Saturday Morning for Saturday 19 July 2008

Guest details for Saturday Morning 19 July 2008

8:12 Yung Chang

Montreal-based filmmaker Yung Chang is the son of first-generation Chinese immigrants to Canada. Since 1996, he has spent extended periods in China, and his first feature-length documentary, Up the Yangtze, shows a peasant family negotiating unprecedented historic changes against the backdrop of the Three Gorges Dam. The film is screening at the 2008 New Zealand International Film Festivals (19 July in Auckland; 22 and 24 July in Wellington; 30 July, and 2 and 3 August in Dunedin); 14 and 15 August in Christchurch), and Yung Chang will be present at screenings at the Civic in Auckland and Embassy in Wellington.

8:30 Murray Bail

Murray Bail is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. His new book, The Pages (Text Publishing, ISBN 978-1-92135-146-4), is his first novel since Eucalyptus in 1998.

9:05 Alun and Helen Bollinger

Respected New Zealand cinematographer Alun "AlBol" Bollinger has worked on many local features, including Geoff Murphy's Goodbye Pork Pie, Vincent Ward's Vigil, and Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. He and his wife Helen are the subjects of Gerard Smyth's documentary Barefoot Cinema. Commissioned by TVNZ, it is about to screen at the 2008 New Zealand International Film Festivals (20 and 21 July in Wellington; 27 July in Auckland; 4 August in Dunedin; 14 and 15 August in Christchurch).

9:45 Anton van Helden

Anton van Helden has been Te Papa's Marine Mammals collection manager since 1989, and is responsible for one of the largest cetacean collections in the world. He maintains the New Zealand Whales Stranding Database and identifies whales for the Department of Conservation. He is one of the top sleight of hand magicians in New Zealand, and is currently performing in an improvised soap opera, The Young and the Witless 2, with the Wellington Improvisation Troupe at the Blue Note in Wellington (on Wednesday nights to 30 July).

10:05 Playing Favourites with Lenny Henry

British television, radio, film and standup comedy performer Lenny Henry last toured New Zealand in 2004. He brings his new solo show, Where You From?, to Christchurch (on 25 July), New Plymouth (26 July), Auckland (28 and 29 July), and Wellington (31 July).

11:05 Food with Alex Mackay

Alex Mackay left New Zealand for France at the age of 19 to work in three Michelin-starred restaurants, before moving to Britain in 1992 to become sous-chef at Raymond Blanc's world-famous Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisaons. Now head of Delia Smith's cookery workshops, he was the winner of the Guild of Food Writers' Cookery Journalist of the Year award in 2006, and was short listed in 2007 and 2008. His 2003 cookbook with photographer Peter Knab, Cooking in Provence, won the World Cook Book Award for best book on French cuisine and has just been republished (Ebury Press, ISBN 978-0-09-192494-2). You can read his recipes for bouillabaisse, ratatouille and dried orange zest in our recipes section.

11:25 Andrew Johnston

New Zealand poet Andrew Johnston lives in Paris, where he is one of the editors of the International Herald Tribune, and online poetry digest, The Page. He is the editor of a new anthology, Moonlight: New Zealand Poems on Death and Dying (Godwit, ISBN 978-1-86962-147-6), which was launched on Montana Poetry Day, 18 July, at the Mercy Hospice in Auckland.

11:45 Children's Books with Kate De Goldi

Kate De Goldi will discuss the books by Michael Bond about Paddington, the little bear from darkest Peru.

Music played during the programme

David Long: What We Are
From the 2008 album: Cross Creek
(iii Records)
Played at around 9:40am

Playing Favourites with Lenny Henry:

Michael Jackson: Thriller
From the 1982 album: Thriller
(Epic)
Played at around 10:20am

Omar: There's Nothing Like This
From his 1990 debut album: There's Nothing Like This
(Talkin' Loud)
Played at around 10:30am

Funkadelic: Uncle Jam
From the 1979 album: Uncle Jam Wants You
(Warner Bros)
Played at around 10:40am

Danielle De Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti: Vide Cor Meum
From the 2001 original soundtrack album: Hannibal
(Decca)
Played at around 10:55am

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Chris Adams
Auckland engineer: Jeremy Ansell
Pre-record engineers: Tony Schwartz, Shannon McKenna, Kevin Golding