When Christchurch suffered its earthquakes, Frank Film recorded the process in a compelling documentary called When a City Falls.
Almost ten years on since the February quake, the production company has released its follow-up. It's all about the city's recovery, and is called When a City Rises.
Gerard Smyth's latest film documents the "difficult" phase of the rebuild and shows two significant narratives side by side.
"We thought [that] common to us all is the central city, so how do you rebuild a central city, and secondly, how do the people in the city recover," he said.
It's a 90-minute journey through the lows of demolishing entire blocks of buildings and ends on a high as the people of Christchurch step in to bring the city back to life.
"Holy shit it's changed. I've been away one day and come back, and wow," one person says in the documentary.
"Just stop and listen to that. Can you hear that? It's the sound of the people," another says.
After going through almost 1000 hours of footage, Smyth himself has some ideas on what's needed to make the city a success.
"We do notice throughout that the city is missing one vital ingredient, and that's people. We need people living in the heart of the city and they aren't boomers like me - they've got to be young families," he said.
"We've got to find a way to bring young people in the city and then we'll be buzzing, because everything is there and waiting."
A documentary full of hope, with Christchurch rising from the rubble for the world to see.
