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Join filmmakers Harry Knight and Maria Webb at a special screening of their film ‘Balmoral’ at the Lumiere cinema on 31 August.

The filmmakers – who have been based in the UK for the last ten years – have recently relocated to Christchurch and their latest film, Balmoral, tells the story of how a passionate group of volunteers in Bristol have been fighting to save the MV Balmoral, a passenger ship built in 1949. 

The film explores the group’s battle against time, bureaucracy and financial struggle as they try and preserve a piece of maritime history.

We spoke to Harry and Maria of Falling Films about their work.

So you’ve both relocated to Christchurch?

H: Yeah, we moved back to Ōtautahi in June 2025 after spending over a decade in the UK, mainly in Bristol.

But you’re both originally from Christchurch?

H –  We both grew up here and studied in the arts. Maria’s undergrad degree was at Theatre and Film Studies at Canterbury and I went to the CPIT Jazz School (now Ara). We’ve been friends since we were teenagers and things have just organically grown from there.

M – The order of events was 1. Friends 2. Bf GF 3. Business partners/co-founding Falling Films. 4. Married.

I think that can actually work quite well because two creatives can spark off each other and you both can understand the pressures that come with creative work – because it’s not like a nine to five job where you can go, ‘right, time to switch off”.

H – Yeah, exactly. It works really well on lots of different fronts.

M – I do like saying ‘right, time to switch off’ lol!

Harry. you said you were at the jazz school, that’s had some tremendous talents through it, hasn’t it?

H – I was so inspired by my peers but also the tutors. I know I’m biased, but I just think the New Zealand music scene is just such a strong and creative one.  I know there’s a lot of struggles and difficulties but it’s amazing. Post earthquake, I used to run these concert series with a few people like Andrew Densem and Ben Delany and others, and we ran a concert series out of the Chambers Gallery on Moorhouse Ave –  we just wanted to create a good listening space.

That was very entrepreneurial of you.

H – People used to say that I was entrepreneurial, but I like to think I’m more of a social-preneur. Focusing more on values than… money.

Well, we all know that the creative industry is not one to get into if you want to make lots of money. But there is definitely a creative spirit here in the city, you find?

H – Yes absolutely. The amount of amazing people that have come out of Christchurch in terms of creativity is really incredible.

What do you think it is about Christchurch that brings this creativity about? 

H – I don’t know, actually. I think it’s something to do with the size.  If you make something good, something of quality, it’s really celebrated in Christchurch and the word travels quickly. I also think smaller cities like Christchurch can bring an appreciation of craft over convenience. I feel like when you’re in a big city, there’s a lot more noise or more stuff so it can be hard to connect with an audience.

To break through…

H – Yeah. That’s the thing about a small city – if someone’s great and they do some great work then they’re more likely to be noticed. There’s fewer degrees of separation which can lead to building good relationships and opening up opportunities for mentoring. I definitely had people who helped me at different stages of my career, including jazz school tutors and other business owners and artists. 

How did you go from music to film?

H – When I was at high school, I met a good friend of mine and he was really into film. I was starting to get into music at that stage, but he was making a feature film in year 9. So as well as starting a band together, I also got involved in the feature film. It was a crazy film loosely based on the Robin Hood story but it had lots of other film references in it and it was just very grassroots. So after that we formed a little group that we called Oldschool Cinema and we made films and music together.   I always had a camera and I’d occasionally do a music video for a friend or something like that, while I was studying at jazz school. 

Did you work with film here or was it not until you got to the UK that you started really working in that medium?  

M – I mainly did theatre in New Zealand and it wasn’t until I moved to the UK that I started acting in film. I then moved into the film production side of things on bigger Hollywood movies but it wasn’t until we started Falling Films in 2018 that I began directing, writing and producing but I guess I’ve always been a film buff.

H – I had some experience working on films here in New Zealand. Aside from making my own films with Oldschool Cinema, I was a camera trainee on Mike Wallace’s Pavalova Western Good for Nothing (2011) which was a really informative experience for me. I then went to focus on my music studies and always kept up small film projects on the side. But yeah, it wasn’t really until we started working together on Falling Films that I pursued it with more focus. 

So tell me more about Falling Films!

M – Falling Films came about when Harry and I wanted to share this story about jobbing actors in the UK and we thought why don’t we make it ourselves. We had a cameraman (Harry), we had a producer/director (me) and so we just thought, let’s do it. Harry has a real gift for uncovering community driven stories and I love visualising them as films, so Falling Films has been a really lovely and rewarding creative partnership.

H – I agree. I enjoy being able to work with someone so closely like Maria. We bring our different strengths and ideas to the table and support each other to make them come to life in one way or another.

Falling Films was your first production company?

M – Yes! It started with the actor documentary in 2018 and since then we’ve released several shorts, including Balmoral, and are editing our first feature.

And where were you getting your financing from? Were you having to finance it?

M – It’s a mixed bag. We’ve gone down traditional routes applying for film grants or funds without much success.

H – The best success we’ve had is through foundations and crowd sourcing funds because we being more targeted with who we approach for funding. We also both do commercial work and freelance work which allows us to have flexibility around scheduling shoots. So a lot of it comes from us just using our free time. The great thing about documentary is that you can make things without needing a lot of resources.

So you’re documentary makers at heart?

H – I don’t know. I’m really interested in real stories and I enjoy the process. I’m curious about writing and narrative work too. 

M – I just love telling stories. Sometimes that’s through documentaries or writing, I wrote a book last year and I have a podcast with my best friend.

Tell me about Balmoral – what’s it all about?

H – I would walk to my studio in Bristol most days and there was this big old ship in the harbour that I’d pass. It was just sitting there not really doing much but one day I saw someone working away painting part of the exterior of the ship and it got me wondering about the story of this old ship. Why was it here, who did it belong to, what is its purpose. So I started to try to contact the charity and find some answers.

 It sounds like you work in quite an instinctual way.

H – Yes, this is something I admire about Maria’s approach to work and also some of my role models like David Lynch. They’re very intuitive people.

Does Maria have skills that you don’t have? And vice versa?

H – Yeah there are difference for sure. We both have our own creative style and it’s nice because Maria can direct a film and I will be in a more supportive role like we did with her film Fake Blood. With Balmoral, this is a story I’ve led and directed and Maria’s taken on the role of a producer. And we both have our own ways of approaching those roles.

M – Practically our skillsets are quite different. Harry’s trained on a camera and I’m highly organised but the differences I appreciate the most are what stories we want to tell. Harry is often very community focused, whereas I love telling women’s stories and it’s nice to share those worlds with each other.

What’s the reaction been to Balmoral so far? 

H – It’s been really good, yeah. I was quite intentional with the distribution strategy and I didn’t want to put all my eggs in the festival bucket because it can be expensive and disappointing.

It can be pretty brutal.

H – Yeah. With our first film Moving the Market (2023), the best experience I had was a community cinema that had monthly screenings called Blue Screen. They show the films in the order they get them and there’s no curation. It’s just first in first served and kind of chaotic. But it’s excellent because you could get something from someone who’s not even identifying as a filmmaker to like a BFI funded film. But that screening in the community where the market was probably the best screening. So my approach with Balmoral was to target specific audiences that will value this film. So we organized a tour in the coastal towns around the UK and were basically targeting people that already had an awareness of our subject. So we had really great engaged crowds.

So nice as a filmmaker to see that.

H – Yeah, it was the first time I’ve had that kind of experience and it was really nice. The other thing that was good about it was we actually received some money because the cinema was a 50-50 split. It’s not like we’re making loads at the box office, but it was really nice to be connected to that part of the process and see some money come in.

What are we going to see here in Christchurch?

H – We’re screening Balmoral at Lumiere Cinema and we’ll do a panel and Q&A afterwards. We’re being joined by some of the Tug Lyttelton people which is great. We always partnered with local charities on our coastal UK tour that had a shared interest in old ships. Since meeting with Tug Lytellton we’ve been able to introduce them to National Historic Ships UK where their tug is now recognised on their historic ships list.

Speaking of Lyttelton, do you think that could be your next focus of a feature – The music scene there?

Ahh, no. 🙂

Balmoral screens at the Lumiere Cinema on 31 August at 2pm.   After the screening, Harry and Maria will host a Q&A session.

Book your tickets here.