Marti: The Passionate Eye (2004)

Photographer Marti Friedlander recounts her life, while her photographs recount her times in this lively, evocative documentary portrait. A high-spirited young woman who'd grown up in an East End orphanage, she worked as an assistant to two major London photographers in the 50s. When she married a New Zealander and moved here in 1958, Bohemian London was suddenly a terribly long way away. Culture shock inspired her earliest photos of New Zealanders, and her richly textured pictures of New Zealand life have continued to merge intimacy, curiosity and an element of formal detachment. Seen here, her images comprise an eloquent picture show of 40 years of social change, corroborated by an array of stunning archival footage. The film explores the mysteries of good photography and the lively interaction between the photographer and her subjects, who range from children, Prime Ministers, back-country farmers, nuns, and rock singers, to artists at work.