In an hour the first of three ninety-minute episodes of Gaylene Preston's Hope and Wire will debut on New Zealand television. When I saw half of tonight's episode, a while back, I liked how it seemed to bring ALL of Gaylene's skills and experience together in one space in an interesting example of media convergence. Gaylene as a veteran writer/director/producer. Gaylene as doco maker and oral historian. Gaylene as creator of screen fiction. (And Gaylene as enthusiastic community member. As highly politicised community member.) If you're not familiar with her work, think of Gaylene as a kind of New Zealand Charles Dickens ( Oliver Twist , Bleak House, Hard Times ). Or Alison Bechdel ( Dykes To Watch Out For , Fun Home, Are You My Mother? ). Or our very own Callie Khouri ( Thelma & Louis e, Nashville ). I think Hope and Wire may be the work she will be most remembered for. The run-up to the screening has been quite a trip for Gaylene; she's neede...
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