Updated September 2017
The page for Writer & Director Gender in NZ Feature Films 2003-2016 is here.
Most of these posts are also on Medium, where they are much prettier!
2017
NZ Update #11.2: Gender Equity in Practice (September)
NZ Update #11.1: The Women Who Do It (September)
NZ Update #10: 48Hours Aotearoa New Zealand 2017 (August)
NZ Update #9: Louise Hutt on Her 'Online Heroines' (July)
NZ Update #8: More Local #DirectedByWomen Features at #NZIFF (July)
NZ Update #7: NZ Women-Directed Docos at #NZIFF (July)
NZ Update #6: Short Films by NZ Women at the #NZIFF (June)
NZ Update 4: Writers & Directors A-Z Lots of New Zealand women writers and directors of long-form work. With pics and links. (March)
NZ Update 3: WIFTNZ How does WIFTNZ support women writers and directors? What else could the organisation do? (February)
Treat Her Right! The equal pay campaign in New Zealand and its associated video, directed by Loren Taylor. (February)
NZ Update 2: Letter to Deputy Prime Minster (& Minster for Women) Paula Bennett About gender and NZ taxpayer investment in films from outside New Zealand, including co-productions. (February)
NZ Update 1: Gender Breakthrough in New Zealand Film Commission Funding What the title says! First of an 11-part update. (February)
2016
#WomenInFilm Activists Speak: Voices From a Revolution Places New Zealand women in an international context. (December)
WARU: Breaking the Silence An innovative, inspiring, Maori women's project. (September)
Xuanyi Fu 傅煊贻 & Suicidal Female Protagonists in Chinese Narrative Films
Report of an NZ PhD study with details of Chinese women’s film fests and some interesting recommendations of films to watch. (September)
Women Are *Not* the Problem? or – more prettily and almost identical – on Medium.
All about New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand on Air and Screen Australia initiatives. I had to bribe myself to write this. And plan to update it. (July)
Alison Maclean’s ‘The Rehearsal’ is Opening Very Soon! (June)
New Zealand On Air’s Diversity Report (May)
Kōrero Ki Taku Tuakana: Conversation With My Big Sister, by Cushla Parekowhai Merata Mita and Mauri (March)
A Lorde #fangirl Preps for #Oscars16 That would be me. (February)
2015
Highlights [from 2015] Especially those NZers who spoke out in support of gender equity in allocation of film funding (December)
Dame Jane Campion: A Celebration (December)
K’Road Stories (With a Pot Luck Bonus) (December)
A Glimpse of the Future, With Inspiring Stories (December)
Celebration! Gender Equity Initiatives in NSW; & #womeninfilm in Welly (November)
Aidee Walker; & the Good Kuntz at 48Hours (November)
Dear Jemaine My essay for Women Screenwriters: An International Guide, with love to Jemaine Clement (November)
'Merata Is Always With Us' Report from last year’s Big Screen Symposium (October)
Pause. Reflect. Cherish. Chantal Ackerman’s death and some news re NZ women directors (October)
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh; & The Waking Dream Collective (September)
Anita Ross, 'Cloud Piercer' & Film Fatales (August) Anita Ross goes to the Stowe Story Labs; & founds New Zealand's first Film Fatales.
The Activist Complex Female Protagonist Whispers, In New Zealand (July) New Zealand gender equity issues, with reference to Australia, Canada and Germany. The third in a series about the global activist complex female protagonist.
Hash Perambalam and 'Not Like Her' (June) A finalist for New Zealand's Short Film competition of 2015.
Linda Niccol, New Zealand Writer & Director (May)
New Zealander Jackie van Beek Wins First Prize in WIFTI Short-Case (March)
Jane Campion: "Let's Really Say 'This is Enough'" (January) New Zealand's Screen Advisory Board meets and Jane Campion speaks out.
2014
Michelle Joy Lloyd's Sunday (December) Made in Christchurch, this self-funded film was launched simultaneously in New Zealand cinemas, online, on DVD, on TV and on airlines. Michelle has clear ideas about what she thinks should happen in relation to women directors in New Zealand; and has co-founded a women's film collective.
Writer & Director Gender in New Zealand Feature Films 2003-2014 (December) A comprehensive list of features, grouped by gender, gender of protagonist and categorising mixed gender writer/director teams.
Sapna Samant and 'Kimbap' (November) Writer and producer Sapna Samant and her award-winning short, Kimbap.
How Can 'Female Directors in European Films' Help? (November) Looking at information from around the world and how it might help women directors, through an understanding of shared cross-border experiences and opportunities.
Thank You Jane Campion (October) The New Zealand Film Commission's CEO, Dave Gibson, announced on 28 September, at the annual Big Screen Symposium that–
And THEN the NZFC posted a report, NZFC Feature Film Development Funding Information on Gender 2009-2014 . What could be better? Will Jane Campion's advocacy and this public data make a difference?
The Patriarch and Matriarch Producer Robin Scholes (September)
Robin's view on women directors and a list of recent films directed by Maori and Pasifika men.
Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand & WIFT Take Action (September) An historic meeting about 'the gender problem' in New Zealand.
Safety in Paradise? New Zealand International Film Festival and the New Zealand Film Commission funding of it, stats and discussion within a much longer piece (August)
Gaylene Preston on Her Earthquake Experiences and her television series Hope & Wire (July)
Anoushka Klaus from Jake Anoushka discusses women's low participation as directors in the 48 Hours competitions (July)
Disappointment, Gratitude and A Call For Help Films by and about New Zealand women in the New Zealand International Film Festival 2014 and statistics 2009-2014 re women scriptwriters funded to develop feature film scripts by the New Zealand Film Commission. Includes anecdotal material from generous responses to questionnaires sent to local women writers for film, television and other mediums. (June)
Sophie Henderson & Fantail actor Sophie Henderson on writing the feature Fantail and acting in it (June)
Women Directors of Feature Films in New Zealand Written as an entry for an encyclopedia (March)
An Autumn Multi-Tweet & Two Question Day One of the questions is about the New Zealand Film Commission's new Te Ara initiative for Maori and Pasifika filmmakers. Will the initiative benefit women? (March)
Get Your Hopes Up continues the theme of lack of change for New Zealand women who write and direct (March)
2013
Celebrating the NEXTs in Sundance and New Zealand Celebrates successful young women writers and directors, Daisy Thor-Poet, Bella Cook, Elizabeth Newton-Jackson, Emma Savage and Nowshin Humayun and some Auckland law students (December)
New Zealand Film Awards – The Moas #rapeculture, the gender policy failure at the New Zealand Film Commission; and the women nominees at The Moas (November)
Make My Movie: Women's Horrors To Vote For (October)
Sharing the Love Lorde, Eleanor Catton, Jane Campion, Creative New Zealand research and New Zealand Film Commission statistics (October, one of my most read posts ever)
Annie Collins – New Zealand Editor Extraordinaire Annie's edited many docos and features and won many awards. She's legendary, in particular in her insistence on the centrality of kaupapa and ethics (September)
NZFC Short Film Funding 2013 – Women Directors Do Well! (September)
The New Zealand International Film Festival - the New Zealand Directors My fourth year of checking the festival's stats, which continue to reflect New Zealand's failure to produce significant numbers of films by and about women (July)
Dana Rotberg and White Lies|Tuakiri Huna Partly about another immigrant woman director's experience of New Zealand, and her ethics when working with Maori (June)
Nathalie Boltt, Clare Burgess & 'The Silk' Immigrant women talk about their experience in New Zealand (May)
Underrepresentation in Scriptwriting. Again. Includes section on gender bias in New Zealand theatre (April)
Helen Mirren Goes For it (& Women Directors in New Zealand) (March)
They Might Have Completely Forgotten Us Wider gender issues in the arts that affect the NZ filmmaking context (January)
2012
Women Directors. Globally Places New Zealand statistics in a global context and relates them to New Zealand state funding for women artists (November)
A New Zealand Problem, Or Two A comprehensive list of features made in New Zealand by New Zealanders over the last decade (November)
NZFC Fresh Shorts Announcement Includes some additional info from the NZFC (September)
New Zealand Update (2) - State Funding For the first time, 50% of features that NZFC funds for production have women directors (though one woman director is shortly replaced by a man); and women finalists predominate in the Script Writer Awards NZ Best Unproduced Feature Script Award (August)
Golden Age for Women Who Make Movies (2)? Compares New Zealand stats with other parts of the world (August)
New Zealand Updates (1) Catchup on women directors I've written about or interviewed (July)
New Zealand International Film Festival 2012
Women-directed Docos About Men at the NZFF –this and the final post in this series, Men's Docos About Women at the NZFF, have some connection to the larger issue of a perceived hierarchy of documentary funding-by and about men; by women about men; by men about women; and by and about women. (July)
Documentary Films By & About Women at the NZFF Questioning the androcentricity of the festival and linking it to misogyny in the gaming community (July)
Women-directed features at NZFF (2) Includes Juliet Bergh's Existence. (July)
Women-directed Films at the New Zealand Film International Film Festival (1) & Cannes Film Festival (4) – links equity issues in New Zealand festival to similar issues at the Cannes Film Festival. (July)
Cannes & Women Directors (3) - Zia Mandviwalla (June) Part of a series about women's experiences at the Cannes Film Festival, with New Zealander Zia Mandviwalla
Will There Be Blood? and No Blood, Little Sleep & a New Bechdel Test Film – my experience of the 48 Hours competition) (May)
V48 Hours Women (Francesca Jago, Laurie Wright, Ruth Korver followed by Gaylene Preston) (podcast) (April)
Deborah Jones and Her Glamour & Grind Research (podcast) Deborah's very clear analysis of gender issues in the wider New Zealand industry (April)
Kirstin Marcon and The Most Fun You Can Have Dying (April)
Tautoko for an Unknown Woman – obstacles in action at a New Zealand International Festival's Readers and Writers Week theatre discussion (March)
Pietra Brettkelly & Maori Boy Genius (podcast) (February)
New Zealand update; & A Warm welcome to Dana Rotberg ( February)
2011
Make My Movie, Gynophobia & Mavericks – analysis (November)
Gaylene Preston, Barbara Hammer & Briar March (November)
Flowers for the New Zealand Film Commission – good news re short film funding (September)
Gaylene Preston retrospective at Te Papa (August)
A drama queen sings, briefly New Zealand women directors (August)
South Pacific Pictures (August)
V48 Hours: Women filmmakers working together? (June)
My Wedding & Other Secrets writer/director Roseanne Liang & co-writer Angeline Loo (June)
Mothers Day, NZ cinema makes history & the NZFC breaks a record (May) very heavily read
Yes, we CANNES do it! (April)
The Creation and Deferment of Hope Issues around NZ government incentives (January)
2010
Too much dialogue? Statistical update (December)
MIA Following the Fresh Shorts announcement and NZFC review meetings, refers to this long Facebook note, updating my thesis (December)
Transmedia and women's feature film-making in New Zealand and Ireland More about funding and gender (November)
Keri Kaa; & an interview with Ngahuia Wade (October)
I feel the earth move under my feet: Chris Vogler and GIRLS LIKE US Chris Vogler visit (NZFC sponsorship) (September)
Aussie Sequel 1: Histories & Economics Some Comparisons with Australia (August)
Sequels, Remakes & Reboots Analysis NZFC Review (July)
Performance, Audience, & the New Zealand Film Commission Funding decisions (July)
The Insatiable Moon: Feeling joyous about humanity director Rosemary Riddell (June)
After the Waterfall writer/director Simone Horrocks (June)
Duet for Merata Mita 1942-2010 with Cushla Parekowhai (June)
The Big Picture: Could I Do That? – see comments re V48Hours (June)
Equal Rights, Equal Opportunity, Progress for All (March)
2009
Looking Towards a New World (December)
It's about human rights includes update Short Film Fund (December)
Peter Jackson: Find, Train & Support Good Writers December 2009
Peter Jackson to head NZFC Review (June)
Open Letter from a Woman Director (June)
Short Film Fund Decisions (May)
New Zealand Women Playwrights (May) playwright Branwen Millar on the dismal statistics re women playwrights in NZ. The link to her Playmarket magazine article is dead, but probably can be accessed through libraries.
Gender & Terms of Reference for NZFC Review (April)
Aren't blogs wonderful? NZFC & 48Hours (April)
Feature statistics, Jinx Sister, the shadow industry, & my thesis script – Statistics and the 'shadow' industry (January)
Erica Duthie and I created a women's film festival in Wellington, 2004, Mahi Ata Mahi Ahua: Women's Work in Film. Its associated site, now closed to additions, gives details of some New Zealand women filmmakers and their work. That was my first close involvement with women's filmmaking.
I started Wellywood Woman during my PhD research 2006-2009, first at the Victoria Management School and later at the International Institute of Modern Letters, funded by a Women in Leadership Scholarship. My thesis, except the feature script for Development-the-movie (Chapter 6) is available online here, and my earlier Report is here (scroll down). I was motivated by my perception that, although women are equally represented and do well in all the creative writing courses at the International Institute of Modern Letters, the women who write for the page continue to succeed after they graduate but the women who write for the screen tend not make the transition to the 'real world' in the same way. Why was that? Why is that? What are the obstacles and where are they? What helps women who write (and direct) for the screen succeed?
Because no New Zealand state funder had ever recorded gender statistics, I collected them for my thesis. In 2010 I made an update for Women in Film & Television, and then revised it for the Development Facebook notes, here. These images are associated with that revision. They show applications and approvals for feature project development, made to the New Zealand Film Commission in the five years 2005-2009, at the Staff Committee/CEO, to the Development Committee and to the Board.
Some of the posts listed here update that work. And I loved it in late 2014, when the New Zealand Film Commission, after I made several Official Information Act requests released an elegant update covering the same ground from the following years: Feature Film Development Funding Information on Gender 2009-2014.
Some of the posts below simply record women directors' diverse views about gender issues. I usually ask at least one 'gender' question when I interview a director, because I learn a lot from what each of them says. Some posts address institutional inequities, at the New Zealand Film Commission, the 48 Hours and Make My Movie competitions or at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Others acknowledge gender equity achievements, for example at South Pacific Pictures. Throughout, I often introduce and question my own experiences, sometimes more substantially than others – perhaps as a filmmaker participant (48 Hours Competition) or as a writer or audience member (at Readers and Writers Week).
By mid-late 2013 I had more or less abandoned hope for change in New Zealand and was Moving Forward, to focus on exciting initiatives outside New Zealand. But then, in late 2014, I became hopeful again, as recorded in Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand & WIFT Take Action, Thank You Jane Campion and Jane Campion: "Let's Really Say 'This is Enough'".
Lorraine Rowland's thesis The Life of Freelance Film Production Workers in the New Zealand Film Industry also addresses some gender issues.
Jocelyn Handy and Lorraine Rowlands wrote "Gendered inequality regimes and female labour market disadvantage within the New Zealand film industry" in the Women's Studies Journal (2014).
Employment Choices for Young Women - The influence of gender representation in New Zealand- produced television watched by children (2012)–
...shares the findings for a research project on how gender representation in New Zealand-produced television content viewed by children aged 12 years and under can influence girls’ and women’s employment choices in later life.
The analysis of television content was based on a similar study conducted by Smith and Cook at the Geena Davis Institute titled Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV (2008).
The page for Writer & Director Gender in NZ Feature Films 2003-2016 is here.
Most of these posts are also on Medium, where they are much prettier!
2017
NZ Update #11.2: Gender Equity in Practice (September)
NZ Update #11.1: The Women Who Do It (September)
Filmmaker Libby Hakaraia & Māoriland (August)
NZ Update #10: 48Hours Aotearoa New Zealand 2017 (August)
NZ Update #9: Louise Hutt on Her 'Online Heroines' (July)
NZ Update #8: More Local #DirectedByWomen Features at #NZIFF (July)
NZ Update #7: NZ Women-Directed Docos at #NZIFF (July)
NZ Update #6: Short Films by NZ Women at the #NZIFF (June)
NZ Update 5: Little Lovely Things (April 2017) Just what it says.
NZ Update 4: Writers & Directors A-Z Lots of New Zealand women writers and directors of long-form work. With pics and links. (March)
NZ Update 3: WIFTNZ How does WIFTNZ support women writers and directors? What else could the organisation do? (February)
Treat Her Right! The equal pay campaign in New Zealand and its associated video, directed by Loren Taylor. (February)
NZ Update 2: Letter to Deputy Prime Minster (& Minster for Women) Paula Bennett About gender and NZ taxpayer investment in films from outside New Zealand, including co-productions. (February)
NZ Update 1: Gender Breakthrough in New Zealand Film Commission Funding What the title says! First of an 11-part update. (February)
2016
#WomenInFilm Activists Speak: Voices From a Revolution Places New Zealand women in an international context. (December)
WARU: Breaking the Silence An innovative, inspiring, Maori women's project. (September)
Xuanyi Fu 傅煊贻 & Suicidal Female Protagonists in Chinese Narrative Films
Report of an NZ PhD study with details of Chinese women’s film fests and some interesting recommendations of films to watch. (September)
Women Are *Not* the Problem? or – more prettily and almost identical – on Medium.
All about New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand on Air and Screen Australia initiatives. I had to bribe myself to write this. And plan to update it. (July)
Alison Maclean’s ‘The Rehearsal’ is Opening Very Soon! (June)
New Zealand On Air’s Diversity Report (May)
Kōrero Ki Taku Tuakana: Conversation With My Big Sister, by Cushla Parekowhai Merata Mita and Mauri (March)
A Lorde #fangirl Preps for #Oscars16 That would be me. (February)
2015
Highlights [from 2015] Especially those NZers who spoke out in support of gender equity in allocation of film funding (December)
Dame Jane Campion: A Celebration (December)
K’Road Stories (With a Pot Luck Bonus) (December)
A Glimpse of the Future, With Inspiring Stories (December)
Celebration! Gender Equity Initiatives in NSW; & #womeninfilm in Welly (November)
Aidee Walker; & the Good Kuntz at 48Hours (November)
Dear Jemaine My essay for Women Screenwriters: An International Guide, with love to Jemaine Clement (November)
'Merata Is Always With Us' Report from last year’s Big Screen Symposium (October)
Pause. Reflect. Cherish. Chantal Ackerman’s death and some news re NZ women directors (October)
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh; & The Waking Dream Collective (September)
Anita Ross, 'Cloud Piercer' & Film Fatales (August) Anita Ross goes to the Stowe Story Labs; & founds New Zealand's first Film Fatales.
The Activist Complex Female Protagonist Whispers, In New Zealand (July) New Zealand gender equity issues, with reference to Australia, Canada and Germany. The third in a series about the global activist complex female protagonist.
Hash Perambalam and 'Not Like Her' (June) A finalist for New Zealand's Short Film competition of 2015.
Linda Niccol, New Zealand Writer & Director (May)
New Zealander Jackie van Beek Wins First Prize in WIFTI Short-Case (March)
Jane Campion: "Let's Really Say 'This is Enough'" (January) New Zealand's Screen Advisory Board meets and Jane Campion speaks out.
2014
Michelle Joy Lloyd's Sunday (December) Made in Christchurch, this self-funded film was launched simultaneously in New Zealand cinemas, online, on DVD, on TV and on airlines. Michelle has clear ideas about what she thinks should happen in relation to women directors in New Zealand; and has co-founded a women's film collective.
Writer & Director Gender in New Zealand Feature Films 2003-2014 (December) A comprehensive list of features, grouped by gender, gender of protagonist and categorising mixed gender writer/director teams.
Sapna Samant and 'Kimbap' (November) Writer and producer Sapna Samant and her award-winning short, Kimbap.
How Can 'Female Directors in European Films' Help? (November) Looking at information from around the world and how it might help women directors, through an understanding of shared cross-border experiences and opportunities.
Thank You Jane Campion (October) The New Zealand Film Commission's CEO, Dave Gibson, announced on 28 September, at the annual Big Screen Symposium that–
And THEN the NZFC posted a report, NZFC Feature Film Development Funding Information on Gender 2009-2014 . What could be better? Will Jane Campion's advocacy and this public data make a difference?
The Patriarch and Matriarch Producer Robin Scholes (September)
Robin's view on women directors and a list of recent films directed by Maori and Pasifika men.
Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand & WIFT Take Action (September) An historic meeting about 'the gender problem' in New Zealand.
Safety in Paradise? New Zealand International Film Festival and the New Zealand Film Commission funding of it, stats and discussion within a much longer piece (August)
Gaylene Preston on Her Earthquake Experiences and her television series Hope & Wire (July)
Anoushka Klaus from Jake Anoushka discusses women's low participation as directors in the 48 Hours competitions (July)
Disappointment, Gratitude and A Call For Help Films by and about New Zealand women in the New Zealand International Film Festival 2014 and statistics 2009-2014 re women scriptwriters funded to develop feature film scripts by the New Zealand Film Commission. Includes anecdotal material from generous responses to questionnaires sent to local women writers for film, television and other mediums. (June)
Sophie Henderson & Fantail actor Sophie Henderson on writing the feature Fantail and acting in it (June)
Women Directors of Feature Films in New Zealand Written as an entry for an encyclopedia (March)
An Autumn Multi-Tweet & Two Question Day One of the questions is about the New Zealand Film Commission's new Te Ara initiative for Maori and Pasifika filmmakers. Will the initiative benefit women? (March)
Get Your Hopes Up continues the theme of lack of change for New Zealand women who write and direct (March)
2013
Celebrating the NEXTs in Sundance and New Zealand Celebrates successful young women writers and directors, Daisy Thor-Poet, Bella Cook, Elizabeth Newton-Jackson, Emma Savage and Nowshin Humayun and some Auckland law students (December)
New Zealand Film Awards – The Moas #rapeculture, the gender policy failure at the New Zealand Film Commission; and the women nominees at The Moas (November)
Make My Movie: Women's Horrors To Vote For (October)
Sharing the Love Lorde, Eleanor Catton, Jane Campion, Creative New Zealand research and New Zealand Film Commission statistics (October, one of my most read posts ever)
Annie Collins – New Zealand Editor Extraordinaire Annie's edited many docos and features and won many awards. She's legendary, in particular in her insistence on the centrality of kaupapa and ethics (September)
NZFC Short Film Funding 2013 – Women Directors Do Well! (September)
The New Zealand International Film Festival - the New Zealand Directors My fourth year of checking the festival's stats, which continue to reflect New Zealand's failure to produce significant numbers of films by and about women (July)
Dana Rotberg and White Lies|Tuakiri Huna Partly about another immigrant woman director's experience of New Zealand, and her ethics when working with Maori (June)
Nathalie Boltt, Clare Burgess & 'The Silk' Immigrant women talk about their experience in New Zealand (May)
Underrepresentation in Scriptwriting. Again. Includes section on gender bias in New Zealand theatre (April)
Helen Mirren Goes For it (& Women Directors in New Zealand) (March)
They Might Have Completely Forgotten Us Wider gender issues in the arts that affect the NZ filmmaking context (January)
2012
Women Directors. Globally Places New Zealand statistics in a global context and relates them to New Zealand state funding for women artists (November)
A New Zealand Problem, Or Two A comprehensive list of features made in New Zealand by New Zealanders over the last decade (November)
NZFC Fresh Shorts Announcement Includes some additional info from the NZFC (September)
New Zealand Update (2) - State Funding For the first time, 50% of features that NZFC funds for production have women directors (though one woman director is shortly replaced by a man); and women finalists predominate in the Script Writer Awards NZ Best Unproduced Feature Script Award (August)
Golden Age for Women Who Make Movies (2)? Compares New Zealand stats with other parts of the world (August)
New Zealand Updates (1) Catchup on women directors I've written about or interviewed (July)
New Zealand International Film Festival 2012
Women-directed Docos About Men at the NZFF –this and the final post in this series, Men's Docos About Women at the NZFF, have some connection to the larger issue of a perceived hierarchy of documentary funding-by and about men; by women about men; by men about women; and by and about women. (July)
Documentary Films By & About Women at the NZFF Questioning the androcentricity of the festival and linking it to misogyny in the gaming community (July)
Women-directed features at NZFF (2) Includes Juliet Bergh's Existence. (July)
Women-directed Films at the New Zealand Film International Film Festival (1) & Cannes Film Festival (4) – links equity issues in New Zealand festival to similar issues at the Cannes Film Festival. (July)
Cannes & Women Directors (3) - Zia Mandviwalla (June) Part of a series about women's experiences at the Cannes Film Festival, with New Zealander Zia Mandviwalla
Will There Be Blood? and No Blood, Little Sleep & a New Bechdel Test Film – my experience of the 48 Hours competition) (May)
V48 Hours Women (Francesca Jago, Laurie Wright, Ruth Korver followed by Gaylene Preston) (podcast) (April)
Deborah Jones and Her Glamour & Grind Research (podcast) Deborah's very clear analysis of gender issues in the wider New Zealand industry (April)
Kirstin Marcon and The Most Fun You Can Have Dying (April)
Tautoko for an Unknown Woman – obstacles in action at a New Zealand International Festival's Readers and Writers Week theatre discussion (March)
Pietra Brettkelly & Maori Boy Genius (podcast) (February)
New Zealand update; & A Warm welcome to Dana Rotberg ( February)
2011
Make My Movie, Gynophobia & Mavericks – analysis (November)
Gaylene Preston, Barbara Hammer & Briar March (November)
Flowers for the New Zealand Film Commission – good news re short film funding (September)
Gaylene Preston retrospective at Te Papa (August)
A drama queen sings, briefly New Zealand women directors (August)
South Pacific Pictures (August)
V48 Hours: Women filmmakers working together? (June)
My Wedding & Other Secrets writer/director Roseanne Liang & co-writer Angeline Loo (June)
Mothers Day, NZ cinema makes history & the NZFC breaks a record (May) very heavily read
Yes, we CANNES do it! (April)
The Creation and Deferment of Hope Issues around NZ government incentives (January)
2010
Too much dialogue? Statistical update (December)
MIA Following the Fresh Shorts announcement and NZFC review meetings, refers to this long Facebook note, updating my thesis (December)
Transmedia and women's feature film-making in New Zealand and Ireland More about funding and gender (November)
Keri Kaa; & an interview with Ngahuia Wade (October)
I feel the earth move under my feet: Chris Vogler and GIRLS LIKE US Chris Vogler visit (NZFC sponsorship) (September)
Aussie Sequel 1: Histories & Economics Some Comparisons with Australia (August)
Sequels, Remakes & Reboots Analysis NZFC Review (July)
Performance, Audience, & the New Zealand Film Commission Funding decisions (July)
The Insatiable Moon: Feeling joyous about humanity director Rosemary Riddell (June)
After the Waterfall writer/director Simone Horrocks (June)
Duet for Merata Mita 1942-2010 with Cushla Parekowhai (June)
The Big Picture: Could I Do That? – see comments re V48Hours (June)
Equal Rights, Equal Opportunity, Progress for All (March)
2009
Looking Towards a New World (December)
It's about human rights includes update Short Film Fund (December)
Peter Jackson: Find, Train & Support Good Writers December 2009
Peter Jackson to head NZFC Review (June)
Open Letter from a Woman Director (June)
Short Film Fund Decisions (May)
New Zealand Women Playwrights (May) playwright Branwen Millar on the dismal statistics re women playwrights in NZ. The link to her Playmarket magazine article is dead, but probably can be accessed through libraries.
Gender & Terms of Reference for NZFC Review (April)
Aren't blogs wonderful? NZFC & 48Hours (April)
Feature statistics, Jinx Sister, the shadow industry, & my thesis script – Statistics and the 'shadow' industry (January)
Background
Erica Duthie and I created a women's film festival in Wellington, 2004, Mahi Ata Mahi Ahua: Women's Work in Film. Its associated site, now closed to additions, gives details of some New Zealand women filmmakers and their work. That was my first close involvement with women's filmmaking.
I started Wellywood Woman during my PhD research 2006-2009, first at the Victoria Management School and later at the International Institute of Modern Letters, funded by a Women in Leadership Scholarship. My thesis, except the feature script for Development-the-movie (Chapter 6) is available online here, and my earlier Report is here (scroll down). I was motivated by my perception that, although women are equally represented and do well in all the creative writing courses at the International Institute of Modern Letters, the women who write for the page continue to succeed after they graduate but the women who write for the screen tend not make the transition to the 'real world' in the same way. Why was that? Why is that? What are the obstacles and where are they? What helps women who write (and direct) for the screen succeed?
Because no New Zealand state funder had ever recorded gender statistics, I collected them for my thesis. In 2010 I made an update for Women in Film & Television, and then revised it for the Development Facebook notes, here. These images are associated with that revision. They show applications and approvals for feature project development, made to the New Zealand Film Commission in the five years 2005-2009, at the Staff Committee/CEO, to the Development Committee and to the Board.
Some of the posts listed here update that work. And I loved it in late 2014, when the New Zealand Film Commission, after I made several Official Information Act requests released an elegant update covering the same ground from the following years: Feature Film Development Funding Information on Gender 2009-2014.
Some of the posts below simply record women directors' diverse views about gender issues. I usually ask at least one 'gender' question when I interview a director, because I learn a lot from what each of them says. Some posts address institutional inequities, at the New Zealand Film Commission, the 48 Hours and Make My Movie competitions or at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Others acknowledge gender equity achievements, for example at South Pacific Pictures. Throughout, I often introduce and question my own experiences, sometimes more substantially than others – perhaps as a filmmaker participant (48 Hours Competition) or as a writer or audience member (at Readers and Writers Week).
By mid-late 2013 I had more or less abandoned hope for change in New Zealand and was Moving Forward, to focus on exciting initiatives outside New Zealand. But then, in late 2014, I became hopeful again, as recorded in Directors & Editors Guild of New Zealand & WIFT Take Action, Thank You Jane Campion and Jane Campion: "Let's Really Say 'This is Enough'".
Lorraine Rowland's thesis The Life of Freelance Film Production Workers in the New Zealand Film Industry also addresses some gender issues.
Jocelyn Handy and Lorraine Rowlands wrote "Gendered inequality regimes and female labour market disadvantage within the New Zealand film industry" in the Women's Studies Journal (2014).
Employment Choices for Young Women - The influence of gender representation in New Zealand- produced television watched by children (2012)–
...shares the findings for a research project on how gender representation in New Zealand-produced television content viewed by children aged 12 years and under can influence girls’ and women’s employment choices in later life.
The analysis of television content was based on a similar study conducted by Smith and Cook at the Geena Davis Institute titled Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV (2008).