Song of the Kauri

Grass-roots documentary on the economic and creative potential of the iconic New Zealand native: the Kauri tree. Filmmaker Mathurn Molgat focuses on Northland’s Laurie Williams, a luthier of international repute, who uses the wood for sought-after guitars and violins. Philosophers, musicians, economists, historians, scientists, professors and woodsmen amplify Molgat’s holistic treatise.

"Molgat tells us that New Zealand lost 96% of its native kauri forests through felling and fire between 1820 and 1974. Land clearances account for much more of that statistic than any timber trade. Molgat’s documentary is a labour of clear-eyed love, addressing the politics of exotic tree plantations in a land where the native species are uniquely beautiful and may possess a commercial potential that has never been explored. But does any government plan in the present for a harvest 60 years hence? Without demonising the perpetrators, Molgat explains the history of destruction, then finds inspiration in a man whose craft is dependent on chopping down more trees – judiciously and one at a time." (New Zealand International Film Festival)

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