History Man

Historian Michael King's opus was a bridge between Māori and Pākehā; he turned Aotearoa's history into an unprecedented publishing bestseller. History Man traces King's own past, to understand the man and his passion for his work. This doco was commissioned only weeks before King and his wife were tragically killed in a car accident. Nevertheless it is a detailed portrait of a much loved and missed New Zealander. It is another collaboration from this producer/director team, whose subjects include Michael Houstoun, Ian Mune and Barry Crump.

When you say pākehā I think he was very much māori. In his manner he was very much māori because he felt it inside him in his heart because of the researching that he had done and the truth came out. And in a lot of, well in my eyes particularly, he was more māori than pākehā.

– Interviewee in Panguru

Key Cast & Crew

John Carlaw

Director

Geoff Walker

Subject

Witi Ihimaera

Subject

Jonathan King

Subject

Michael King

Subject

Colin Hogg

Narrator, Writer, Producer