Wellywood Woman

design by Louise Hutt (This post  looks much prettier here ; and is easier to read.) 125 years ago today, women in Aotearoa New Zealand got the vote. And my mate’s in town, for a posh Suffrage125 dinner. Writing Buddy 1B. You might remember her, from our conversation a couple of years back . Play with me, she begs, from the airport. He rā mīharo tēnei. We can garden. I’ll shout you lunch. You can help me pick a dinner-time frock. I can’t, I say. Gotta write about the #directedbywomen #aotearoa screening programme. Do it tomorrow, she says. Celebrate with me... I can’t, I say again. It’s the first screening tonight. The Bookshop , and Isabel Coixet is beaming in, live from Barcelona, for a Q&A. Isabel directing Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson on set with The Bookshop I think it’s the first time screening in this country has been followed by a live Skype with the film’s director. I’m nervous as. 1B – So? Haven’t you prepared? ME – Of course I have. An...

September marks the fourth global #DirectedByWomen celebration. All round the world, people choose to watch films that women direct. In bed late at night on their phones. On the couch with mates and wine and popcorn and tea and biscuits. In cinemas with friends and strangers. Good to go, in Palma And in lots of other places, like this outdoor cinema  in Spain , where #DirectedByWomen has grown and grown. You can find events near you on the very full # DirectedByWomen catalogue . This year, by a wonderful coincidence, September is also the month where here in Aotearoa New Zealand we celebrate 125 years since Parliament passed the law that gave women the vote: Suffrage125. So there are films #directedbywomen all over the place! Starting in the north... and aware that I haven't included anything from Te Wai Pounamu/ the South Island (yet!) AUCKLAND In Auckland, at ACADEMY CINEMAS , there's There She Goes: Women's Countercinema in the 20th Century .    It...

The first Emerging Women Filmmakers Network meet-up:  Lucy (l) and Lorraine (r), in front Thanks to Lucy Holyoake and Lorraine Hughes, Wellington has a new and shiny Emerging Women Filmmaker’s Network. It began with a meet-up late last month, attended by about 50 women. Lucy majored in Film at Victoria, where she did the practical courses, directed her first short documentary and fell in love with writing and directing. She’s now completing her Graduate Diploma in Media Studies where she’s researched and written about gender in film and media and she was happy to answer a few questions. What inspired your initiative? How did you establish the parameters of who the group is for? The idea of this group combines my passions for film and gender studies. Initially we opened it up to all woman of any skill level, but we quickly realised the gap we wanted to fill was for young or emerging women lacking experience. Being recent graduates ourselves, we both found it very hard...

In Aotearoa New Zealand we're keen on movies with women protagonists, in a variety of genres. At the box office last time I looked,  seven out of the top ten had women at their centre. But women wrote and directed only  two  of them. Just two more had women as co-writers– *1. Ocean’s 8 $746,780 (dir Gary Ross, wr *Olivia Milch, Gary Ross; distr Roadshow) 2. Solo: A Star Wars Story $220,207 (dir Ron Howard, wr Jon Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan; distr Walt Disney) 3. Deadpool 2 $207,067 (dir David Leitch, wr Drew Goddard, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick; distr Fox) *4. Hereditary $130,750 (dir/wr Ari Aster; distr Studiocanal) *5. Tea With The Dames $106,154 (dir Roger Michell; distr Transmission) 6. Avengers: Infinity War $75,320 (dir Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, wr Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeeley; distr Walt Disney) *7. The Bookshop $62,748 (wr/dir *Isabel Coixet from novel by Penelope Fitzgerald; distr Transmission) *8. Veere Di Wedding $47,967 (dir Shashan...

Look at them! The five women on the Palme d'Or jury lead the way: Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux, Khadja Nin, Ava DuVernay and Cate Blanchett, with Agnès Varda and others. In the clip below (from 9:02: the red carpet is also for Eva Husson's new film, Girls of the Sun , 'a suspenseful all-women war movie'; could there have been a better choice for this protest?), there are too many amazing #womeninfilm to identify. The list of the 82 women on the steps, from Paris Match , includes Jane Fonda, though I can't see her. But I did see Claudia Cardinale. I may have seen Patti Jenkins. I couldn't find Iris Brey, from Le Deuxième Regard , the activist organisation that instigated the 5050 by 2020  initiative which resulted in this protest. Women & Hollywood 's Women & Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein was there. It must have been a grand moment for her; she's protested about Cannes since at least 2010 . But you get just a glimpse of her enthu...