Image: Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki, Christchurch
Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki is promoting a rare screening of 'Hone Tuwhare: No Other Lips' with Dame Gaylene Preston, set for Sunday 30 August at Lumiere Cinema at The Arts Centre in Christchurch. The 1996, 46-minute film will be followed by a Q&A with Preston, with the event also including a complimentary glass of wine or beer on arrival, nibbles, and drinks and discussion around the screening.
According to CoCA’s newsletter and the event listing, the film is described as a warts-and-all tribute to Hone Tuwhare, one of New Zealand’s best-known and best-loved literary figures. Tuwhare, the late poet laureate who lived from 1922 to 2008, is shown in the film at home in a tiny house in Kaka Point in South Otago, where he wrote prolifically, and while travelling the country reading his work. The screening is presented as an intimate portrait of the poet and a “punchy portrait of a remarkable poet and a great New Zealand character.”
The event is positioned as a community-supported fundraiser for CoCA Toi Moroki contemporary art gallery. The newsletter says the screening has been made possible thanks to the generosity of Dame Gaylene, and that proceeds from the event will go towards CoCA’s programming. CoCA describes itself on its website as an independent charitable trust and Ōtautahi Christchurch’s oldest arts institution, with a vision of creating a thriving home for art and culture in Waitaha and offering free exhibitions and events for the community.
Preston’s name is closely tied to New Zealand screen culture, and CoCA’s event materials note that her career spans six decades. The institution describes her as an innovative writer, director and producer whose work has focused on telling New Zealand stories and has screened at major international film festivals. The event listing also names several films from her filmography, including 'GRACE A Prayer for Peace', 'Perfect Strangers', 'War Stories', 'Bread and Roses', 'Ruby and Rata' and 'Mr Wrong'.
The screening begins at 2.30pm on Sunday 30 August, with arrival from 2pm. The Q&A is scheduled for 3.15pm. Tickets are priced at $30 and are available through Humanitix. The listing identifies Lumiere Cinema at The Arts Centre as the venue, and CoCA notes that the event supports its contemporary art programme.
The wider CoCA newsletter places the screening alongside a number of other activities, including the annual student exhibition 'Whakawhanaungatanga 2026', Lily Rose Claypole’s 'Underpinning' for the One Wall programme, a One Wall panel discussion, and 'TŪĀTEA', a Brown Town event connected to the closing of 'E lē galo le tai // The tide is never forgotten'. Those other items are listed separately in CoCA’s roundup, while 'Hone Tuwhare: No Other Lips' stands out as a one-off film event centred on a rare public chance to revisit Tuwhare’s life and work with Preston in person.
