Wellywood Woman

Libby Hakaraia Libby Hakaraia is extraordinary, as a maker of film and television and a visionary change maker. I loved hearing Libby on a  Media Take panel  last year, and have often felt that Māori women's voices are not often enough heard at industry events .  So I was delighted that she agreed to answer some questions. Based in Ōtaki, just north of Wellington, Libby and her life-and-work partner Tainui Stephens established the Māoriland Film Festival in 2014. It's held each March to celebrate 'the vibrant and diverse perspectives of Indigenous peoples from around the globe', with films from all over the world that are 'as diverse as the people – from comedies to drama to documentary'. And it's a great festival for anyone who wants to watch films made by women. Last year I spent a full day doing just that and it was so good. This year, 60% of the films screened had women directors, a fantastic benchmark for other festivals. Māoril...

It's time to register for Aotearoa New Zealand's HP48Hours (48Hours) film competition, founded by Ant Timpson in 2003 and supported by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), our taxpayer-funded film organisation. So here's my view of the competition, an interview with veteran participant Ruth Korver and an analysis of director participation in 2016, by gender. I've been curious about 48Hours since 2006, when I started my PhD on the development of women's feature films in New Zealand. What, I wondered back then, are the roles of film initiatives created outside the NZFC? How do they feed into women's opportunities to make taxpayer-funded feature films? How do the NZFC's contributions – if any – to these initiatives benefit women writers and directors who want to make features? Whenever I've thought about how 48Hours benefits women who want to write and direct features, I've decided “Yes and No”. In 2009, for instance, I wrote “...o...