To mark the 40th anniversary of the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Screen brings us the stories behind some of our most notable local films.
"I like to pull rabbits out of hats to surprise people," spoke director David Blyth before unleashing his debut feature Angel Mine. And surprisepeople it certainly did, generating a fair amount of controversy, and criticism, upon its 1978 release.
Set in Auckland's Pakuranga, the film explores marriage and the ways in which consumerism governs middle-class suburbia – establishing an interest in pushing boundaries that would become a trademark of Blyth's work.
Forty years on, Angel Mine remains one of only a handful of Kiwi experimental feature films to earn a wide cinema release, accompanied by a legendary addition to its R18 certificate: "contains punk cult material".
Here Blyth speaks about how Angel Mine predicted the rise of social media (and Viagra), and of being unprepared for the public, and critics', reaction to the film.
