Bloom Pictures Projects
Bloom Pictures screen projects are intimate and challenging, and promote social change.
Unique characters take us on intimate journeys of personal challenge. Seeing life through their eyes, we're confronted and changed by the messy reality of social issues - like suicide, poverty, racism and exclusion.
Our content is diverse in format and tone. It traverses both documentary and drama, from film to TV to web series, with projects always positioned on the best platform to find an engaged audience.
See our current slate below.
Unique characters take us on intimate journeys of personal challenge. Seeing life through their eyes, we're confronted and changed by the messy reality of social issues - like suicide, poverty, racism and exclusion.
Our content is diverse in format and tone. It traverses both documentary and drama, from film to TV to web series, with projects always positioned on the best platform to find an engaged audience.
See our current slate below.
|
Feature documentary
Director | Gwen Issac
Producers | Alex Reed & Phillida Perry
Status | Released 2023
Pink-haired, polarising and pissing people off.
In March 2020 director Gwen Isaac found herself in the house of non-conforming microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. Seeing a pandemic about to hit her adopted country, Siouxsie stepped into the public eye and spoke out to keep New Zealanders science-informed.
Ms. Information follows Siouxsie's story over two unrelenting years of public service. The film reveals a small nation under pressure, confronted by a new type of leadership that excites, incites and polarizes.
Ms. Information traverses motherhood, misogyny, misinformation and identity through the lens of a pink-haired microbiologist who "just wants to give people information".
Premiered at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival throughout New Zealand from July 2023.
Available for International Distribution. Contact Alex Reed.
Instagram | Facebook
Director | Gwen Issac
Producers | Alex Reed & Phillida Perry
Status | Released 2023
Pink-haired, polarising and pissing people off.
In March 2020 director Gwen Isaac found herself in the house of non-conforming microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. Seeing a pandemic about to hit her adopted country, Siouxsie stepped into the public eye and spoke out to keep New Zealanders science-informed.
Ms. Information follows Siouxsie's story over two unrelenting years of public service. The film reveals a small nation under pressure, confronted by a new type of leadership that excites, incites and polarizes.
Ms. Information traverses motherhood, misogyny, misinformation and identity through the lens of a pink-haired microbiologist who "just wants to give people information".
Premiered at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival throughout New Zealand from July 2023.
Available for International Distribution. Contact Alex Reed.
Instagram | Facebook
|
TE ARA
Web Series - 4 x 12 mins | Documentary 1 x 44 mins
Director | Alexis Smith
Producer | Alex Reed
Co-production with Greenstone TV
Status | Released 2023
Holly Beckham (Ngāpuhi) is on a mission to be the first Māori wahine to scale Everest. She has no alpine experience, but she has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing a maunga to recovery.
Back in 1988, Wānaka’s Lydia Bradey, ONZM, was the first woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. But instead of accolades, she became the subject of public bullying and misinformation, as people challenged her claims.
Together these two wāhine toa will venture into Aotearoa’s mountains, developing a deep partnership of trust, honesty and grit as they attempt to summit Holly's first peak, the iconic Tititea Mt Aspiring.
The full series is available to view online.
Director | Alexis Smith
Producer | Alex Reed
Co-production with Greenstone TV
Status | Released 2023
Holly Beckham (Ngāpuhi) is on a mission to be the first Māori wahine to scale Everest. She has no alpine experience, but she has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing a maunga to recovery.
Back in 1988, Wānaka’s Lydia Bradey, ONZM, was the first woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. But instead of accolades, she became the subject of public bullying and misinformation, as people challenged her claims.
Together these two wāhine toa will venture into Aotearoa’s mountains, developing a deep partnership of trust, honesty and grit as they attempt to summit Holly's first peak, the iconic Tititea Mt Aspiring.
The full series is available to view online.
MISTER ORGAN
Feature documentary
Director | David Farrier
Producers | Alex Reed & Emma Slade
Co-production with Firefly Films
Status | Released 2022
Mister Organ sees journalist and filmmaker David Farrier (Tickled, Dark Tourist) unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mysterious individual clamping cars and creating havoc in his neighbourhood.
The clamper is revealed and as Farrier delves deeper into his background he falls into a tension-filled investigation over three years, unearthing a trail of court cases, inflated claims of royal bloodlines, and a series of ruined lives.
An incredible true story of psychological warfare, Mister Organ will leave you reeling.
“Couldn’t recommend a film more highly. If you want proof that fact is stranger than fiction – wow!”
- Stephen Fry
Available to View on Netflix - New Zealand, Australia, North America.
Facebook | Instagram
Director | David Farrier
Producers | Alex Reed & Emma Slade
Co-production with Firefly Films
Status | Released 2022
Mister Organ sees journalist and filmmaker David Farrier (Tickled, Dark Tourist) unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mysterious individual clamping cars and creating havoc in his neighbourhood.
The clamper is revealed and as Farrier delves deeper into his background he falls into a tension-filled investigation over three years, unearthing a trail of court cases, inflated claims of royal bloodlines, and a series of ruined lives.
An incredible true story of psychological warfare, Mister Organ will leave you reeling.
“Couldn’t recommend a film more highly. If you want proof that fact is stranger than fiction – wow!”
- Stephen Fry
Available to View on Netflix - New Zealand, Australia, North America.
Facebook | Instagram
Feature documentary - social impact
Director | Leanne Pooley
Producers | Alex Reed & Cass Avery
Co-production with Augusto Ltd
Status | Released 2020
Jazz and Jess were friends with almost identical, troubled lives - until 17-year-old Jess changed that forever when she took her own life.
Now a mental health advocate, Jazz is on a mission to tell her friend’s story and speak out about one of New Zealand's biggest killers.
Caught between social prejudice and an avalanche of people in need, Jazz battles her own demons, determined to force real change around suicide.
Directed by award winning film-maker, Leanne Pooley, The Girl on the Bridge is a film about hope and redemption. It's also a challenge to all of us to try to understand.
The film was made as a companion piece to web series Jessica's Tree, also produced by Alex Reed and Cass Avery.
Jessica's Tree is currently available to watch on TVNZonDemand.
Director | Leanne Pooley
Producers | Alex Reed & Cass Avery
Co-production with Augusto Ltd
Status | Released 2020
Jazz and Jess were friends with almost identical, troubled lives - until 17-year-old Jess changed that forever when she took her own life.
Now a mental health advocate, Jazz is on a mission to tell her friend’s story and speak out about one of New Zealand's biggest killers.
Caught between social prejudice and an avalanche of people in need, Jazz battles her own demons, determined to force real change around suicide.
Directed by award winning film-maker, Leanne Pooley, The Girl on the Bridge is a film about hope and redemption. It's also a challenge to all of us to try to understand.
The film was made as a companion piece to web series Jessica's Tree, also produced by Alex Reed and Cass Avery.
Jessica's Tree is currently available to watch on TVNZonDemand.
O'TOWN DREAMING
Web Series - 8 x 15 mins
Directors | Rupert Mackenzie & Eugene Carnachan
Producer | Alex Reed
Status | Released 2022
O’Town Dreaming features young, talented artists striving to make a future for themselves against the urban backdrop of their community – Ōtara.
Each episode is a snapshot of local youth and their aspiration through music and dance that together make up a visceral insight into the vibrancy of a suburb used to bad press.
The series profiles seven distinctive artists, all striving to make a future for themselves or to help others in their community. All of them use music as their means of expression.
This is a series about struggle, hope and community bonds.
Directors | Rupert Mackenzie & Eugene Carnachan
Producer | Alex Reed
Status | Released 2022
O’Town Dreaming features young, talented artists striving to make a future for themselves against the urban backdrop of their community – Ōtara.
Each episode is a snapshot of local youth and their aspiration through music and dance that together make up a visceral insight into the vibrancy of a suburb used to bad press.
The series profiles seven distinctive artists, all striving to make a future for themselves or to help others in their community. All of them use music as their means of expression.
This is a series about struggle, hope and community bonds.
Image: Paul Lambert
PARIAH
Web Series - 9 x 5 mins
Created by | Owen Black & Pablo Araus
Director, DP & Editor | Pablo Araus
Producer | Owen Black
Series Producers | Slavko Martinov & Alex Reed
Status | Released 2020
In a North Canterbury nutshell, this feel-good, genre-bending and wonderfully odd rockumentary about a farmer picking up a microphone to make his never-too-late dreams come true, can best be summed up as ‘Country Calendar’ meets ‘Spinal Tap’ by way of ‘Flight of Conchords’ if it was directed by the ghost of John Clarke.
The difference between that delightfully mad visual omelette and Pariah however, is that Pariah is the real deal.
Part rock-mockumentary, part factual series, part musical wish fulfilment journey, Pariah tells the incredible true story of a man from North Canterbury, Owen Black (49), who somehow manages to pick himself up from the latest depressive episode of his rural existence, and against all odds - and there are so many odds - pulls together a talented team of musicians, producers, and an ailing uncle to create a song, make a music video, and take the first step on the road to a dream that could exceed even his own wild expectations.
And those are some wild expectations.
But if seeing is believing, you still might not believe what you’re seeing.
Even though it’s real.
Really.
Created by | Owen Black & Pablo Araus
Director, DP & Editor | Pablo Araus
Producer | Owen Black
Series Producers | Slavko Martinov & Alex Reed
Status | Released 2020
In a North Canterbury nutshell, this feel-good, genre-bending and wonderfully odd rockumentary about a farmer picking up a microphone to make his never-too-late dreams come true, can best be summed up as ‘Country Calendar’ meets ‘Spinal Tap’ by way of ‘Flight of Conchords’ if it was directed by the ghost of John Clarke.
The difference between that delightfully mad visual omelette and Pariah however, is that Pariah is the real deal.
Part rock-mockumentary, part factual series, part musical wish fulfilment journey, Pariah tells the incredible true story of a man from North Canterbury, Owen Black (49), who somehow manages to pick himself up from the latest depressive episode of his rural existence, and against all odds - and there are so many odds - pulls together a talented team of musicians, producers, and an ailing uncle to create a song, make a music video, and take the first step on the road to a dream that could exceed even his own wild expectations.
And those are some wild expectations.
But if seeing is believing, you still might not believe what you’re seeing.
Even though it’s real.
Really.
Image: Pablo Araus
Feature documentary
Director | Slavko Martinov
Producers | Alex Reed, Slavko Martinov & Jill Macnab
Status | In pre-production
Can a shared love of cats be used as a weapon for peace?
Undertaking a diplocatic mission to use a shared love of cats as a weapon for peace in the Holy Land, New Zealand’s Catbassador Slavko Martinov finds themselves caught in the middle of an historically high-stakes battle for story supremacy about the real meaning of home.
Filming in Israel & Palestine.
Director | Slavko Martinov
Producers | Alex Reed, Slavko Martinov & Jill Macnab
Status | In pre-production
Can a shared love of cats be used as a weapon for peace?
Undertaking a diplocatic mission to use a shared love of cats as a weapon for peace in the Holy Land, New Zealand’s Catbassador Slavko Martinov finds themselves caught in the middle of an historically high-stakes battle for story supremacy about the real meaning of home.
Filming in Israel & Palestine.