My Dying Place: Unlikely film star’s life of emus, disco balls and quiet reflection

In the tiny Canterbury settlement of Birdlings Flat, Patrick McNulty spends his advancing years tending to a menagerie of emus, pigs and chickens and reflects on his life’s loves and losses.

Little did he know he would become the star of a short film.

First-time director Loren Kett, 29, met the bearded man in his 70s about five years ago when his colourful property caught her eye during a visit to the settlement.

“He was the most gentle and sweet man, living his fullest life blasting Irish music from the porch covered in disco balls, showing me the sewing machines he’d fixed up, all of his polished gemstones, even introduced me to his emus,” she said.

She had climbed over the fence to give his kunekune pigs a pat.

Although the house looked a little scary from the outside, covered in bicycles and other knick-knacks, she was completely drawn to it.

“I don’t do my house up for people to think ‘oh what a lovely house.’ I just put in what I think I want and it’s mine. It’s like my own little castle,” McNulty says in the film.

Called My Dying Place, the film was accepted into the Show Me Shorts Film Festival which runs from October 11-23.

The festival, held in cities nationwide, features 85 films including 26 made by New Zealanders.

My Dying Place was showcased during the festival’s Christchurch opening night at Alice Cinemas.

Kett, from Christchurch, is a freelance editor, with eight years of experience working on commercials and music videos.

“I’ve always enjoyed messing around with a camera. When I was little, I always had a film camera on me,” she said.

The film initially follows McNulty’s daily routine with his sometimes demanding animals.

Then the story delves into his experience with depression and anxiety, mostly brought on by his brother’s untimely death in a car accident.

“Those are hard things in life, but it just makes you tougher,” he said.

McNulty spends much of the film reflecting on life at an older age in his quiet sanctuary.

“Memories, they’re all locked away. You can sit out here and think of them all.”

After moving to Birdlings Flat from Christchurch nearly 30 years ago to escape the busy-ness of the city, McNulty started collecting his animals.

“Birdlings Flat, it’s unusual. There’s nothing like it anywhere in New Zealand. It’s like there’s an atmosphere that calms you and the township has all sorts of people,” he said.

He now has more than 50 chickens, a flock of ducks, two pigs, three piglets, three peacocks, and a shih tzu dog.

“They rule my life,” McNulty said.

Two of his most prized animals are his emus which were close to laying eggs during filming.

Kett was encouraged to pursue her interest in directing by colleagues in the film industry and realised McNulty would be the perfect subject for a short documentary film.

“When I stumbled across Patrick’s property my gut instincts told me there was a great story to be told here.”

The film has also been selected to screen at the Kerry International Film Festival in Ireland which starts on October 17.

“That’s where Patrick is from so that was a really, really special one for us,” Kett said.

McNulty was born in Ireland, but grew up in Christchurch.

After his brother’s death, he escaped back to his birth country for a time before returning to New Zealand and getting married.

“That didn’t work out, probably me again. I thought we were happy,” said McNulty.

Kett sat on her film idea for more than two years after first meeting McNulty, but eventually got up the courage to approach him with the idea.

“He had opened up to me about some pretty deep stuff. So he definitely left a mark on me which made me want to go back to it,” Kett said.

“As soon as we reached out he said he was keen. He was really welcoming. He invited us around for a cup of tea and a chat and we got to know him better.”

Kett and McNulty then spent the next two years filming the documentary over 10 visits.

“As we began talking about life, it was so clear to me that human judgement is rife. People would see his house and automatically assume he was perhaps a little scary,” said Kett.

“I wanted to show that beauty can be found everywhere, and delve into the cliché ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’.”

Kett initially viewed making the film as a part-time hobby before positive reactions from friends and colleagues convinced her to submit the film to Show Me Shorts.

“I’d never meant for it be a festival film. When I found out I literally screamed in my office and was jumping and running around. Patrick was really pleased as well. He’s excited to share his story with people.”

Another boon from making the film has been the blossoming connection between Kett and McNulty.

“We’ve got a really lovely friendship which is so special. I think it ended up being a little bit of therapy for both of us, just talking about life.”

Kett says she and McNulty are “extremely proud” of the film.

“It’s sort of his legacy. When I showed him a cut he said he can’t wait to leave something behind. He’s going to leave his mark on people through the film.”