FILMMAKING
For a Puppet to Live (2024) is an experimental documentary, one of a series of moving image portraits by Amos Mann — short films of creatives at work.
Told purely through visuals and music, this story is a rare glimpse behind-the-scenes celebrating the creative process.
Spanish/Aotearoa New Zealand theatre company Naranjarte (Ana Lorite and Sergio Aguilar) are rehearsing for a new show. We are with them on stage as they develop a scene with one of their handcrafted puppets — Neto the marionette.
Filmed at St Peter’s Hall in the coastal village of Paekākāriki, Kāpiti, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Filmed and produced by Amos Mann.
Shot on GH5s, post produced on DaVinci Resolve.
Original soundtrack composed and performed by Amos Mann.
Ngā mihi nui Katrina Chandra for project support and facilitation.
Premiered in September 2024 at Wellington Puppetry Festival, Vogelmorn, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Performers
Formed in 2011, Naranjarte (Ana Lorite and Sergio Aguilar) receive many accolades for their puppetry and juggling performances and education initiatives. Their performances are immersive journeys that challenge perceptions and transport audiences to realms of wonder and delight. After completing an extensive world tour, the duo chose Aotearoa New Zealand as their home. See more at naranjarte.com
Dynamics of a field
Music video
Evocative, nostalgic, and suitably spooky, this video art piece was shot at an abandoned stables in rural Aotearoa New Zealand. The intriguing visuals play with perceptions of movement and time through contemporary dance, subtle and repetitive performative actions, and experimental film techniques, bringing the site to life and into relationship with the multilayered meanings of the song’s lyrics.
‘This cosmic space here together
what connects us together
behaving weirdly together
believing only each other’
Filmed in te rohe o Otaraua hapū, o Te Ātiawa ki Kāpiti. Ngā mihi nui ki ngā graffiti artists o Waikanae, Kāpiti, Aotearoa New Zealand — please contact me to receive full credit. The site was demolished soon after filming.