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[ICTs in English] Attention English teachers: 2013 NZ documentary free to schools


Chronological Thread 
  • From: Catriona Pene <catrionapene AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ictenglish AT lists.tki.org.nz" <ictenglish AT lists.tki.org.nz>
  • Subject: [ICTs in English] Attention English teachers: 2013 NZ documentary free to schools
  • Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:11:44 +1300

forwarded from the Secondary English listserve.

Dear English and Media Studies teachers in New Zealand,


In the first week of February (2014), a free DVD copy of Professor Annie Goldson and producer Kay Ellmers’ award winning documentary He Toki Huna: New Zealand in Afghanistan will be arriving by mail in your departments, for use, potentially, in your school curriculum. The film, which explores our military involvement in Afghanistan, was funded by New Zealand on Air and Maori Television, with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission, the University of Auckland and DLA Phillips Fox. It aired on MTS, screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and was nominated for four awards at the recent Rialto Channel Screen Awards, winning a “Moa” for Best Editing.


He Toki Huna: New Zealand in Afghanistan uses independent journalist Jon Stephenson’s reportage on the ground in Afghanistan as a spine, but includes a broad range of additional voices – those of soldiers and military leaders, journalists, academics and local Afghan community members in Bamiyan and Kabul. Directors Annie Goldson and Kay Ellmers sought to answer three simple questions -- why we went to Afghanistan, what we did there, and why we heard so little about our involvement.


We recently received a PADET (Peace and Disarmament Education Trust) grant to provide us with the budget for the New Zealand-wide distribution to all secondary schools and we are currently writing a study guide to accompany the film. We believe the film has strong educational content and will make a valuable text for Year 12 and 13 students.


English teachersHe Toki Huna: NZ in Afghanistan is a thematically rich text that promises to provoke rigorous debate in classrooms. The film deals with the following themes: the importance of independent journalism, media representation of war, the ‘imaging’ of the NZ soldier, individual responsibility vs. following orders, the power of language, morality in war, and colonialism/imperialism. It could be taught on its own or as a secondary text for teachers teaching units on war, war poetry, or genre studies, among others. Although it is more common to teach fictional films as visual texts, documentaries are still constructed by production teams who make stylistic and editorial decisions. They are therefore just as ripe for visual analysis in the classroom as fictional films.


Media Studies teachers: “Wars these days are fought in the media just as much as they are on the ground.” He Toki Huna is an important text for teaching students how the media functions: both as an informative, democratic tool – ‘the fourth estate’, but also as a filter which makes conscious decisions to present news considered ‘worthy’ and to leave out that which is deemed ‘unworthy’. Studying He Toki Huna would provide students with insight into many of the issues at the heart of Media Studies: independent journalism, mainstream journalism and commercial pressures, citizen journalism, news construction and framing, language as a political tool, and embedded vs. non-embedded wartime journalism. It would also work as a primary or supporting text for units on documentary studies, genre studies or documentary/film production.


The film will arrive at your school by snail mail. In the first week back of Term 1, you will receive a student/teacher guide via email. Alternatively, the guide will be available to download from our website:www.nzinafghanistan.com


Best wishes for the upcoming year!


The team at Occasional Productions (info AT op.co.nz).



Alex Edney-Browne 
Production Management

He Toki Huna: NZ in Afghanistan




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