2022 | 11m | Language: English

Kauri K9s

How do I tell the story of an incurable disease, alone during a pandemic, in someone else's country? That was the brief for New Zealand's first kauri dieback detection dogs. COVID-19 ruled out a crew; the soil-borne spores ruled out easy location access. I knew early on cameras alone wouldn't cut it. So I included hand-drawn animation, spotlighting the disease’s infectious path across the country. Lab footage sourced from universities put a face to the deadly perpetrator. Even drone operators from 2020’s Mulan lent a hand.

I'm not from New Zealand. But turned out that was an edge. Because outsiders get to ask the obvious questions. Whatever was confusing, or vague, or both, I pinned down and pursued, using what I learned after to shape the edit. Not to outdo what was already out there, but to add to the pieces that were still missing.

in collaboration with: New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge