Watch Seeing Red

One evening New Zealand filmmaker Cecil Holmes left his workplace, the National Film Unit in Wellington, and went to his regular Friday night drinks. That evening, Holmes' camera and satchel were stolen from his car and some weeks later, his Communist Party card was emblazoned in a major newspaper along with a disparaging article about the young filmmaker. The "satchel snatch" scandal was the Kiwi variant of a Red Scare. Holmes, an active union member, became a fall guy, used by the then Government to deflect workers' attention from wage freezes. He immediately lost his job at the National Film Unit and was blacklisted by employers and moved to Australia. Seeing Red also explores the establishment of the National Film Unit, which was set up after a visit to New Zealand by John Grierson during WW2. The film raises a number of issues that are of relevance today - questions on how history is told, the relationship between filmmaking and its funding, and the right of government to use public money to promote its own agenda.

Seeing Red is a documentary with a runtime of 48 minutes.