Over the next four decades, Sergel helped transform the former dump into what he describes as a \u201cmuseum of humanity\u201d, backed by volunteers, fundraising groups, trusts, sponsors and Hamilton City Council.<\/p>\n
Film-maker Grant Sheehan.<\/p>\n
Film-maker Grant Sheehan said the gardens stunned him on his first visit in 2014, while photographing landscapes for a New Zealand book project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe the incredible variety of gardens, and how authentic they were,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when you got above it on a drone, it was like you were flying over the real thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That visit sparked years of conversations about documenting the gardens. Sheehan and his team first produced a book before deciding the story demanded a feature film.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fell in love with the place,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n
The film combines drone footage, interviews and historical storytelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to take people on a journey through the gardens,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted them to pick up all the vestiges of narrative that jump out from everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drone footage became central to the film\u2019s visual style, helping audiences understand how the gardens connect and flow together. <\/p>\n
Sheehan said aerial filming also gave the documentary a dreamlike quality that reflected Sergel\u2019s original vision for the site. <\/p>\n
But Sheehan acknowledged drones now carry very different associations globally because of modern warfare.<\/p>\n
He said that despite this, aerial cameras had become an essential filmmaking tool, allowing film-makers to capture perspectives impossible to achieve from the ground.<\/p>\n
Sheehan said the production team worked carefully to avoid turning the documentary into a lecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to feed things through very delicately, so as not to overwhelm people, and still leave something there for people to discover when they go there themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The documentary also highlights the people behind the attraction, from gardeners and sculptors to volunteers and long-serving staff who helped shape the site over decades.<\/p>\n
One of them is current director Lucy Ryan, who took over the role in 2021 and has overseen significant changes, including the new entry precinct and paid entry system.<\/p>\n
The Ancient Egyptian Garden at Hamilton Gardens.<\/p>\n
The film arrives as Hamilton Gardens continues to expand, with the Medieval Garden due to open later this year and fundraising underway for the Baroque Garden.<\/p>\n
The attraction has gained increasing international recognition over the past decade.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Hamilton Gardens won International Garden of the Year, while Tripadvisor later ranked it among the world\u2019s top 1% of attractions.<\/p>\n
After filming famous gardens around the world, Sheehan believes Hamilton\u2019s creation stands apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a clever concept, and so brilliantly carried out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s more extraordinary than anything we\u2019ve seen, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Eley is a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. Before he joined the Hamilton-based team, he worked for the Weekend Sun and Sunlive. He previously worked as a journalist at Black Press Media in Canada and won a fellowship with the Vancouver Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the next four decades, Sergel helped transform the former dump into what he describes as a \u201cmuseum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[83172,1038,1550,13182,859,77492,156,71,30407,6288,409,111,139,69,38019,2839,5433,19554,61,28643,23473,80],"class_list":["post-450362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-attraction","tag-brings","tag-centre","tag-cinemas","tag-documentary","tag-dump","tag-entertainment","tag-from","tag-gardens","tag-hamilton","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rubbish","tag-screening","tag-stage","tag-taken","tag-to","tag-worldclass","tag-worldfamous","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}