Sometime this year, taxpayers should finally see the result of the $199,999 NZ on Air gave to film-makers in 2021 to document “the highs, lows and difficulties of being an openly gay, polarising, but immensely popular, millennial politician” — namely the Greens’ Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick.
Exactly when the 90-minute documentary (which also received $20,000 in Film Commission funding for script development) might be shown, however, is not clear. NZ On Air would only say it will be screened this year and recommended I ask Warner Bros Discovery/Three for a precise date.
Last month, WBD told me it hadn’t yet scheduled a screening date. In fact, Being Chlöe didn’t appear on its latest roundup of “brand-new homegrown content” coming in 2025 — although a company representative reminded me this wasn’t an “exhaustive list”.
A three-parter on Philip Polkinghorne, the lascivious eye surgeon acquitted of murdering his wife, made the company’s PR release, despite the comprehensive coverage of his trial last year, as did a new show fronted by comedic journalist Guy Williams. Footage depicting Jonah Lomu’s rise to rugby stardom also qualified for the company’s brag sheet but the “polarising, but immensely popular” Swarbrick didn’t.
Last week, when I asked for any update on the schedule for Being Chlöe, the WBD spokeswoman cheerfully told me: “Nothing new to share with you at this stage, sorry!”
The documentary’s makers have not been helpful. Its producer, Letisha Tate-Dunning, and executive producer Mark McNeill didn’t reply to my emails last July, including a request for an indication of a screening date.
Tate-Dunning also didn’t reply to my request in November asking if the documentary would have a cinematic release, which was part of the funding application, and to specify “the latest political events Being Chlöe covers — or, to put it another way, when was filming ended?”
However, she or her producers are presumably willing — or obliged — to pass that information on to NZ On Air because a spokeswoman subsequently told me filming wrapped last February.
In fact, it’s very easy to wonder if this documentary is not only an ongoing embarrassment to NZ On Air but also no longer a compelling proposition for television, although it’s undoubtedly still going to be a contentious one.
In May 2022, Act leader David Seymour made it clear that, in his view, granting public money to make a documentary about a sitting MP was simply wrong, no matter what party they represented. He objected to the possibility of Being Chlöe influencing the 2023 election but was assured it wouldn’t be screened until after that date.
Former National arts minister Chris Finlayson described the funding decision as “pretty ropey”. He damned NZ On Air as “an intrinsically left-wing organisation… pushing their own political views”.
Seymour recommended Swarbrick do the decent thing and decline to take part in the programme and thereby avoid “[politicising] the independence of NZ On Air”. But Swarbrick — who likes to cast herself as a very reluctant politician despite having put her hand up to be Auckland’s mayor in 2016, a Green MP in 2017, and co-leader in 2024 — saw no problem with having yet another publicly funded documentary made about her.
“Like most politicians when asked to participate in a piece of local media, I said yes,” she told news media.
In fact, she appeared indignant that anyone would even question NZ On Air’s allocation of public funds:
“It would be entirely remiss of anybody who believes that we should have this independent state funder that is making these decisions independently have the state dictate what sort of New Zealand content is made and what sort of New Zealand content is not.”
The fact NZ on Air had previously funded the 18-minute Three Ticks Chlöe mini-documentary for The Spinoff as well as the nine-minute OK Chlöe didn’t seem to give her pause that documenting her life and political career might have already taken quite enough public money.
When the Taxpayers’ Union asked in mid-2022 for a copy of the application for funding, NZ On Air declined, citing commercial sensitivity. However, it became clear the agency had been very aware of the problems of financing a documentary about a sitting MP.
“Staff discussed at length the risk profile of this production, as NZ On Air support may be perceived as an endorsement of a politician and/or political agenda. However, given the success of this team’s previous work on this subject, the quality of the proposal, and the significant amount of interest expressed both nationally and internationally about Chlöe Swarbrick, staff is of the opinion that the application’s merits outweigh the perceived risk. Staff is reassured that as the narrative concludes with the election result, the film will be released after the 2023 election and will not be perceived to influence the result.”
The international interest in Swarbrick the funding agency mentioned was presumably the burst of international publicity about her “OK, boomer” jibe in Parliament in 2019. Unfortunately, she hasn’t continued to make a splash in overseas news since those heady days.
NZ On Air has said Being Chlöe will be a “warts and all exploration of the personal journey of NZ’s youngest MP”. However, the pitch put out in Australia by the director, Charlotte Evans, and producer, Letisha Dunning-Tate, to crowd-fund $100,000 to help make the documentary sounds very much like a hagiography.
The documentary would use “footage spanning nine years of her life” and “chart the metamorphosis of Chlöe — personally and politically — until she emerges as a seasoned politician and an astute leader who goes head-to-head with the Prime Minister over some of the biggest issues of our time. Through a dynamic interplay of fly-on-the-wall observational material of her public life and intimate home movies, the film is a revealing portrait of a young woman grappling with her demons, trying to sustain her sense of self, and pursue her party’s goals.”
Dunning-Tate and Evans also produced and directed OK Chlöe. It was billed by NZ On Screen as an “admiring short film” so the omens for Being Chlöe aren’t propitious for anything except a much longer admiring film.
Quite apart from the documentary inevitably being seen as propaganda for the Greens, the fact it won’t screen for at least a year after filming ended means that it risks being embarrassingly out of date.
By anyone’s estimation — including Swarbrick’s — 2024 was an extremely tough year for the party so it’s hard to see how Being Chlöe can in any way convey the “highs, lows and difficulties” of her career when filming was closed off before the Greens’ annus horribilis had yet to fully unfold.
Filming finished before Swarbrick was appointed co-leader in March; before the publication of the Cass Report on puberty blockers in April seriously undermined Swarbrick’s beloved transgender ideology; before Julie Anne Genter shouted at minister Matt Doocey in Parliament in May and was accused of other intimidation; before her former colleague Golriz Ghahraman was sentenced in the District Court in June on four counts of theft; before Marama Davidson took leave for breast cancer treatment and handed Swarbrick sole charge of the party’s tiller that same month; and before she used the waka-jumping law in October to evict Darleen Tana from Parliament despite her once apparently deep-seated opposition to it.
No doubt Being Chlöe seemed to be a winning idea in December 2021 when the funding was announced. At that time, Jacinda Ardern was still riding high in the polls, “climate-change denier” was a common rebuke, and trans ideology was at its zenith. However, it doesn’t seem quite so propitious in 2025.
A full-length documentary about a left-wing New Zealand politician with a penchant for wearing a keffiyeh, who has never held a ministerial portfolio during her seven years in Parliament and whose party increasingly resembles a relic of the heyday of “progressive” politics, will likely look, at best, quaint.
At worst, a seriously misguided use of public money and very dated.
Graham Adams is an Auckland-based freelance editor, journalist and columnist. This article was originally published by ThePlatform.kiwi and is published here with kind permission.
Last month, WBD told me it hadn’t yet scheduled a screening date. In fact, Being Chlöe didn’t appear on its latest roundup of “brand-new homegrown content” coming in 2025 — although a company representative reminded me this wasn’t an “exhaustive list”.
A three-parter on Philip Polkinghorne, the lascivious eye surgeon acquitted of murdering his wife, made the company’s PR release, despite the comprehensive coverage of his trial last year, as did a new show fronted by comedic journalist Guy Williams. Footage depicting Jonah Lomu’s rise to rugby stardom also qualified for the company’s brag sheet but the “polarising, but immensely popular” Swarbrick didn’t.
Last week, when I asked for any update on the schedule for Being Chlöe, the WBD spokeswoman cheerfully told me: “Nothing new to share with you at this stage, sorry!”
The documentary’s makers have not been helpful. Its producer, Letisha Tate-Dunning, and executive producer Mark McNeill didn’t reply to my emails last July, including a request for an indication of a screening date.
Tate-Dunning also didn’t reply to my request in November asking if the documentary would have a cinematic release, which was part of the funding application, and to specify “the latest political events Being Chlöe covers — or, to put it another way, when was filming ended?”
However, she or her producers are presumably willing — or obliged — to pass that information on to NZ On Air because a spokeswoman subsequently told me filming wrapped last February.
In fact, it’s very easy to wonder if this documentary is not only an ongoing embarrassment to NZ On Air but also no longer a compelling proposition for television, although it’s undoubtedly still going to be a contentious one.
In May 2022, Act leader David Seymour made it clear that, in his view, granting public money to make a documentary about a sitting MP was simply wrong, no matter what party they represented. He objected to the possibility of Being Chlöe influencing the 2023 election but was assured it wouldn’t be screened until after that date.
Former National arts minister Chris Finlayson described the funding decision as “pretty ropey”. He damned NZ On Air as “an intrinsically left-wing organisation… pushing their own political views”.
Seymour recommended Swarbrick do the decent thing and decline to take part in the programme and thereby avoid “[politicising] the independence of NZ On Air”. But Swarbrick — who likes to cast herself as a very reluctant politician despite having put her hand up to be Auckland’s mayor in 2016, a Green MP in 2017, and co-leader in 2024 — saw no problem with having yet another publicly funded documentary made about her.
“Like most politicians when asked to participate in a piece of local media, I said yes,” she told news media.
In fact, she appeared indignant that anyone would even question NZ On Air’s allocation of public funds:
“It would be entirely remiss of anybody who believes that we should have this independent state funder that is making these decisions independently have the state dictate what sort of New Zealand content is made and what sort of New Zealand content is not.”
The fact NZ on Air had previously funded the 18-minute Three Ticks Chlöe mini-documentary for The Spinoff as well as the nine-minute OK Chlöe didn’t seem to give her pause that documenting her life and political career might have already taken quite enough public money.
When the Taxpayers’ Union asked in mid-2022 for a copy of the application for funding, NZ On Air declined, citing commercial sensitivity. However, it became clear the agency had been very aware of the problems of financing a documentary about a sitting MP.
“Staff discussed at length the risk profile of this production, as NZ On Air support may be perceived as an endorsement of a politician and/or political agenda. However, given the success of this team’s previous work on this subject, the quality of the proposal, and the significant amount of interest expressed both nationally and internationally about Chlöe Swarbrick, staff is of the opinion that the application’s merits outweigh the perceived risk. Staff is reassured that as the narrative concludes with the election result, the film will be released after the 2023 election and will not be perceived to influence the result.”
The international interest in Swarbrick the funding agency mentioned was presumably the burst of international publicity about her “OK, boomer” jibe in Parliament in 2019. Unfortunately, she hasn’t continued to make a splash in overseas news since those heady days.
NZ On Air has said Being Chlöe will be a “warts and all exploration of the personal journey of NZ’s youngest MP”. However, the pitch put out in Australia by the director, Charlotte Evans, and producer, Letisha Dunning-Tate, to crowd-fund $100,000 to help make the documentary sounds very much like a hagiography.
The documentary would use “footage spanning nine years of her life” and “chart the metamorphosis of Chlöe — personally and politically — until she emerges as a seasoned politician and an astute leader who goes head-to-head with the Prime Minister over some of the biggest issues of our time. Through a dynamic interplay of fly-on-the-wall observational material of her public life and intimate home movies, the film is a revealing portrait of a young woman grappling with her demons, trying to sustain her sense of self, and pursue her party’s goals.”
Dunning-Tate and Evans also produced and directed OK Chlöe. It was billed by NZ On Screen as an “admiring short film” so the omens for Being Chlöe aren’t propitious for anything except a much longer admiring film.
Quite apart from the documentary inevitably being seen as propaganda for the Greens, the fact it won’t screen for at least a year after filming ended means that it risks being embarrassingly out of date.
By anyone’s estimation — including Swarbrick’s — 2024 was an extremely tough year for the party so it’s hard to see how Being Chlöe can in any way convey the “highs, lows and difficulties” of her career when filming was closed off before the Greens’ annus horribilis had yet to fully unfold.
Filming finished before Swarbrick was appointed co-leader in March; before the publication of the Cass Report on puberty blockers in April seriously undermined Swarbrick’s beloved transgender ideology; before Julie Anne Genter shouted at minister Matt Doocey in Parliament in May and was accused of other intimidation; before her former colleague Golriz Ghahraman was sentenced in the District Court in June on four counts of theft; before Marama Davidson took leave for breast cancer treatment and handed Swarbrick sole charge of the party’s tiller that same month; and before she used the waka-jumping law in October to evict Darleen Tana from Parliament despite her once apparently deep-seated opposition to it.
No doubt Being Chlöe seemed to be a winning idea in December 2021 when the funding was announced. At that time, Jacinda Ardern was still riding high in the polls, “climate-change denier” was a common rebuke, and trans ideology was at its zenith. However, it doesn’t seem quite so propitious in 2025.
A full-length documentary about a left-wing New Zealand politician with a penchant for wearing a keffiyeh, who has never held a ministerial portfolio during her seven years in Parliament and whose party increasingly resembles a relic of the heyday of “progressive” politics, will likely look, at best, quaint.
At worst, a seriously misguided use of public money and very dated.
Graham Adams is an Auckland-based freelance editor, journalist and columnist. This article was originally published by ThePlatform.kiwi and is published here with kind permission.
1 comment:
Not to denigrate your excellent work in any way Graham but, really, who cares?
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