Aotearoa New Zealand Cinema

In 1981 South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, were invited to tour New Zealand. The decision was extremely controversial; some people saw it as a tacit endorsement of apartheid while others insisted that politics had nothing to do with New Zealand’s favourite sport. PATU! is the definitive film of what followed, as attempts to disrupt the Tour pitched protestors against the government, police and rugby crowds, with violent results. Some of the era’s leading cinematographers captured the protests of winter 1981 in raw and confronting street-level footage, while the film made an explicit connection between apartheid abroad and racism at home. ...

In 1981 South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, were invited to tour New Zealand. The decision was extremely controversial; some people saw it as a tacit endorsement of apartheid while others insisted that politics had nothing to do with New Zealand’s favourite sport. PATU! is the definitive film of what followed, as attempts to disrupt the Tour pitched protestors against the government, police and rugby crowds, with violent results. Some of the era’s leading cinematographers captured the protests of winter 1981 in raw and confronting street-level footage, while the film made an explicit connection between apartheid abroad and racism at home. ...