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A Critical Examination of Film Archiving and Curatorial Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand Through the Life and Work of Jonathan Dennis

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A Critical Examination of Film Archiving and Curatorial Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand Through the Life and Work of Jonathan Dennis Emma Jean Kelly A critical examination of film archiving and curatorial practices in Aotearoa New Zealand through the life and work of Jonathan Dennis 2014 Communications School, Faculty of Design and Creative Technology Supervisors: Dr Lorna Piatti‐Farnell (AUT), Dr Sue Abel (University of Auckland) A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2014 1 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements:...................................................................................................................................... 6 Glossary of terms: ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Archival sources and key: ............................................................................................................................ 10 Interviews: .............................................................................................................................................. 10 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 21 Beyond Biography ................................................................................................................................... 21 The nature of identity – the subject and storytelling ............................................................................. 24 Postcoloniality and the queer subject .................................................................................................... 28 Kaupapa Māori ........................................................................................................................................ 35 The “said and the unsaid” in the archive ................................................................................................ 36 Philosophy of the archive........................................................................................................................ 38 The practice of the archive ..................................................................................................................... 43 Biculturalism in the archive .................................................................................................................... 44 The Silence in the telling of the story ..................................................................................................... 47 Archive as biography of the nation ......................................................................................................... 51 Biography and the Foucauldian Visual Studies Paradigm ................................................................... 52 3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 56 Reflexive auto/biography methodology ................................................................................................. 57 Interpretation of data ............................................................................................................................. 61 Kaupapa Māori research method ....................................................................................................... 61 Oral histories ....................................................................................................................................... 63 Thematic content analysis ...................................................................................................................... 66 Primary data – key document analysis ............................................................................................... 71 4. A historical narrative beginning: Jonathan Spencer Dennis and the early years ............................... 73 The drive to represent a “national identity” ........................................................................................... 85 The New Zealand Film Commission is established ................................................................................. 93 The struggle to establish the Film Archive .............................................................................................. 96 The Film Archive is founded .................................................................................................................. 101 2 5. Biculturalism and the NZFA ................................................................................................................... 107 Films of the tāngata whenua ................................................................................................................ 111 Nga Tamatoa: Young Warriors lay down a challenge ........................................................................... 117 “Artefact” becomes “art” becomes taonga .......................................................................................... 122 The spiritual element: Ngā taonga – kaupapa Māori ........................................................................... 124 6. The New Zealand Film Archive become Guardians of the Treasured Images of Light/Ngā Kaitiaki o ngā Taonga Whitiāhua .............................................................................................................................. 130 Springbok tour protests, the NZFA opens ............................................................................................. 131 Te Māori and its implications for biculturalism .................................................................................... 135 7. Framing the Archive of Jonathan Dennis: Subject, author, curator ................................................. 150 Film archivist as curator and “framer of the kept” ............................................................................... 155 Dennis’ personal papers as archive ...................................................................................................... 160 8. Narrative of Jonathan Dennis’ archive .............................................................................................. 166 Oral histories ......................................................................................................................................... 168 Narrative co‐construction through oral history ................................................................................ 169 Fabula in the narrative ...................................................................................................................... 175 Versions of the story: ............................................................................................................................ 178 1. If I dreamed of anything I dreamed of being a film star ........................................................... 178 2. 24 Frames: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told ......................................................................... 180 3. Friendship Is the Harbour of Joy (2004) .................................................................................... 182 The intimate public – silences in the narrative ..................................................................................... 184 Representing gay men’s lives: Folds in the heteronormative world .................................................... 188 9. Beyond cinema, beyond the NZFA .................................................................................................... 191 Honouring the ancestors ...................................................................................................................... 196 Cinema for the ears ............................................................................................................................... 207 10. Concluding discussion: Archive as biography of the nation? ........................................................ 221 Directions for further research ............................................................................................................. 231 References (Text, Film, Video, Sound): ..................................................................................................... 233 List of Appendices: ................................................................................................................................ 244 1. List of Interviewees ....................................................................................................................... 244 2. Publications by Jonathan Dennis .................................................................................................. 244 3. Constitution Kaupapa of the NZFA 1988 ...................................................................................... 244 4. James McDonald films .................................................................................................................. 244 3 5. OnFilm article by Emma Kelly ....................................................................................................... 244 6. FIAF article by Emma Kelly ...........................................................................................................
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