Wellywood Woman

One day last week I got up early, to watch the stream of presentations at the Washington session of the 2d Global Symposium of the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media (LA session coming  soon) . It was great to see and hear people I'd only read about and to see the involvement of UN Women . I was especially inspired by activist, filmmaker and philanthropist  Abigail Disney  ( Pray the Devil Back to Hell ,  Women, War & Peace , founder of Peace is Loud  and the outspoken great-niece of Walt.) 'Gatekeepers are wrong 50% of the time', she said, in a fresh version of screenwriter William Goldman's assertion that in the screen industry 'nobody knows anything'.  The other statement that's stayed with me came from Dr Stacy Smith, of the Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative , who led the Geena Davis Institute research launched at the symposium, Gender Bias Without Borders .   'As money moves in, women are pushed out',...

The New Zealand film industry's been waiting for the results of the review of the New Zealand Film Commission , due 30 November. And we know—we hope we know—that the review will reflect the concerns of Peter Jackson, who heads the review, assisted by David Court, Head of Screen Business at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School. So I was excited when I read Peter Jackson's recent comments to Michael Bodey, in the Australian : My only advice to anybody is that it's about individuals. The strength of a film industry is based totally on the strength of the individuals, the creative individuals working within it, the writers especially, the directors and the producers and whatever can be done to talent hunt, to find those people and then train them and support them. We're not talking about many people because in an environment where a lot of people want to be a filmmaker or think they can write a screenplay, not many people can, quite honestly, and it's a ca...

In today's Women & Hollywood, there's an open letter from director Ela Thier (pictured). Her story's so familiar; it could have come from New Zealanders I've spoken with. Good on her. Development -the-movie producer Erica and I have formulated our dream: Imagine… a world where women write and direct half of all movies. And New Zealand does it first. Just like women’s suffrage. (And we were encouraged the other day when we saw Jane Campion at the Cannes press conference for Bright Star , talking about New Zealand being first to have women's suffrage.) I so hope that Peter Jackson's review of the Film Commission will help our dream come true.

It could only happen here. It's extraordinary, wonderful news. Instead of an earnest contract worker with a tired agenda—always a possibility—we get a distinguished local filmmaker who has criticised the Film Commission AND no longer needs it to fund his films. Here's the press release. I'll write about the Terms of Reference as soon as I have my head around them. At first glance, there's nothing specific about gender, but various places where it can be considered. Oscar award winning director and producer Peter Jackson will lead a ministerial review of the New Zealand Film Commission to ensure it is best able to serve the needs of the local industry and community, Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson announced today. “National promised a review of the New Zealand Film Commission during last year’s election campaign,” Mr Finlayson said. “The act was passed over 30 years ago, and during that time the face of the local film industry has changed dra...