Typhon's People
A scientist in New Zealand has a secret lab where experiments are performed on humans. When he is assassinated, opposing forces rush to his hideaway to suppress or expose his secrets.
Yvonne Mackay
Margaret Mahy
Casts & Crew
Greg Wise
Sophie Lee
Alfred Molina
John Bach
Michael Hurst
Tony Barry
Stephen Lovatt
Miranda Harcourt
Patrick Smyth
Yvonne Lawley
Ross Girven
Lucy Lawless
Emma Vere-Jones
Peter Muller
Also Directed by Yvonne Mackay
Kaitangata Twitch is a children's adventure/fantasy series that aired on Maori TV in New Zealand in 2010. Based on the children's book of the same name, written by renouned New Zealand children's author, Margaret Mahy, it follows the adventures of thirteen year old Meredith, who can hear voices calling to her from a nearby island, Kaitangata, in the bay of her small hometown. A legend of pre-European New Zealand, the frequent rumblings of small earthquakes and the disappearance of a young Pakeha girl, fifty years earlier, all shroud the mystery surrounding the island.
"A fictional memoir of a 12-year-old boy's holiday on his uncle's farm, Old Man's Story is also a character study of the personable, potentially dodgy ex-sailor who works there as hired hand. When an orphaned girl comes to stay, there are worries the man has crossed the line in his relationship with her." - www.nzonscreen.com
A baby is washed up on a Pacific Island and is adopted by a childless woman. The tribal priest takes an instant dislike to the child, proclaiming him a demon. The child is deaf and mute and therefore excluded from hunting with the other young men. Out of loneliness, he befriends a white turtle. When a drought befalls the island, the priest blames the silent one. When the chief protects the boy, the priest plots the chiefs' downfall.
In her bed on Christmas Eve, a little girl reads an illustrated storybook entitled "The Monster's Christmas" to her teddy bear, as something sneaks around in the trees outside her window. She hears a noise in the other room, and thinking that it's Father Christmas, she goes to investigate. Instead she finds one of the monsters from her book, who has come to find someone to help defeat an evil witch that has stolen the voices of all monsters; because they sang better at Christmas carols than she did. The little girl agrees to help, and armed with the contents of her Christmas stocking sets out on a surreal, imaginative, electronically sounded, novelly avant-garde, one-of-a-kind, brain-tickling, foam-monster populated outdoor fantasy adventure through smoky fields, magical forests, boiling, bubbling mud pools, volcanic landscapes and secret witch mountain cave lairs.
The Haunting of Barney Palmer is a fantasy film for children about a young boy who is haunted by his great uncle. Young Barney fears that he has inherited the Scholar family curse; a suite of 80s-era effects ramp up the supernatural suspense. The film was a co-production between PBS (United States) and Wellington's Gibson Group, which resulted in Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Network) being cast. It was written by Margaret Mahy, based on her Carnegie Award-winning novel The Haunting, and an early fruitful collaboration between her and director Yvonne Mackay.
Before Christmas, the North Pole is a very busy place. When Rumbletum, the cantankerous boiler which drives the toy machines breaks down, Santa has to find a job in the city to pay for the repairs.