Barry Barclay “The Camera on the Shore”
About Barry Barry Barclay was born in 1944, to a Pakeha father, and a mother of Ngati Apa descent. He is commonly known as the first indigenous director of a feature film, though he points out that the accolade is only relevant “if you take indigenous to mean an indigenous minority living within a majority culture". When he was 15 he moved to Australia, training to be a Catholic Priest, but said “for some crazy reason I could not put my finger on, all I wanted to do was to make films." In 2004, Barclay received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award, and in 2007, he was awarded a Member of the Order of New Zealand in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the film industry. Barclay died on 18 February 2008, aged 63.
Early Work Barclay gained great rapport as a documentary maker for his early work, before being invited to direct 6 episodes of Tangata Whenua in He was invited to direct 6 episodes of Tangata Whenua in Tangata Whenua was a ground-breaking show aimed at helping the Pakeha population in New Zealand to understand the culture of their Maori compatriots, a concept that had not been attempted before. Barclay was a pioneering director in that his documentaries dealt with issues that had not been previously considered seriously, such as Energy conservation in “All That We Need” and genetic engineering in “The Neglected Miracle”
Later Work After an eight-year hiatus in Europe, Barclay returned to New Zealand full of new ideas. He continued his forward-thinking work with “The Neglected Miracle” and “Indira Gandhi”, the latter a documentary on the then Indian Prime Minister of the same name and part of a larger “Women in Power series” which was never completed. He then became the first indigenous person to direct a feature film when he directed “Ngati”, a film about a small town facing mass unemployment following the closure of the freezing works. The film was widely appreciated, qualms with it settling on the acting rather than the directorial vision. Barclay then directed Te Rua, about two men fighting to bring Maori artefacts back to New Zealand from a Berlin Museum, and his life of film production closed with two more documentaries, The Feathers of Peace and The Kaipara Affair.
Filmography Hunting Horns (1975) TV Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Indira Gandhi (1975) TV Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Tangata Whenua (1974) TV Series Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay/Michael King The Town That Lost a Miracle (1972) TV Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay The Neglected Miracle (1985) Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Aku Mahi Whatu Maori (My Art of Maori Weaving) (1977) Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Ashes (1975) Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Autumn Fires (1975) TV Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay The Kaipara Affair (2005) Production Company: He Taonga Films Financier: He Taonga Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay The Feathers of Peace (2000) Production Company: He Taonga Films Financier: He Taonga Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Te Rua (1991) Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay Ngati (1987) Production Company: Pacific Films Financier: Pacific Films Scriptwriter: Barry Barclay
Production Barclay was mainly involved with Pacific Films, though his last two documentaries were made with help from He Taonga Films. His early work with Pacific Films stemmed from his admiration of part-owner John O’Shea, whom he said “didn’t really see skin colour” when it came to directing movies. As his documentaries did not contain actors, Barclay’s fictional filmography consists of his two feature films, Ngati and Te Rua, so I can’t really say that he preferred to use certain actors. However, the only actor that he used in both of those movies was a man called Wi Kuki Kaa, so technically Barry Barclay used him in every single film he made.
Film Style/Themes Barclay preferred to use small-town New Zealand as the backdrop for his films or documentaries, which he attributes to his rural upbringing. Barclay focussed on the indigenous point of view, often posing the question of “Ownership vs. Guardianship in his work, which can be interpreted in two ways. One is that the Pakeha are the legal owners of the land, but Iwi are its guardians, and the 2nd is that Iwi still own the land, and the Pakeha are merely guardians of it. I struggled to find a further professional interpretation of that statement. Fellow director Gaylene Preston said of him: "Barry Barclay was a true pioneer film-maker who established many important networks for encouraging M ā ori film-making. M ā ori stories by M ā ori, for M ā ori. He was a true visionary. He made films about his community and their concerns and he encouraged his community to make their own films."
Wider Impact Barry Barclay had a stated contribution to New Zealand society from his films. He was seen as a pioneer for ‘the Maori voice’, making their issues mainstream in a way that had not previously been done. He dealt with many issues before their time, from documentaries such as “All that we need” and “The Neglected Miracle” to the ground-breaking portrayal of Maori in Tangata Whenua and his role in the “Women in Power” series with “Indira Gandhi” But he will be most fondly remembered for inspiring a generation of indigenous directors to do their own work. Every director needs an inspiration and Barclay has provided a notable one for the next wave of films from Maori, Aboriginal and other ethnic minorities across the world, while also not making Maori the sole subject of his films.
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