Māori Television explores NZ’s shared ANZAC history with short-form documentary via Goodfolk

The blood spilled in war is something all of Aotearoa shares, regardless of our own personal histories. As the primary broadcaster of Anzac Day content each year, Māori Television wanted to get people thinking about that shared history, and Anzac Day’s relationship to their own lives.

Creative agency Goodfolk answered the brief with a compelling short-form documentary, The Blood We Share.

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Says Mark Easterbrook, creative director, Goodfolk:  “When we started researching this project we were very conscious of the fact that Māori and Pakeha experiences of New Zealand’s war history are very different. But we also knew that Anzac Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on what we share, as well as our differences. The idea grew from there.”

The resulting concept involved finding two descendants of soldiers who served at the Somme, one Māori and one Pakeha, and asking them to donate blood as a way of honouring those who had come before. This coming together of two histories was then represented symbolically in a painting featuring two blood red circles coming together to form an Anzac poppy.

Knowing that the story would need to be told with sensitivity and care, Goodfolk turned to Alison

Farmer and Simon Clark of FarmerClark.

Says Easterbrook: “Alison has an amazing ability for drawing stories out of people and Simon knows how to capture human moments in an intimate but respectful way.”

Says Ian Howard, head of marketing and brand at Māori Television: “It’s not often I’m lost for words, but at the end of the first creative review, I knew I had seen something special. What Goodfolk and FarmerClark produced is so much more than an ad campaign – it’s a compelling piece of storytelling that perfectly reflects our inclusive perspective on modern day Aotearoa. I couldn’t be prouder of the end product.”

Māori Television

Audio: Clive Broughton, The Factory