Legendary cinematographer Alun Bollinger has shot such landmark New Zealand films as Goodbye Pork Pie and Vigil, Heavenly Creatures and River Queen. Yet he rarely gives interviews and prefers to spend at least half the year away from the film business, at home in Blacks Point near Reefton. "If I can't relate to a script," he says, "I don't get involved."
Years ago, the houses at Blacks Point, near Reefton, had verandahs with prams and drooping washing, old cars and overgrown gardens - a hippie kingdom with an air of blissful neglect. I used to drive past and feel envious. These days, all is sleekly well cared for. The handful of houses are trimly painted, gardens are luxuriant but orderly, only the background is unchanged - hillsides of native bush shimmering in the sun. A little slice of Kiwi paradise. I feel envious all over again.
Cinematographer Alun Bollinger and his wife Helen moved from Hawke's Bay to Blacks Point in the 1970s. ...
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