Wellywood Woman

Because I speak only English fluently I often miss significant contributions from women in film who work primarily in another language: their films, their analysis, their activism. I'm aware there are amazing things happening at women's film festivals in Asia, for instance, and lots in Europe, too. But it's often a challenge to find details from the other side of the world. In Spain however,  CIMA (Asociacion de mujeres cineastas y de medios audiovisuales)  —based in Madrid— has initiated a unique and exciting project, the  European Network of Women in the Audiovisual World  (EWA), and they welcome our participation even if we don't live in Europe. Spread the word?! Spanish women directors established CIMA (now with hundreds of members) because they observed the very low participation of women in key positions in the Spanish audiovisual industry, the difficulties young women had when they wanted to join the profession and the difficulties women had...

Associate Professor Deborah Jones  of the Victoria Management School was my supervisor before it became possible to do a Creative Writing PhD and I transferred to the International Institute of Modern Letters. She was great, and I've been longing to know more about her Glamour & Grind: New Creative Workers  research (with Professor Judith Pringle , and with Ella Henry and Dr Rachel Wolfgramm . Funded by the prestigious Marsden Fund,  Glamour & Grind is a just-completed three-year  case study  which researched the life histories of crews in the New Zealand film industry, in order to develop theories about the identities and careers of 'new' creative workers .   I wish I'd asked Deborah about who she perceived as 'old' creative workers, and speculate—after editing the recording—that she may mean those who in the past were employees, rather than contract workers, at an organisation like the National Film Unit.  I loved hearing what Debor...

Kirstin Marcon’s The Most Fun You Can Have Dying , adapted from Steven Gannaway’s novel Seraphim Blues , opens in New Zealand cinemas on 26 April. It’s a special film for me, because it was one of the few women-written features in development at the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) when, long ago, I started to analyse the NZFC's investment record. Kirstin’s already written and directed two short films. She’s Racing (2000) screened in competition at Edinburgh Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, and Chicago International Film Festival (where it won a Silver Plaque). It also screened at Telluride Film Festival, with Australian indie hit Chopper . Picnic Stops (2004) was selected for competition and as an official Selection at festivals including the Hof International Film Festival, Germany, Expression en Corto International Film Festival, Mexico, and the Creteil Festival de Femmes. Kirstin with focus puller Jason White How did you get into filmmaking? In the late 7...

I've written about about New Zealand's 48 Hours competition  several times (see links below) . So few teams have women writers and directors and I believe that  this low representation contributes to our minimal participation in feature filmmaking. This year, I interviewed three  48 Hours women directors, to find out what attracts them to the competition and how they experience it. So here are Francesca Jago, Laurie Wright, Ruth Korver, each inspired by and enthusiastic about  48 Hours  (more about them at the links below and in the podcast). And after they have their say, Gaylene Preston, who created the  48 Hours  Gaylene Preston Productions/ Women in Film & Television Best Woman Director award. She talks about the award and women's roles in the competition, why she supports the competition and the kinds of things people can do to prepare for it; among other things, she suggests that we watch  The Five Obstructions, about...

Saraswati Clere,  Kate Clere McIntyre and Michael McIntyre   Kate Clere McIntyre is a New Zealand producer and director who lives in Australia. She will tour New Zealand—Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin—from April 12-19, with Yogawoman ('Never underestimate the power of inner peace') which has had rave reviews and sell out screenings in New York, London, Munich and Melbourne. This from just one review of a New York screening, in Bust : The most joyful documentary I’ve ever seen...beautiful cinematography, which reveals women who are different ages, sizes, and nationalities, all sharing yoga...The film radiates such positive energy, you can’t help but be moved...  Yogawoman  features Academy Award nominee Annette Bening as narrator. Ever curious about New Zealand women filmmakers, I sent Kate some questions. And was delighted to be offered two double tickets and two DVDs for readers (see below)! Q: You and Michael McIntyre founded Second Natur...

Back in September, I interviewed director Pratibha Parmar about her latest film Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth , well on its way to completion. This podcast is an update. I feel so lucky to be able to follow some of the process of making Beauty in Truth and I love Pratibha's eloquence about her work; I can't wait to see it! Download the podcast here (30min). This Wednesday Pratibha's classic A Place of Rage (1991), about the role of black women in the American civil rights movement, will show at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival , along with two short films that will also accompany it when it's released on DVD later this year— Angela: An Icon Reflects , a new interview with Angela Davis, and Wrong is Not My Name , the late June Jordan reading her Wrong is Not My Name poem, presented with a mixture of archival footage and animation. On Thursday at the festival, Pratibha will present excerpts from Beauty and Truth , and be interviewed.  Another recent int...

I. I’ve been finishing Mouse , my first short comic, and am researching/writing a play. Being quiet. And it takes a lot to get me out of the house before 2pm. But last week was Writers & Readers week here in Wellington. Part of the big New Zealand International Arts Festival. So I went to sessions I thought would help my work. A Bill Manhire poetry masterclass to enhance my research. A genre session where Denise Mina talked about the way (writing) comics exercises both sides of her brain and about a list of ‘rules’ that includes one about using only 40 words per panel. And a session on “Why is Theatre Not Dead Yet?” with local playwrights Dave Armstrong and Ken Duncum and with Englishman Robert Shearman, probably best known as a playwright who also wrote for Dr Who . They were very warm and funny and informative and I loved it. And then came the Q & A. This is how poet Bill Nelson reported the element that concerns me, in a sharp little review-as-script—the story of a wo...

Kate Kaminski applies stage blood during filming of 2020 © Judy Beedle Photography Why do women filmmakers create film festivals? In this podcast Kate Kaminski ( Bluestocking Series  in Maine, the only women's festival in the world where the primary criterion is that the films pass the Bechdel Test) and Briony Kidd ( A Stranger With My Face Horror Festival in Hobart) talk about their motivations and aims, the relationships between their filmmaking and their festival-making and about the role of the Bechdel Test in their festivals. I was fascinated by their differences and similarities. Warm thanks to them both. The Filmmakers Briony Kidd Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel Test , by Jennifer Kesler Viscera: Celebrating Female Genre Filmmakers Women and Hollywood on women's film festivals Women's film festival bibliography Cornelia Walter's 'Absolutely Not Obsolete Women’s Film Festivals Are Still Not an Anachronism –...

In this podcast, Sheila Jackson Hardy talks about about her multi-platform Nice & Rough: Black Women in Rock project. It celebrates the unknown history and present-day community of Black women in rock. Download podcast Links Nice & Rough  website Twitter Facebook Eve's Lime , Sheila's production company NOTES Kudisan Kai: My Becoming My Becoming , the track at the end of the podcast, comes from Kudisan Kai 's Confessions . Kudisan Kai sang for six years with Elton John, and has toured with other rock legends–the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and others. She left the road to raise her daughter and joined the faculty of the renowned Berklee College of Music, where she has created a curriculum on women in rock. Confessions mixes deeply personal lyrics, blaring heavy metal guitar riffs and earth shattering vocals. It is also the featured hard-rock ringtone for contributors to the Nice & Rough funding campaign. Heather Ferreira Heather's comment...

Pietra Brettkelly Pietra Brettkelly's feature documentary  Maori Boy Genius  will premiere today, in the Berlinale's Generation programme. Many congratulations to her! It's always exciting when a New Zealand film is accepted to a major film festival and in competition and this year there are two: the feature  Two Little Boys opens in the same section tomorrow.  I invited Pietra to talk and was thrilled when she agreed. Download podcast I asked Pietra about her filmmaking start; being a producer as well as a director; the Binger Filmlab; working with Lars von Trier's editor Molly Stensgaard; Danish filmmakers who see themselves as 'storytellers', tend not to categorise films into 'documentaries' and 'features' and use whatever they need to tell a story; the challenges of working from New Zealand and of funding docos; her Indiegogo campaign and advice from Jennifer Fox of the legendary  My Reincarnation ; her distribution plan...