Taking Back Our Beach(2023)
When the MV Rena grounded on Ōtāiti (Astrolabe reef) on 5 October 2011 it wasn’t just the iconic New Zealand coastline and wildlife that were threatened by the ensuing black waves of oil and debris, but also a lifestyle treasured by its residents.
This is a film about the response by a community to New Zealand’s largest environmental disaster, seen through the eyes of that community. The film captures the shock, anger and grief driven into the heart of the local community, but also the humour, purpose and overwhelming positivity when people join together with a common goal.
Movie: Taking Back Our Beach
Video Trailer Taking Back Our Beach
All 1 videos
Taking Back Our Beach Trailer - Trailer
Similar Movies
Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster(en)
Three years in the making in conjunction with the BBC. Using never seen before home movies, photos and eye witness accounts - this is the inside story of the world's biggest motorsport disaster.
Picturesque New Zealand(en)
This Traveltalk series short visit to New Zealand starts in Auckland, a bustling, modern city. Next is Christchurch, home of Canterbury University, where rowing teams participate in a regatta. Nearby is Lake Wakatipu, which inspires artists to put their impressions on canvas. We then visit Rotorua, a city famous for its geysers, hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and other geothermal activity. At Ferry Springs there is lots of trout for fishing. Later, a group of natives performs a canoe dance.
River Deep, Mountain High: James Nesbitt in New Zealand(en)
James Nesbitt moved to New Zealand in 2011 when he landed the role of Bofur in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, but he says the country remains largely unknown to him. Travelling more than 1,000 miles from the tip of the North Island down to the South, the actor finds out more about the place he has called home, visiting areas of natural beauty and learning about the nation's history and traditions. Along the way, he meets former All Blacks player the late great Jonah Lomu, takes a trip around film star Sam Neill's vineyards in Queenstown, catches up with Peter Jackson and goes Base-jumping from the tallest building in Auckland.
A Seat at the Table(en)
France makes the most desired, revered and expensive wines in the world. They’ve had centuries to hone their craft. If you make fine wine, France is the benchmark. Or are they? One country famous for punching above its weight is taking on the aristocracy. This is a story featuring the World's most renowned winemakers, critics, writers and fine wine merchants. Travelling from the Old World to the New World we explore the history, culture and tension in the changing world of fine wine, answering that one question - has New Zealand earned a seat at the table?
Beyond Pollution(en)
Barker White documents the environmental impact of the massive BP spill.
The Hindenburg(en)
The history of lighter than air transportation culminating in the Hindenburg explosion which gets thoroughly covered and analyzed.
Hunt For the Lost Superfleet(en)
The Battle of the Falklands, between a Royal Navy task force and five German cruisers, was one of the most dramatic and bloodiest sea conflicts of World War I. When the smoke cleared, four of the German ships had sunk, including the flagship and pride of the German fleet, the SMS Scharnhorst. For decades, none of the downed vessels were ever found. Now, more than 100 years later, maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound and his team are searching for the ships and the secrets they hold. It's a race against time and the raging South Atlantic Ocean.
Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs(en)
Documentary short about the disastrous dangers of aging, ailing dams.
Fire And Fury(en)
Who is driving a violent, misinformed New Zealand, and why? Fire and Fury is a Stuff Circuit investigation into disinformation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Flare - A Ski Trip(en)
A short documentary about freestyle skiing made for the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department.
Czech Dream(cs)
Two students from the Czech Film Academy commission a leading advertising agency to organize a huge campaign for the opening of a new supermarket named Czech Dream. The supermarket however does not exist and is not meant to. The advertising campaign includes radio and television ads, posters, flyers with photos of fake Czech Dream products, a promotional song, an internet site, and ads in newspapers and magazines. Will people believe in it and show up for the grand opening?
Wildcat: The Struggle for Democracy in the New Zealand Timberworkers' Union(en)
Delegates and workers discuss the issues that effect the Timberworkers’ Union, the reasons for the formation of the Combined Council of Timber Workers Delegates (CCD) and their industrial action.
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari(en)
A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019 in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.
752 Is Not a Number(en)
On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 went down as it was leaving Iranian air space. All 176 people on board were killed, many of them Iranian Canadians. For weeks Iranian authorities vociferously denied responsibility, but foreign governments and agencies were certain the plane was shot down by Iranian military, a fact Iran’s government eventually admitted. There were no answers as to why the plane was fired on or even why it was allowed to take off, since hostilities had broken out in the region in preceding days.
The Shock Doctrine(en)
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
Death by Rescue: The Lethal Effects of Non-Assistance at Sea(en)
In April 2015, two shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean resulted in over a thousand deaths. The first, on 12 April, occurred when an overcrowded boat was approached by a large commercial vessel. Less than a week later, on 18 April 2015, a similar incident led to over eight hundred deaths after an overcrowded vessel collided with a cargo ship that had approached to rescue its passengers. Both incidents are in part the result of changing EU policies toward at-sea rescue, particularly the retreat of state rescue operations and a resulting onus on commercial vessels to fill the ‘rescue gap’.
Mururoa 1973(en)
In 1973 Alister Barry joined the crew of a protest boat (The Fri) to Mururoa Atoll, where the French Government were testing nuclear weapons. Barry records the assembly of the crew, the long journey from Northland, and their reception in the test zone; when The Fri was boarded and impounded by French military he had to hide his camera in a barrel of oranges.
Gallipoli from Above(en)
Gallipoli from Above: The Untold Story is the true story of how a team of Australian officers used aerial intelligence, emerging technology and innovative tactics to plan the landing at Anzac Cove. It is now nearly 100 years since the landing and hundreds of books, movies and documentaries have failed to grasp the significance of the ANZAC achievement. Instead, the mythology has clouded the real story of how these two influential Australian officers took control of the landing using every innovation they could muster to safely land their men on Z beach.
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web(en)
The larger-than-life story of Kim Dotcom, the 'most wanted man online', is extraordinary enough, but the battle between Dotcom and the US Government and entertainment industry—being fought in New Zealand—is one that goes to the heart of ownership, privacy and piracy in the digital age.