
Christine’s achievements are extensive — she’s been in musicals, written about 10 screenplays, once ran a New Zealand theatre company and has written for magazines. She also wrote, directed and produced comedy movie Rent a Gent in Hawaii. She particularly enjoyed being a specialty performer in 2017 television series Godless.
‘’My proudest achievement is my playwriting, my screenplays and my novel,’’ she says.
The adventure, action and romance novel Hoofbeat Heartbeat was inspired by her husband, now friend, polo player Stuart Mackenzie who was New Zealand’s highest goal player reaching nine for a season in 1988. Christine says the book sold out and online sales enabled her to buy a house in Katikati.
Now pops up in the odd local theatre production, is a keen supporter of the arts in Katikati and is working on an upcoming creative project.
The details
What: Screenings of Christine Mackenzie’s Inside the Dreamfactory and The Spirit of Clay
