Wednesday 3 September 2025, 5:30pm to 6:30pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, (lower ground) National Library Wellington. Entrance on Aitken Street or on Zoom.
In this month’s Friends of the Turnbull event, author and lecturer Annabel Cooper will talk about researching New Zealand filmmaker Rudall Hayward, best known for his silent films but also his later feature films ‘Rewi’s Last Stand’ and ‘To Love a Māori’.
Rediscovering Rudall Hayward
Join us for a fascinating talk by historian and author Annabel Cooper as she delves into the life and legacy of Rudall Hayward — a trailblazer of New Zealand filmmaking.
Although not widely known today, Rudall’s career spanned from the early 1900s to the 1970s. He made four feature-length films during New Zealand’s silent film era, later navigating the financial challenges of accessing new sound equipment to make documentaries, educational films, and two more feature films — Rewi’s Last Stand (1940) and the first New Zealand film to be shot in colour, To Love a Māori (1972).
Drawing on research for her biography of Rudall Hayward and his family, Annabel Cooper will explore his enduring contributions to cinema, his collaborative work with his wives Hilda and Ramai, and the cultural legacy he left behind.
About the speaker
Associate Professor Annabel Cooper taught at the University of Otago for 30 years, and published on a number of New Zealand topics including gender history and film. Her last book, Filming the Colonial Past: The New Zealand Wars on Screen, is the subject of an exhibition, He Riri Awatea: Filming the New Zealand Wars, curated with Ariana Tikao for the New Zealand Portrait Gallery and now showing at Canterbury Museum. About the speaker
Associate Professor Annabel Cooper taught at the University of Otago for 30 years, and published on a number of New Zealand topics including gender history and film. Her last book, Filming the Colonial Past: The New Zealand Wars on Screen, is the subject of an exhibition, He Riri Awatea: Filming the New Zealand Wars, curated with Ariana Tikao for the New Zealand Portrait Gallery and now showing at Canterbury Museum.
More information can be found here.