For forty years Sam Hunt has been a force in New Zealand poetry and culture. He is a storyteller who has spent his life struggling with his, often very public demons. In that journey he has gone from outcast to icon, he has crossed paths with outlaws, Prime
Ministers, literary and artistic giants and the public.

Sam Hunt: Purple Balloon and Other Stories is a biographical documentary that also explores how Sam reflects the New Zealand landscape – literary and physical. The film examines what has made him a great poet and an enigma. Sam is undoubtedly our best known poet, by far the best exponent of performance poetry and one of the most recognisable Kiwis alive today. Purple Balloon was directed and produced by Tim Rose who has spent a decade working within the New Zealand film industry, including work with Barry Barclay, Gaylene Preston, Leon Narbey and Roger Donaldson. “I have known Sam Hunt since I was a young boy; he used to take me out fishing on the Pauatahanui inlet” Tim Rose.