By Sian Clement
Kiwis abroad and international audiences eagerly awaiting the release of River of Freedom can stream it across online platforms from 13 December. Journeyman Pictures has secured worldwide rights to the New Zealand box office smash, River of Freedom.
“A unique and visceral account of the under-reported and divisive furore that erupted in NZ over its Covid policy,” says Journeyman’s CEO, Mark Stucke. The documentary will launch on Apple TV on 13 December, and can also be streamed via Journeyman.tv and Vimeo. A broader release to digital platforms Amazon and Google will follow.
River of Freedom was distributed independently and reached #10 at the NZ Box Office in its third week, nudging Oppenheimer out. Despite being ignored by mainstream media and major theatres the documentary was the most watched film in the country on 21st September although playing on only a few rural screens. Audiences travelled from far and wide to watch, with ticket sales compared to Barbie and Oppenheimer, even their own Lord of the Rings.
New Zealand’s primary media platform, Stuff, finally sent a reviewer to see the film: Graeme Tuckett reported “It took me a week to get a ticket. The film sold out its Wellington screenings for five straight days. The Thursday afternoon session I got into was also a sell-out.”
River of Freedom is an intimate journey into New Zealand’s notorious 2022 ‘Parliament protest’ – a massive uprising against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s severe No Jab, No Job mandatory Covid-19 vaccination regime, one of the harshest worldwide.
Fed up with restrictions on almost the entire workforce, thousands of New Zealanders from all walks of life, convoy to Parliament in early February 2022. On arrival in Wellington, without a government-issued ‘vaccine passport’, most are refused entry to hotels, cafes and amenities. Nevertheless, they are welcomed by tangata whenua (Māori) to Parliament’s front lawn, where they set up camp.
Ardern commands that all parliamentarians must ignore the protesters. Every politician, from both sides of the House, unite and comply, refusing to acknowledge the thousands of people below their balcony, in a rapidly growing ‘Freedom Village’. Ultimately, in a coordinated attack, the police ambush the camp at dawn, clearing everyone out using brutal methods never before seen in Aotearoa.
A professional filmmaking team were on the road and embedded within the protesters throughout the month-long convoy and occupation. River of Freedom lays out the reasons behind the uprising – who the people were, why they were there and what happened.
The film is written, produced and directed by Gaylene Barnes (Seven Rivers Walking) and produced by Jared Connon (Pearl) and Julian Arahanga (Colonial Combat). Robin Monotti Graziadei (Amir Naderi’s Mountain) is executive producer. The production was entirely crowd-funded. Many artists donated the rights to their songs for use in the film including Eric Clapton’s This Has Gotta Stop and We’re All Criminals by the UK’s Right Said Fred, to name but a few.
“Of the ten cinemas that screened River of Freedom during week one, we had four screens,” says Matt Bell of Focal Point Cinemas. “For week one, we took 37% of the national box office. It was our top movie at all four sites for two weeks running, which is pretty good for a documentary.”
“I thought, ‘why are only 10 cinemas screening this movie?’” Matt explains. “We’ve got a private Facebook page for a group of independent exhibitors and, I was probably a little bit cheeky, but I said ‘hey guys, we’ve taken $11,700 gross box office in three days with this movie across our four sites.’ It was at a time when Barbie had lost its mojo and there were some pretty quiet weeks.”
“I followed that with another comment in Week 2 when many cinemas still hadn’t come on board: ‘After 11 days, we’ve taken $30,700 gross box office. It’s actually performing, but there are so many parts of the country where people can’t get out and see this movie, because it’s not in their neighbourhood’.
On 21st September, in its third week, River of Freedom was the most watched film in New Zealand, despite the small number of screens. Larger theatres took notice and started booking the film. Where it wasn’t screening, many locals contacted the cinema and posted requests on social media. In one town locals created a change.org petition for their theatre to show it.
“The people are so nice and they’re thanking me for showing it,” says Paul McPhail from the St James Theatre in Gore, where some audience members have travelled from as far as Queenstown, 167 km away. “They’re staying around after the film and talking about it. If I’d have known this info back then I would have behaved differently.”
“I’m a little bit disappointed that it took so long for so many cinemas to come on board, but I also understand that,” says Matt. “It’s pleasing now to see some I knew were sceptics come on board, even if it’s just because it makes economic sense.”
In Methven, about an hour out of Christchurch, Cinema Paradiso has been in a bad way financially since Covid. “We were looking at maybe closing the cinema at the end of the ski season,” says owner Richard Sheppard. “We just didn’t have people coming to the movies despite having lots of mainstream and New Zealand movies playing.”
“No other cinemas near us were playing River of Freedom so I thought it could be an opportunity to get people from outside the area to bring in some business. Ticket sales have been amazing,” he says.
“It’s probably one of the biggest movies I’ve had here, on par with Barbie and Oppenheimer. The cinema only seats 30 so each session has sold out. We’ve probably had 5-600 people over the last two weeks and we’re only open Wednesday to Sunday.”
“River of Freedom opened up the doors and got people walking through again,” agrees wife Kristina. “They’ve clapped at the end of every session and come out and said how wonderful it is. We’ve had several members of the public hugging us and thank us for screening it. People from all walks of life have come along and been deeply moved.”
“I’ve heard comments that ‘everyone should see this movie’,” agrees Matt Bell. “At the end, people are not in a rush to get out of the cinema. They let it breathe a bit and the lights come on and they slowly leave as opposed to the mad rush out the door. I’d ask them how they found it, get into conversations. Most people have a story as well.”
And the audience were bringing back friends and family to show the side of the protest that mainstream media did not – the heart. One person has seen it 9 times. In total the film played for 10 weeks, Rialto Cinema in the main city of Auckland screening it for 8 of those.
“I’m really proud of the success of our film in New Zealand and how it touched audiences,” says director and editor Gaylene Barnes. She is now looking forward to its worldwide release:
What an opportunity for people the world over to experience New Zealand at its worst… and at its best.”
