Has the rest of New Zealand begun to forget about Christchurch? Filmmaker Gerard Smyth launches a new interactive web series today to stimulate conversations about the city's future.
Christchurch Dilemmas examines six themes in six short documentaries – from the future of the red zone, to affordable housing and mental health – while telling the stories of Cantabrians and inviting them to engage with the dilemmas facing their city.
Edited interview highlights
On Cantabrians' need to have their story told:
Gerard Smyth: We’re a pretty close community these days. And there’s so much to talk about, there’s so many decisions to be made. We haven’t had a huge amount of stories told, really, because New Zealand television audiences are mostly in Auckland, mostly in the north, and anything made has to be primarily for that audience. So although we probably have one of the most extraordinary stories to tell in New Zealand in the last hundred years there hasn’t been huge facility to do that.
So much of Christchurch has been top-down in the last five years. Lots of videos have been made by Cera [Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority], but they’ve been really to sell the minister’s plans.
On episode two: Mental Health – Do we have a crisis?
Programme two talks about the crisis we may be facing in mental health. The first one is black-and-white in its consideration. [Christchurch has a] 37% increase in people entering mental health services and a 60% increase in police call-outs for potential suicides. Five years after you have such an event… there’s all sorts of issues we get through in the first couple of years, but we get tired, and some people are not coping so well.
On episode four: Housing – How can we make it affordable?
In the quakes, it was the east of the city that got hit hardest. And in the east [it was] the older houses, the entry-level houses. If you were a first house buyer you may well have looked there if you were wanting to start on the housing ladder. 5,000 houses in the Red Zone there got bulldozed so entry-level housing in Christchurch is difficult.
On the current mood in Christchurch:
There’s so many different stories – it’s very hard to say 'Christchurch is angry' or 'Christchurch is frustrated'. There are so many different situations. By and large people are wealthier out of the quakes – I think most people are wealthier... A lot of people have got new houses, a lot of people have got new skills, and are being paid more as a result. But some people have done really badly out of the quakes. Some folks have been knocked for a six. So there is on every street, every house a different story.
