Land of the Long White Cloud

AroView: Loveable loose sequel to Florian Habicht’s Kiwi classic KAIKOHE DEMOLITION finds the engaging filmmaker returning to Northland, where hundreds of anglers have converged on Ninety Mile Beach for the largest surfcasting event in the world.

Teeming with character and candor, dir. Habicht’s qualities as a documentarian of people and places shines through as he canvases the laid back competition, eliciting some wonderfully forthright responses to his quirky, unpretentious questioning. Though more recreation focused than KAIKOHE’s sometimes-sobering portrait of small-town Aotearoa (amid all the cathartic crash and bash), this is no less heartfelt in its appreciation of salt-of-the-earth New Zealanders who, without fail, look on the bright side of life.