When a City Falls
Synopsis
One man's journey through disaster, recovery and discovery.
2010 on the Canterbury Plains and all is well. Lambs, blue skies and daffodils. In Cathedral Square choir boys sing to their God. Punts push new season's tourists along the Avon. They photograph the 'Garden city'; the 'most English city outside of England'.
We get hit with a 7.1 earthquake. We stand up, wave our fists at the heavens and compliment ourselves on our ability to recover. And then we get hit even harder. Now the city has fallen. Many are dead. Many injured. Many narrowly escape.
A fragile people reappear in the following days. We have learnt from the first earthquake and once again a response is growing. Once again adrenaline is taking over. Now the whole country is rallying for Christchurch. It's the energy of the people that's unprecedented. Communities are rising from the sand. People are holding tight to each other.
A year later and the quakes keep rolling. Now the Canterbury earthquakes are the most ever quakes recorded in a series. And we're still counting....
"When A City Falls" sees New Zealanders in our darkest days. How do we respond? Who do we become?
We discover something wonderful about ourselves. We discover we are a functional people, concerned and caring for our neighbours, our fellow Kiwis.
"When A City Falls" travels way beyond earthquake reactive television footage to a tale of hope, an uplifting story that speaks of the kindness of human hearts.
Director's Statement 1
I don't know of any other major disaster where moving images of each stage of an unfolding catastrophe have been shot as the story unfolds. What this means is that as the behind-the-camera narrator and central city 'everyman', I have shot Christchurch before, during and after the earthquakes, which have progressively demolished my city. Raw, powerful and utterly believable. It's onscreen and real. Its characters are grassroots us. This work is uniquely of New Zealand.
Why did I choose to get involved? It's certainly not typical of my work today. Thirty years ago as a news cameraman – in the Springbok tour days – I knew how to shoot from the hip. Of late, my documentary work has been born of consideration and planning. But this work gave little room for such luxuries.
I felt the strength of the earthquakes. I live in the inner city of Christchurch, in the hardest hit part of the city, from what famously becomes the 'red zone' I am finding myself intricately and intimately involved in a project I have had no forward notice of. It's instant documentary. It's instinct. And it has thrown me into the heart of a world least expected. I run at what I see to record.
I am shooting people in all states of being. And I am learning new things about human beings as they, as we, collectively meet death and near death experiences.
I am finding myself swinging from a dark terror to the oddest elation. People are connecting to survive. I am loving humanity as I have never known before. I am caught up in a people moving. A fractured community is moulding into a new world in front of my lens.
For the weeks and months following the earthquakes I am obsessively recording everything that moves. This includes the work itself!
- Gerard Smyth
Production Statement
The film’s production has been an extraordinary team effort. The days after the second earthquake were not an obvious time to come together to continue making a film.
Researcher Rhys died in the CTV building collapse. Producer Alice had lost her house.
Editor Richard was grieving the loss of 16 work mates in the CTV building. Director
Gerard’s mum and sister had both lost their homes.
Film making craft support came from expat Cantabrians. Cinematographer Jake Bryant (‘North’, ‘South’, ‘The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins’) turned up with his camera. Christchurch and the wider Canterbury Plains look stunning - albeit so often with the cruel beauty afforded by the earthquake. An original sound track was composed by Tiki Taane, Aaron Tokona and Richard Nunns. Park Road Post also came on board offering the project the highest quality distributions formats.
