KEY POINTS:
When Juliette Veber was looking for inspiration for a documentary about South Auckland, she didn't expect to it to come from an assistant principal brandishing a megaphone.
Trouble is My Business by England-born and Auckland-raised Veber follows assistant principal Gary Peach during 2004 at Aorere College in Papatoetoe.
The documentary is a universally relevant story about a lower socio-economic area struggling to get ahead while dealing with extremely complex social problems, she says.
It is inspiring and depressing in equal measure.
Veber followed Mr Peach, or Peachy as some students call him, as he used a strict no-nonsense approach among the college's 1200 students.
The college was struggling with widespread social issues, a history of street gangs within the school, high levels of truancy and low academic achievement.
The documentary follows Mr Peach as he orders students back to class, deals with Child, Youth and Family, patrols the streets for truant students and acts as a go-between among disruptive students and teachers.
His methods are unconventional and create enough annoyance to generate a petition of 20 students.
Veber says the college has improved since the documentary was filmed, but the social obstacles that students face remain.
The documentary is timely, Veber says, because of the recent spate of South Auckland killings, highlighting social problems in the community.
Veber, 34, a feature film producer, was in New York researching a documentary about Chinese garment workers when a worker asked her what New Zealand was like.
After spending her working life in the film industry Veber says she "didn't have a great perspective on our people".
Veber returned to New Zealand and decided to make a documentary about something she didn't know about.
"I felt sad I hadn't had much contact with South Auckland and felt it would be a great place to start."
Veber moved from Wellington to South Auckland, got a job, and set about getting to know the community before turning a spotlight on it.
She worked at Aorere College as arts co-ordinator, drawn to the role because of her interest in education.
"It was a different school to the one I went to. There were quite a few things I noticed about it - there was a lot of truancy."
When Veber first saw Mr Peach, he was walking around with a megaphone.
"I couldn't help but laugh."
Veber said she had never seen anything like it. "But the students didn't really seem to mind. It was quite normal."
Veber noticed he was never in the staffroom and always out with the students.
"He was there to deal with the students' problems and the social issues inherent in the community."
Veber realised Mr Peach would be an ideal subject for her documentary.
"Because he came from the area he really understood how to help and reach the students."
At the end of 2004 Mr Peach left Aorere to teach in Northland. He then returned to Auckland where he works as a rugby mentor-teacher.
- NZPA
