NZOA Greenlights Slow and Racist Docos

The slow TV phenomenon is soon to surface on Prime TV with the commissioning of a 12-hour documentary series about our landscapes and past.

Wikipedia defines “slow TV” as a genre of “marathon” television coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length.

Its name is derived both from the long endurance of the broadcast as well as from the natural slow pace of the television programme’s progress.

Or as a CBS report described it in relation to Norway’s infatuation with the genre: “It’s television’s version of taking a deep breath … a very long, very slow, deep breath.”

Today NZ On Air announced it is investing up to $263,749 in a Greenstone Pictures production called Slow that’s billed as “a real-time road trip showcasing the unique and beautiful landscape of NZ and its history”.

Greenstone made two seasons of Decades in Colour for Prime and also is behind TVNZ 1 hits Dog Squad and Border Patrol.

NZOA’s biggest commitment in its final factual content funding round for 2016/17 is up to $338,331 for the two-part TVNZ 1 documentary series, That’s a Bit Racist.

It will be made by Jam TV (DNA Detectives, This Town) and examine the cause and effect of casual or unconscious racism in NZ.

Other network TV projects that were funded include:

• Dreaming (1 x 44 mins, Notable Pictures for Three, up to $204,586): About the impact of addiction on a life, career and family;
• Renee’s Brain (1 x 42 mins, 2B Media for Prime, up to $110,000): Renee, severely afflicted by Tourette’s syndrome, embarks on treatment that could save her life;
• Kaikoura: A Big Year (1 x 42 mins, DC Media for TVNZ 1, up to $48,972): A story of resilience and community in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Kaikoura.

As well as earmarking $41.6 million for factual content this year, NZOA has allocated $2 million for TV and online projects marking the 125th anniversary of women being given the right to vote in NZ.

They range from The Funny Girls NZ Suffragette Special (1 x 44 mins, MediaWorks TV for Three, up to $268,678) and Secret Life of Girls (2 x 44 mins, Screentime New Zealand for TVNZ 1, up to $269,717), a hidden camera experiment about how Kiwi girls see their place in society and their own futures, to The Forgotten Wāhine (1 x 52 mins, Villainesse Limited for Māori Television, up to $250,558), which will chronicle the Maori women who stood alongside suffragists in their own fight for equality.