‘Selling the creative city’: Wellington tourism film in the neoliberal era

ABSTRACT

Since the beginning of the Twentieth Century tourism films have constituted a significant part of New Zealand film production. In fact, films made and/or used for tourism promotion have been released for domestic and overseas circulation by both government-led and private film production companies. Over the last 10 years the institutions in charge of Wellington tourism marketing have been increasingly relying on social media platforms such as Youtube and Facebook to globally circulate images of New Zealand’s capital city. Indeed, since 2007, 20 tourism marketing campaigns conceived for social media circulation featured in WellingtonNZ Youtube channel. This article will focus on three of these campaigns: the Vampire’s Guide to Vellington (2014); the It’s Never Just a Weekend When It’s in Wellington series (2014) and the LookSee series (2017). Through the analysis of these case studies, this article argues that contemporary Wellington tourism film production is a complex and multilayered process characterised by the cross-collaboration between local political stakeholders, local creatives and local businesses. Moreover, it highlights how the representation of Wellington as a cinematic and creative city, home of a globalised creative class has been informed by the neoliberal paradigm and by the persistence of a deeply-rooted settler gaze.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism
• film
• creative city
• Wellington
• tourism film

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Diego Bonelli is a Teaching and Research Assistant in the Film Programme at Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests focus on the definition of tourism film as a media form, on New Zealand tourism film production from the early twentieth century until now and on the relationship between film and tourism industries in New Zealand. His article Sweet Suburbia and the Bustling City. Wellington in Early New Zealand Tourism Film (1912-1941) will soon be published on the Journal and New Zealand Studies.

Thierry Jutel is an Associate Professor of Film at Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests focus on contemporary cinema, cultural production and media industries, Filmmaking, Landscape and media spaces. Among his recent publications are Breaking Bad: Diagnostic Narratives in Film and Television, in Annemarie Jutel, Telling It Like It Is: The Diagnostic Moment and its Narratives (Toronto 2019).

Dr Alfio Leotta is a Senior Lecturer of Film at Victoria University of Wellington. His primary research interests focus on the relation between film and tourism, on the history of New Zealand cinema, and on New Italian Cinema. Among his recent publications is The Cinema of John Milius (Lanham 2018).

ORCID

Diego Bonelli http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7211-3050

Alfio Leotta http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9964-1099