DocEdge Festival 2024

Sun 30 June Christchurch Lumiere

Sat 6 July Wellington Roxy

Sat 6 July Auckland Capitol

MEDIA

North& South

The Post

Art, conservation and railway engineering

Theo Macdonald
June 2024

Writing to the Rhythm of the Rails

Gillian Whitehead with Bryan Crump

RNZ CONCERT
18 June 2024

The vision of one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most provocative artists and thinkers: the unity of the natural environment and the human imagination, the energy, rhythm and textures of the physical world expressed through clay, words, and music.

SYNOPSIS
Spontaneous Combustion celebrates the legacy of Barry Brickell (1935-2016) and the realisation of his extraordinary dream, Driving Creek Railway & Pottery: a productive pottery with numerous kilns, a bush railway, a native bird and bush sanctuary and a lively creative hub attracting artists from around the globe.

This film is a love-song, a paean to those things that Barry Brickell held dear: the bush, the railway, conversation, song, and art-making in all its varied practices. It reflects the sensual attachment Brickell felt to the land and human form, as expressed in the ceramic sculptures that defined his creativity.

A cinematic montage of historic stills and film from present day Driving Creek, is woven with a spirited, poetic narration by Greg O'Brien. The sumptuous soundtrack performed by Robert Oliver and the Palliser Viols with renowned taonga pūoro player, Mahina-Ina Kingi-Kaui, features compositions by Gillian Karawe Whitehead and Ross Harris.

CREW

BRUCE FOSTER Director, Editor, Director of Photography, Producer
ROBERT OLIVER Musical Director
GREGORY O’BRIEN Creative Producer
JOHN NEIL Sound Engineer & Mixer (Concerts)
ANGUS WEBB Sound Editor & Mixer
CARLO BORNHOLDT Sound Recording (Driving Creek)
ROB SARKIES Camera operator (Concert)
CHRIS WATSON Camera operator (Concert)
JASON WANG Camera operator (Concert)

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