Ready for the last weekend of the Film Festival in Auckland? Chris Davis introduces his movie about Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) and chooses another film he also wants to see. Part seven of our filmmaker’s choice series.

A friend recently told me about a conversation she overheard. Three women were debating the significance of Mike Smith’s 1994 chainsaw attack on One Tree Hill’s iconic pine. Was the tree a legitimate target? Maybe a flagpole would have been better?

To me, whether you agree with the protest or not, the fact that people are still talking about it more than 20 years later suggests that he was right on the mark. If his objective was to provoke debate, his action was an undeniable success.

It succeeded because he understood the power of symbolism. As an exotic tree planted by the Pākehā founding father of Auckland, it was a perfect metaphor for colonial conquest – particularly as it effectively replaced a sacred tōtara that once stood on the summit. In making Not Just Another Mountain I tried to stay alert to the symbolism, not just of the tree but of Maungakiekie as a place.

The mountain is split in two – the greater part being owned by Cornwall Park Trust, established by that same founding father, Sir John Logan Campbell. The remainder, including the summit, was recently returned to Māori ownership as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement. This is New Zealand in microcosm – bicultural roots, overlaid with the ethnic diversity of modern park-goers. It’s a great place to hold up a mirror to our society.

What did I find? There’s a lot to admire – and also some ongoing challenges. There still seems to be a real disconnect in how Māori and Pākehā relate to this space. I got a sense too, though, of how people from a wide range of cultures share a love for the maunga. It is this love for the land that unites us. And I also got the sense that something of our character as New Zealanders seems to be inseparable from the land. This latter realisation was particularly encouraging. It suggests that, despite our differences and increasing diversity, by deepening our connection with the land we can continue to grow together as a people.

Central to the modern mythology around One Tree Hill is the song by U2 – and one of the films I’m most looking forward to seeing at the Film Festival examines this same interplay between people, place and music. Bill Direen: A Memory of Others, by Simon Ogston, is a musical road-trip of New Zealand through the eyes of one of our most singular artists.

Along the way we pay homage to Janet Frame, James K Baxter and Michael Joseph Savage – exploring the Kiwi psyche as we explore the landscape. It will be a celebration, I hope, of our wildness, idealism and eccentricity. I’m expecting to leave the cinema singing “Do the Alligator” in a high falsetto.

Bill Direen: A Memory of Others: August 4, 5 in Auckland and on other film festival dates around the country. 

Not Just Another Mountain: August 6 in Auckland.

For bookings and more on the festival, visit the official site. Lots of trailers are here. And don’t miss The Spinoff’s (slightly updated) top ten festival film picks, plus other filmmaker recommendations here.

The Spinoff Auckland is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the growth of downtown Auckland as a vibrant centre for entertainment, retail, hospitality and business.

Former Auckland Grammar School headmaster Sir John Graham has died. His successor, John Morris, pays tribute.

Sir John Graham was a great New Zealander whose impact and legacy extended well beyond his 20 years as headmaster of Auckland Grammar School.

John’s time at Grammar was what he was particularly known for but his involvement in the wider educational scene was also significant and vitally important to John. In particular his work as Commissioner at the troubled Nga Tapuwae College in the mid-1990s and his leadership in helping transform Nga Tapuwae into the first campus school in New Zealand, Southern Cross Campus, with students from Year 1 through to Year 13, was highly regarded by all involved in the education sector.

His founding of Senior College as part of the Academic Colleges Group in association with Dawn Jones showed a very different side of John. This was very much a niche school: based in the CBD, senior students only, no uniform, students only attended relevant classes and were free to wander the CBD, 80 minute periods. It was so very different to Grammar but a great reflection on his ability to see beyond the Grammar model and accept that there were many different ways to inspire teenagers and help them achieve to their potential.

John stood for excellence in education. He wanted all students to be the best they could be regardless of their background, ability or ethnicity. He may have come across as a stern leader at Grammar but he also had a human and compassionate side to his personality that was particularly evident when dealing with boys who had transgressed.

After retiring from Grammar in 1993 John became involved in the University of Auckland as Chancellor, a role he held for a number of years. His tenure saw the huge physical expansion of the university, the building of the iconic Business School, a broadening of the university’s academic offerings, a massive growth in student numbers and, alongside Vice Chancellor John Hood, created a formidable leadership team that helped the university attain the high status it has today.

John’s sporting pedigree is well known. All Black captain, successful rugby coach and administrator, president of the NZRU, legendary Black Caps manager and avid supporter of Aston Villa!

But it was education that was perhaps closest to his heart. John retained a strong interest in education throughout his retirement and recent illness. Over the past ten years John and I would meet regularly over coffee at his favourite cafés and chat about sport, school, family and anything else that came up. I thoroughly enjoyed these meetings as I know John did and they will be, for me, a lasting memory of a humble and compassionate man who made a huge difference to the lives of so many people and inspired so many to feats they never thought possible.

John’s contribution to Auckland Grammar School is unparalleled. He was able to maintain its academic niche and enhance its reputation in an era of massive change in education. He abhorred the trend to internal assessment and the abolition of the prestigious Scholarship examination. He did not sit idly by and complain but rather did something about that and was instrumental in setting up the Combined Schools’ Examination and the NZ Education and Scholarship Trust which ran external examinations for schools that were also keen to keep academic standards high.

John was a man of principle in all matters. His boycott of the 1981 Springbok tour epitomised the man and his stance on educational issues was always based on principle. In particular his belief in the need for schools to teach knowledge because children need knowledge to understand and interpret the world and grow into useful contributing citizens. He knew all too well that knowledge opens doors and that it is fair and just that all children should have access to it.

John Graham was a fine man, fair and just, principled, humble, compassionate, an academic, a sportsman, a loving husband and father. He was one of the best, my good friend and mentor.

John Morris was headmaster of Auckland Grammar School from 1993 to 2012.

The Spinoff Auckland is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the growth of downtown Auckland as a vibrant centre for entertainment, retail, hospitality and business.