Pitsch Leiser is Director Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. Photo /NZME
Pitsch Leiser is Director Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. Photo /NZME
Springflix: With Daylight Saving starting this weekend, Hawke's Bay locals give you tips on what to watch and listen in your spare time.
Pitsch Leiser, director Hawke's Bay Arts Festival Best movie I have seen lately
My preference is usually documentaries to watch over movies so I have been spendingcountless hours on nzonscreen.com lately. I am very interested in Aotearoa's stories of activism and protest and I have come across the Ngā Tamatoa series going back 50 years now, narrated by actor Rawiri Paratene and directed by Kim Webby. It is a very insightful series covering some of the history of the Maori protest movement and the people behind those pivotal moments in Aotearoa's history. And for some more humorous but always very sharp social commentary I enjoy anything in the John Clarke collection.
Best TV series I have been watching
A friend introduced me to the French TV series Call my Agent on Netflix. I have been watching a few episodes, loving the French cinema qualities and the madness of the lives of people working at a talent agency. It is beautifully cast, fast moving and sufficiently light to take your mind of any Covid news overload. Closer to home, TVNZ on Demand is featuring The Panthers, a new series shedding light on the times of the dawn raids, racial tensions between white and Polynesian New Zealanders, the creation of the Polynesian Panthers and Robert Muldoon's premiership. It features a brilliant cast, has an exceptional soundtrack and is a must-see miniseries.
I love Ted Talks and regularly listen to the RNZ series from the Ted stage on Sunday evenings. As part of our festival programme we partner with the Hawke's Bay Readers & Writers Festival and it features among many others, Matt Brown, with his book She's not your Rehab. The Christchurch Barber is helping break cycles of Violence and his TedxChristchurch talk is deeply moving and one I highly recommend.
New Zealand Music has offered us so many amazing gems and I have many albums on my Spotify favourites. But the work of some of our singer songwriters like Reb Fountain with her soon-to-be-released album Iris and Troy Kingi's collaboration with Delaney Davidson on his latest album Black Sea Golden Ladder, has to be on the top of my list. Both albums showcase the depth of their songwriting and exploration of new genres: Fountain going more pop complementing her punk noir sound and Kingi, with Davidson's guidance goes all folk and country. Both offer outstanding listening experiences and can be seen live at the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival on subsequent days at the end of October.
Damon Harvey, Hastings City Councillor ad Chairman of Sport HB Board of Trustees. Photo / NZME
Damon Harvey, Hastings City Councillor and chairman of Sport HB Board of Trustees.
Best movie I have seen lately
The best movie I have watched is Official Secrets. A true story about the Iraq War and how the US and UK lied to get support by other nations to go to war and how this was uncovered by a female intelligence officer. Gripping!
Best TV series I have been watching
I've run light on shows and I'm just playing around trying to find something. I'm trying Start-up at the moment and it's okay. Formula 1 is good, as is The Serpent.
Best podcast I have been listening to
I've just started listening to Smartless and I have also listened to the Once a Panther series. For a local podcaster try Joe Walding Karaitiana's Slow Forward or Outside the Lanes with Sophie Pascoe.
Best album I have been listening to
I try and not to listen to albums but more playlists. What ends up happening though is that Spotify keeps selecting what it thinks is my genre and that's a bit annoying as I want to explore more. My genre is Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Powderfinger, Rage against the Machine, so you can probably work out that something a bit more mellow would be good.
