New Zealand's deadliest disaster you've never heard of burns across the screen.
In November 1947 forty-one people died in a massive blaze that gutted the huge Ballantynes Department Store complex in the heart of Christchurch’s business district. This is the tragic story of New Zealand’s worst fire disaster.
Production
Recreated 1947 Christchurch with haunting period detail.
Direction
Frizzell refuses to sensationalize; the horror speaks itself.
Writing
Names the dead. Refuses to let them become statistics.
Director
Joshua Frizzell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The disaster remains New Zealand's deadliest fire; until this film, most Kiwis under 40 had never heard of it.
Director Joshua Frizzell cast several descendants of actual victims and survivors, including Victoria Abbott whose great-aunt died in the blaze.
US
NZ
