When a City Falls (2011)

When a City Falls (2011) poster

2010 on the Canterbury Plains and all is well. Lambs, blue skies and daffodils. In Cathedral Square choir boys sing to their God. Punts push new season's tourists along the Avon. They photograph the 'Garden city'; the 'most English city outside of England'. We get hit with a 7.1 earthquake. We stand up, wave our fists at the heavens and compliment ourselves on our ability to recover. And then we get hit even harder. Now the city has fallen. Many are dead. Many injured. Many narrowly escape. A fragile people reappear in the following days. We have learnt from the first earthquake and once again a response is growing. Once again adrenaline is taking over. Now the whole country is rallying for Christchurch. It's the energy of the people that's unprecedented. Communities are rising from the sand. People are holding tight to each other. A year later and the quakes keep rolling. Now the Canterbury earthquakes are the most ever quakes recorded in a series. And we're still counting....

Director: Gerard Smyth
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 106 min
Release Date:

Screenplay

Music: Tiki Tane, Aaaron Tokonoa
Cinematography: Gerard Smyth
Editing: Ken Sparks, Richard Lord
Country: New Zealand
Language: English
Original Language: en

Keywords

disaster

More Films by Director: Gerard Smyth
More Films in Genre: Documentary

Frequently Asked Questions

What is When a City Falls about?
2010 on the Canterbury Plains and all is well. Lambs, blue skies and daffodils. In Cathedral Square choir boys sing to their God. Punts push new season's tourists along the Avon. They photograph the 'Garden city'; the 'most English city outside of England'. We get hit with a 7.1 earthquake. We stand up, wave our fists at the heavens and compliment ourselves on our ability to recover. And then we get hit even harder. Now the city has fallen. Many are dead. Many injured. Many narrowly escape. A fragile people reappear in the following days. We have learnt from the first earthquake and once again a response is growing. Once again adrenaline is taking over. Now the whole country is rallying for Christchurch. It's the energy of the people that's unprecedented. Communities are rising from the sand. People are holding tight to each other. A year later and the quakes keep rolling. Now the Canterbury earthquakes are the most ever quakes recorded in a series. And we're still counting....
Who directed When a City Falls?
When a City Falls was directed by Gerard Smyth.
How long is When a City Falls?
When a City Falls has a runtime of 1h 46m (106 minutes).
What genre is When a City Falls?
When a City Falls is a Documentary film.
Where was When a City Falls produced?
When a City Falls was produced in New Zealand.