Barry Barclay

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Barry Barclay, MNZM, was a New Zealand film-maker, and writer of Maori (Ngati Apa) and Pakeha (European) descent. Barry was born in Masterton in the Wairarapa district of New Zealand's North Island on 12 May 1944, and died at Rawene on 19 February 2008.

His early career in radio, then in film and television led to great recognition as a documentary maker in the 1970s and 1980s. His early experimental short documentaries Ashes, The Town That Lost a Miracle, and Autumn Fires led to an invitation to direct Tangata Whenua', a six part television documentary series that presented the language, culture and politics of New Zealand's Maori people to a mainstream prime-time audience (in 1974) for the first time. The series was made in collaboration with producer John O'Shea of Pacific Films and historian/writer Michael King.

After this success, Barry left New Zealand for a time to live in Europe. He returned to make The Neglected Miracle, a documentary on the legal and societal challenges presented by assertions of ownership of genetic material, especially seed stocks, and a documentary on the then Prime Minister of India,-Indira Gandhi.

After these documentary projects, Barry collaborated with the writer Tama (Tom) Poata on the feature film Ngati (Pacific Films 1987), which was very well received at several international film-festivals, and which attracted great critical acclaim:

1987 - Cannes Film Festival: Critics Week. Taormina Film Festival, Italy: Gold Charybdis Award, Best Film. New Zealand Music Awards: Best Soundtrack, Dalvanius. 1988 New Zealand Listener Film and Television Awards: Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Male Actor - Wi Kuki Kaa, Best Female Actor - Judy McIntosh.

Barry's second feature film was Te Rua (Pacific Films 1991), concerns an Iwi's attempts to repatriate stolen carvings from a German museum back to their rightful place in Aotearoa. Te Rua was a German/New Zealand co-production, and is acknowledged as being a more complex, and possibly more compromised work than Ngati.

Since the 1990's, Barry has completed The Feathers of Peace- a documentary on the persecution of the Moriori people, and The Kaipara Affair, on the wide-ranging implications of dwindling fish populations in the Kaipara harbour.

His first book was Our Own Image (1990), about his film-making practices and the creation of indigeneous cinema. His second book Mana Tuturu (2005) makes proposals about indigenous intellectual property rights.

Barry was awarded a Member of the Order of New Zealand in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the film industry. He was based in Omapere, Hokianga, New Zealand before his death on 19 February 2008. Barry was 63 years old. On Wednesday the 20th of February 2008, Barry's body was returned to Whangaehu Marae in the Wairarapa. His tangi (funeral) was held on Saturday 23 February.

[edit] Filmography

As Director

  • The Kaipara Affair. (2003)
  • The Feathers of Peace (2000)
  • Te Rua (1991)
  • Ngati (1987)
  • The Neglected Miracle (1985)
  • Aku Mahi Whatu Maori (My Art of Maori Weaving) (1977)
  • Ashes (1975)
  • Autumn Fires (1975)
  • Hunting Horns (1975)
  • Indira Gandhi (1975)
  • Tangata Whenua (1974) TV Series
  • The Town That Lost a Miracle (1972) TV Series

As Writer

  • The Feathers of Peace (2000) (screenplay)
  • Te Rua (1991)
  • Aku Mahi Whatu Maori (My Art of Maori Weaving) (1977)

[edit] Books

  • Our Own Image (1990, Longman Paul, Auckland) ISBN 0582858321
  • Mana Tuturu: Māori treasures and intellectual property rights (2005, Auckland University Press) ISBN 1869403509

[edit] External links