With: Doug Bain, Beth Inwood, Rhys Lilley, Sarah Bunton
Director/Screenplay: Slavko Martinov
Producers: Slavko Martinov, David Brechin-Smith, Mike Kelland
Photography/Editor: Mike Kelland
Music: Tom McLeod
REVIEWS
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"Pecking Order ventures behind the scenes at the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam and Pigeon Club as it enters its 148th season and prepares for the National Show (in Oamaru). As several generations of Canterbury chicken fanciers groom their prize specimens for world domination, less salubrious rivalries are unfolding at the clubhouse. Having long covered the club in championship glory, president Doug Bain is warding off the younger generation of wily manipulators and know-nothings who conspire to knock him from the perch. (Be warned: the film’s snappy intertitles have rounded up every chicken-related figure of speech in the lexicon.) Anyone who’s put in the hours at club committee meetings will squirm in recognition at the candid portrait of intransigent seniority.

But Martinov serves affectionate portraits of contending generations of chook fancier, and a younger generation yet, hooking us with their humour and the sheer vitality of their obsessions. For all the technical information that’s enthusiastically imparted en route to the judges’ decision, you may still be mystified as to how the lab-coated sages determine their verdicts. Expect to care regardless: as befits the genre, it’s not hens we are rooting for."
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— NZIFF Autumn Events 2017

"Martinov frames his film as a classic countdown-to-the-big-show, complete with title cards offering a succession of puns (“the Eggs-factor,” etc). There’s no doubt that competitive chicken-breeding in New Zealand is a highly-eccentric pursuit: a Bagpipe-led procession across the streets of sleepy Oamaru with owners carrying their fowl (and one large Pekin’ Duck) is a highlight, as is the sight of Doug nonchalantly eating KFC at an event.  In this world, you’re either a champion or a pot-roast.   
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Spending time with these characters is highly enjoyable. To the director and his team’s enduring credit, the gentle fun here never comes at the cost of any participant’s dignity. They may be very far away - a four-day trek even from the North Island to Oamaru for the show - but while competitive chicken showing in New Zealand may seem pretty niche, the story of human obsession is universal and, in Martinov’s hands, very accessible."

— Fionnuala Halligan, ScreenDaily
FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Hamilton
Monday, 24 June, 8:00pm

Whanganui*
Monday 15th July

*Public screening: Non-members welcome by donation (suggested $10 per adult)
See more CINEMA AOTEAROA >>
Want to see this film?  Ask your local Film Society to add to their 2020 programme.
Screening courtesy of Vendetta Films