What I'd Ask the Sand

No stranger to west Auckland – or Going West – award winning poet Anne Kenendy initially composed this piece for a large-scale sand mural at an event we held at Piha. On the surface, it’s a nostalgic trip along more innocent coastal memories. But you don’t have to look very hard to find something altogether more menacing behind the shells and gulls.

Filmmaker Luke McPake – also a Going West veteran – deploys a devious stop-motion technique in sharp black and white that captures both sides of this film: its pleasures and its pains, in equally hard focus.

Anne Kennedy is a poet, fiction writer, screenplay editor and teacher. Recent books are The Sea Walks into a Wall and The Ice Shelf. Awards and fellowships include the Montana Book Award for Poetry, the University of Iowa International Writers' Program, and the 2021 Prime Minister's Award for Poetry. Anne has taught creative writing at the University of Hawai'i and at Manukau Institute of Technology. She lives in Tamaki Makaurau.

Luke McPake has produced music videos, documentaries, and commercials. He was the video lead for The Wireless, and in 2020 won best feature video at the Voyager Media awards for his work with RNZ's In-depth team. Luke's documentary camera work and post-production has appeared on RNZ, The Wireless, Vice, Red Bull TV, UNDP, The Guardian and TVNZ. He has also taught design, animation and moving image at various tertiary institutions.

Anne Kennedy (left), Luke McPake (right)

Credits:
Written & read by Anne Kennedy
Production, direction & animation by Luke McPake
Director of Photography Joe Hitchcock
Art Assist Katie White
Anne recorded at Native Audio by Samuel Moore
Post-production by Luke McPake

Commissioned by Going West Writers Festival with the support of Waitākere Ranges Local Board, Auckland Council and Creative New Zealand. Additional support from The Trusts Charitable Foundation, The Trusts, Foundation North and South Pacific Pictures.