The Hut Keepers

September 2025

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September 2025

Liam Hall’s film The Hut Keepers premiered at NZMFF. Photo: Liam Hall
‘Grounded, personal and quietly determined’ is how filmmaker Liam Hall describes the grassroots movement to save New Zealand’s backcountry huts. He hopes his  documentary about Permolat, The Hut Keepers, carries some of the same energy. How did this story come onto your radar? My mother’s partner is Andrew Buglass, who started Permolat. They got together […]
Leigh Hopkinson

About the author

Leigh Hopkinson

Wilderness deputy editor Leigh Hopkinson spends the weekends in the hills with her whānau and weekdays as a journalist and editor. She has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from the University of Canterbury. A keen tramper, rock climber and newbie mountaineer, she has written for magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Tasman. She’s originally from the West Coast and now lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

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