MOVIE

Love in Cold Blood

2009 · 25 min · Documentary

To Māori, these long-living taonga are kaitiaki, guardians of knowledge... They are the last survivors of an ancient lineage of reptiles that died out everywhere else 65 million years ago. And now, tuatara are only found in New Zealand.

This multi-award-winning documentary chronicles the turbulent, 'will-they-won't-they' relationship of Mildred and Henry — two tuatara at Invercargill's Southland Museum. When Henry was first selected for the captive breeding program, his supervisors named him after King Henry Vlll, hoping he'd have several wives. But Henry's dramatic journey to becoming a father ended up spanning decades. The "epic saga" is packed with info on tuatara history in Aotearoa, alongside plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour. Plus baby tuatara having their toenails clipped makes for memorable viewing. Poet Cilla McQueen narrates.