Telling New Zealand Stories
Sarah is 18, leaving home and has cystic fibrosis. Dad is in the Army so the family moves around. Mum cares – as mothers do. First a daughter, then a son. This should be a perfect family, but a genetic inheritance of life threatening cystic fibrosis changes all that. Following the life of Sarah Hitchings,... Continue Reading →
Voices of Children is a 16 minute film in which Christchurch children tell earthquake stories. When Christchurch suffered a succession of devastating earthquakes, AC Productions director and producer Anna Cottrell, a former Cantabrian, experienced the horror and sadness from afar. “I saw my hometown with its broken heart and felt helpless. But when I heard or... Continue Reading →
The true story of Helga Tiscenko – she was 16 when her father, a Nazi General, was executed for war crimes. Caught up in the confusion of the final days of the Third Reich and fleeing the Allied advance, she barely escapes with her life. Helga starts a new life in post-war New Zealand with... Continue Reading →
In this documentary children of well known Kiwis discuss what it's like to live in the shadow of their famous and infamous parents. Featuring Natasha and Shaan Turner (Mother, Sukhi, was mayor of Dunedin and Father, Glenn, was a well-known New Zealand cricketer). Hinemoa Awatere reveals the bond she has with her mother, former politician and activist Donna Awatere-Huata and... Continue Reading →
Douglas Alfred Dibley In this moving documentary, director Anna Cottrell interviews Doug Dibley and Les Leach, the longest surviving Gallipoli veterans. They are both almost 100 and anti war campaigners. Both falsified their ages and went off as teenagers. Doug Dibley was a stretcher bearer. Both men describe the appalling conditions they endured until the... Continue Reading →
When we talk about ‘family’ we think of Mum, Dad and the kids. But this is no longer the reality. In the West less than one third of our households live like this. Directed by Anna Cottrell, this documentary looks at one such New Zealand family and reveals the varied and often complex ways we... Continue Reading →
Infertility: Several couples including former NZ politician Mike Moore and his wife Yvonne talk frankly about the inability to have children and dealing with the grief. The documentary raises the ethical questions surrounding donor insemination. We ask the question “what do you tell your children?” Director Anna Cottrell Producer Vincent Burke Duration 1 X 46’... Continue Reading →
AC Productions 
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