Award-winning documentary maker John Bates is a Scotsman who has lived in New Zealand for more than 40 years.

In this ScreenTalk interview Bates talks about his documentaries, abstract art and the making of 50 Years of New Zealand Television.

His documentaries have covered a range of genres from art: The Dutchman, The Making of an Opera; Sense of Place, Robin Morrison, Photographer; Reflections, Gretchen Albrecht, to social issues: New Faces, Old Fears; Crime and Punishment, to historical: Banned, 100 Years of Censorship in New Zealand; 1951. In 2010, Bates produced and directed the acclaimed series 50 Years of New Zealand Television.

In this interview, Bates also talks about:

• Initially being told he couldn’t direct his documentary Sense of Place
• How the subject of the documentary Robin Morrison passed away while filming was still in progress   
• Learning about abstract art through the doco Reflections – Gretchen Albrecht   
• How copyright issues mean that Banned – A History of Censorship will never be re-screened   
• How his documentary 1951 told the suppressed history of the waterside lock out   
• The making of 50 Years of New Zealand Television and why it was better for being produced for Prime

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside