Oxley Hughan

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Oxley Hughan (born October 24, 1907 in New Zealand , † mid-January 1992 in Nelson (New Zealand) ) was a New Zealand documentary filmmaker .

Live and act

Oxley Hughan is considered to be the pioneer of New Zealand documentary films. In September 1941 he joined the National Film Unit (NFU) as a production assistant. Up to the end of the war in 1945, Hughan was mainly concerned with the production of weekly news reports, which deal with both the war events (e.g. "Winter Front" over the war theater of Italy) and New Zealand topics (e.g. the report "Māori Village “) Concerned. After the war, Osley Hughan began to regularly produce short reports about the country and people in his New Zealand homeland, initially as a director, in the 1960s only as a producer. 1955 Hughan moved up Hughan in a leading position of the NFU (so-called Senior Unit Director).

As a documentarist, he showed particular interest in all questions relating to agriculture (e.g. “Farming in New Zealand”, 1952). In 1953, Hughan also shot two detailed reports about the British monarch Elizabeth II, who had just been crowned that year, and also New Zealand's head of state. With “The Maori Today”, one of his last productions, the New Zealander with European roots paid tribute to the indigenous people of his home country. Finally, in collaboration with NFU boss Geoffrey Scott, he concentrated entirely on the production of the short documentaries.

One of these works was the 33-minute documentary about New Zealand's research ventures on Ross Island in the Antarctic summer, published in 1964 under the title One Hundred and Forty Days Under the World . For this, Hughan and his colleague Scott received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Documentary in Hollywood the following year . In December 1967, Oxley Hughan, who had just turned 60, retired. His death was reported on January 21, 1992 in The Dominion newspaper on page 18.

Filmography (selection)

documentaries only:

  • 1950: Canterbury is a Hundred (Director)
  • 1952: Farming in New Zealand (Director)
  • 1953: A Queen's World Tour (Director)
  • 1954: Royal New Zealand Journey (Director)
  • 1954: Taranaki (director)
  • 1955: The Snowline is their Boundary (Director)
  • 1956: People of the Waikato (Director)
  • 1960: Hill Country (Director)
  • 1960: The Maori Today (Director)
  • 1963–64: These New Zealanders (short film series, production)
  • 1964: One Hundred and Forty Days Under the World (Production)
  • 1966: The Young Giant Kaingaroa (Production)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hughan, Oxley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand producer and director of documentaries
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH January 1992
Place of death Nelson (New Zealand)