Welcome to Henna Gaijin Studio
Henna Gaijin Studio is the film and video content production company founded by Alistair Harding for the production of his documentary films, web series and corporate content. Inside this site, you'll find a selection of his work.
Alistair Harding is a documentary filmmaker based in New Zealand who has written, produced and directed both feature documentaries for both film and television, as well as documentary-style corporate content. In film, his work has featured and won awards at film festivals around the world, and his work as a producer, writer and director during an 18-year career in Singapore has appeared on networks such as History Channel, National Geographic and Channel News Asia. He also creates content for corporate clients who find his documentary-style perfect for creating authentic content that resonates with their viewers.
The Sea Decides
A feature film by Alistair Harding
The story of Grant Rawlinson's epic bid to travel 12,000km from his home in Singapore to his homeland of New Zealand - The Sea Decides is a brutal and unforgiving story that will make you wince and wonder just how far you would go for ambition. While at other times it lays bare the extraordinary power of dreams, the value of failure and the importance of inspiration and purpose to the evolution of the human species.
But most of all, it is an awe-inspiring glimpse of nature’s power and a reminder that we humans are never masters of it, but always products of it.
An award-winner at Doc Edge 2021, The Sea Decides is Henna Gaijin Studio's first full-length documentary feature film.
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We Came Here for Freedom
A feature film by Alistair Harding
We Came Here for Freedom is the story of the 2022 anti-mandate New Zealand convoy and the resulting occupation of parliament grounds in Wellington. It is the story of the thousands of New Zealanders who lost jobs, homes, businesses, livelihoods and health due to covid vaccine mandates.
Ultimately the questions this film poses are: What is democracy is none of your elected representatives will speak to you? And how do you exercise your freedom of speech if all your media does is misrepresent you?
We Came Here for Freedom toured 31 towns and cities throughout New Zealand in 2024, playing to sold-out audiences everywhere it went.
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Managed Out
A film for RCR by Alistair Harding
Produced for RCR in New Zealand, Managed Out is a story about the industry of climate change and its effects on homes.
What happens when your home becomes “unviable”? When authorities decide—pre-emptively—that your coastal community is too risky to save? “Managed Retreat” sounds voluntary. But as this gripping documentary reveals, it’s often anything but.
Award-winning filmmaker Alistair Harding pulls back the curtain on one of the most controversial and consequential issues facing New Zealand today. Through powerful interviews and on-the-ground stories, Managed Out explores how government policy, extreme climate modelling, and insurance retreat are quietly reshaping where—and if—New Zealanders can live.
From the battle-worn streets of Matatā to Westport and Kapiti, this is a story of land, loss, control, and the very definition of home. Will your community be next?
In 2025, Managed out toured New Zealand was played to sold-out audiences in 13 towns and cities.
Fluoride on the Brain
A film by Alistair Harding
Produced for RCR in New Zealand, Fluoride on the Brain investigates the side of the story about Fluoride in our water that our media has until now ignored.
While most accept community water fluoridation without question, there is a growing weight of anti-fluroide science that is questioning the decades-old practise.
Key to the anti-fluoride message is a new US government report and a subsequent US federal trial that both found high levels of fluoride can damage children's brains.
The question then remains, is it worth the risk in New Zealand?
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Corporate content
made to be memorable
From concept creation to production, direction, editing and post-production, Henna Gaijin has made content for household names all over Asia and the Pacific, including ANZ, Microsoft, Professionals NZ, iXBlue, Engaging Partners, Cebu Pacific, UD Trucks and Lightfoot Travel amongst many others.
