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The Independent (Newspaper):
Last Paradise, “a brilliantly interesting investigation of the history behind New Zealand’s well-deserved reputation as the adventure sports capitol of the world…”

Santa Barbara Film Festival:
“LAST PARADISE plays to 3 full houses in Santa Barbara! Expect the unexpected when you see this film. The film cuts across audience lines, successfully merging sports and science for the benefit of the planet!!!  A terrific educational tool to inspire us to actually DO SOMETHING!
(Candace Schermerhorn, Festival Director).

Park Road Post production

I have recently been fortunate enough to work with Clive Neeson on his project The Last Paradise. I was instantly struck by the footage I saw – the beauty, the thrills and the passion evident in every frame, and how resourceful and technically excellent Clive was and still is.

I have worked on hundreds of documentaries, features films, and short films etc over the last 20 years and have never seen such an extraordinary collection of stories and images shot over decades about a subject that captures the very heart of the kiwi psyche toward extreme sports – before the term had even been coined. Clive has travelled extensively to exotic and unique locations all over the world hunting for the big breaks and the best rides, when most of these locations were still unknown and unspoilt.

As a filmmaker Clive has created a fascinating and comprehensive documentation of the subject making the material compulsive watching and a rare retro experience.

Clive is a naturally talented photographer and filmmaker; capturing historic surf breaks, snow boarding (before it existed) and any other extreme kind activity possible on a board.
The subject matter is incredible, but I was also struck by the quality and innovation Clive showed when capturing and shooting his images, which makes it not only fascinating to watch but a lesson in creative filmmaking.

It has been a pleasure to transfer this amazing footage sourced on high quality super 8 and 16mm film, beautifully shot and exposed, whilst also knowing that he is still shooting footage which continues to excite and push all technical and physical boundaries possible.
I worked with Clive as a colourist on this project and have advised him on the best technical path forward with a view to finishing this as a feature film, therefore all footage has been transferred at High Def resolution with no compromise to quality.

Clive is an Archivist who deserves recognition for capturing this unique social history of extreme sports in the making.”

John Newell, Colourist, Park Road Post Production

Weta Digital Ltd.

“After meeting the producers of Last Paradise, we decided we wanted to run a proof of concept test. We wanted to see what the original 8mm and 16mm footage looked like when transferred to a 35mm film print and projected in a cinema. A montage of original archive footage was selected, digitised at 2k resolution, colour graded and conformed into a short test and then output to 35mm via an Arri Laser film recorder. The results were amazing. The proof of concept had worked and showed just how good the final film would look when projected on the big screen”.

Pete Williams, Technical manager, Weta Digital Ltd.

Film New Zealand.

In today’s high adrenaline special effects driven world the ‘Last Paradise’ presents a unique opportunity to be there at the birth of a modern cultural movement. Created by those who were there for those who weren’t, it is refreshingly free of commercialism and cynicism.

For baby boomers this was a golden time when people were free to explore in a time before self expression had given way to today’s self obsession. That expression was in music, it was in thinking and writing and it was in sports.  Extreme sports have come a long way in the adrenaline stakes but can it compete with the thrill of discovering a perfect break off a virtually unknown island in Indonesia and  encounter unknown cultures, before tourism or travel guides.

Last Paradise provides a reality check in today’s diet of reality TV whereby people provide a spectacle for the cameras and compete for celebrity status in contrived environments with little to prove. This is beautiful footage that is virtually impossible to replicate.

It transports us into a time of innocence, and understated raw adventure, before the world went just a bit too crazy.”

Peter Avery, www.filmventuretaranaki.com, New Zealand