Wellywood Woman

Ah, I love Lisa Gornick's  film drawing  site, and some of her recent drawings about making her new film Dip especially, as well as one about an  Helene Cixous lecture . But today,  have to shake my body out  really hits the spot. Longing to have full scale shake out but have to stay hunched over this keyboard. A bit like  the person in this other Lisa Gornick drawing,  the monotony of logging. Even the most interesting work in the world has tedious bits-- And it looks like the Easter weekend will be fine enough for a barbie, featuring a neighbour's amazing beetroot in the salada-- A shake out among the tomato plants and the little black beetles that are feeding on them (& reproducing at speed). Thanks Lisa, for the pleasure your drawings give me.

Development -the-movie’s being made for a global audience (see here and here ). It’s for women who want to make movies, and for the people who love them. But it’s a local film. All its locations are within easy walking distance from where I’m writing this, in my room overlooking Oriental Bay, in central Wellington. (The room’s walls have been brownish purple since January because it’s also a studio now, to come back to for filming interiors.) There’s the Oriental Bay beach. The band rotunda at one end. The New World supermarket just beyond its other end. And the wooden houses of Oriental Bay and their gardens, tucked around little apartment blocks.There's Courtenay Place nearby, with its movie theatres and bars: party central by night and a village by day. It’s visually stunning, and I love it all.

1. I love the ideas and invitations that come through Facebook and Twitter. So when shazbennett tweeted “I hope at least one girl wears a tux on the red carpet tomorrow”, I re-found an old newspaper clipping of me in a tux (thanks, Sue, for that clippings book) and replaced the blue-for-Derek-Jarman image on my Facebook page. Arranged a big vase of sweet peas. I wanted to dress up somehow, somewhere, for Kathryn Bigelow, whether she won or not. (I felt so nervous during the Oscar ceremony. And after Jeff Bridges won his Oscar for Crazy Heart , I ran down the hill to see his movie rather than endure more waiting.) And this morning I’m imagining Kathryn Bigelow using her two statues for a little post-party weight training (I’ve read that she likes to be ‘strong’, no surprise). What a stunning International Women's Day for women filmmakers, as we celebrate her achievement.