Bill Direen: A Memory of Others
Kiwi cult-hero Bill Direen embarks on his first national tour in over a decade, in this poetic and pleasurably cinematic trip through New Zealand’s physical and cultural landscape.
Filmmaker Simon Ogston hits the road with NZ writer, poet, indie rocker Bill Direen as he explores the cultural landscape and presents a series of strikingly diverse live performances.
Simon Ogston, director of invaluable documentaries about Philip Dadson and the Skeptics, has crafted a lively portrait of Bill Direen, one of New Zealand’s truly maverick voices. For over 40 years that voice has encompassed poetry, rock music, theatre and long-form prose. A road movie following his first national tour in more than a decade, A Memory of Others follows Direen from Dunedin, to Christchurch, to Wellington, to Auckland. In each city he reunites with old bandmates or works with new collaborators to produce a succession of strikingly different performances.
En route Direen visits key locations from his past, telling stories and giving spoken-word performances of his written work. His stops include homages to Janet Frame in Oamaru, to James K. Baxter in Jerusalem, and to Michael Joseph Savage in Auckland. It’s a thoroughly engaging and pleasurably cinematic trip through our geographical and cultural landscape, threaded with interviews and material from Direen’s rich archive. As stimulating as the man it profiles, A Memory of Others is an in-depth exploration of his music and writing, providing a glimpse of our social history and current milieu through his eyes.
