Gaylene Preston
Encyclopedia
Gaylene Preston, ONZM
, is a film maker with a particular interest in the documentary
format. She lives and works in Wellington
, New Zealand
.
elements of New Zealand identity. More recently, her feature film Home By Christmas challenges narrative conventions and the boundary between non-fictional oral history and narrative filmic fiction.
Since her first film All The Way Up There, she has constantly returned to documentary; a highlight being the popular cinema documentary, rooted in ordinary people's stories', War Stories: Our Mothers Never Told Us. As a producer she has contributed to the award-winning feature documentaries Punitive Damage (1999) and Coffee, Tea or Me? (2001) and Lands of our Fathers (executive producer).
Her feature films include Mr Wrong, Ruby and Rata, and the mini series Bread & Roses (with producer Robin Laing. She was writer, director and producer of Perfect Strangers a black comedy
about the overriding human need to love and be loved, starring Sam Neill
and Rachael Blake
.
Her working style appears to be open and collaborative: in accepting the award for Best Actress at Vladivostok Film Festival in 2004, Rachael Blake acknowledged the authenticity within the work and thanked Gaylene Preston for “…creating on set an invaluable, limitless arena of flexibility, trust and ease.”
Preston Chaired the Academy of Film and Television Arts (1997 – 99) and was a member of the board of the NZ Film Commission (1979 – 85) as well as chair of the Film Innovation Fund (1981 – 85). Preston has been a member of the Board of New Zealand on Air
(The NZ Broadcasting Commission) and was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
for services to filmmaking. In 2001 she was the first filmmaker to be made a Laureate
by the New Zealand Arts Foundation recognising her contribution to New Zealand
film and television.
In May 2011 she publicly protested plans for Wellington Airport to erect a Wellywood
sign on the hil beside the Miramar Cutting, the highest-profile industry opponent of this initiative.
She is the mother of actress, Chelsie Preston Crayford.
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
, is a film maker with a particular interest in the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
format. She lives and works in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Biography
Gaylene Preston is a New Zealand film maker whose work has ranged across fiction and non-fiction, drawing on the stories of working class women and men to develop a distinctive style that celebrates the AotearoaAotearoa
Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The...
elements of New Zealand identity. More recently, her feature film Home By Christmas challenges narrative conventions and the boundary between non-fictional oral history and narrative filmic fiction.
Since her first film All The Way Up There, she has constantly returned to documentary; a highlight being the popular cinema documentary, rooted in ordinary people's stories', War Stories: Our Mothers Never Told Us. As a producer she has contributed to the award-winning feature documentaries Punitive Damage (1999) and Coffee, Tea or Me? (2001) and Lands of our Fathers (executive producer).
Her feature films include Mr Wrong, Ruby and Rata, and the mini series Bread & Roses (with producer Robin Laing. She was writer, director and producer of Perfect Strangers a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
about the overriding human need to love and be loved, starring Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
and Rachael Blake
Rachael Blake
Rachael Morelle Blake is an Australian actress.-Early life:Blake was born in Perth. At the age of 18 months, she moved to England with her British parents only to return to Perth at age 11....
.
Her working style appears to be open and collaborative: in accepting the award for Best Actress at Vladivostok Film Festival in 2004, Rachael Blake acknowledged the authenticity within the work and thanked Gaylene Preston for “…creating on set an invaluable, limitless arena of flexibility, trust and ease.”
Preston Chaired the Academy of Film and Television Arts (1997 – 99) and was a member of the board of the NZ Film Commission (1979 – 85) as well as chair of the Film Innovation Fund (1981 – 85). Preston has been a member of the Board of New Zealand on Air
New Zealand On Air
NZ On Air is an independent New Zealand broadcast funding agency. It is an autonomous crown entity separate from central Government and governed by a Board of six appointed by the Minister of Broadcasting...
(The NZ Broadcasting Commission) and was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
for services to filmmaking. In 2001 she was the first filmmaker to be made a Laureate
Laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary or military glory. It is also used for winners of the Nobel Prize.-History:...
by the New Zealand Arts Foundation recognising her contribution to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
film and television.
In May 2011 she publicly protested plans for Wellington Airport to erect a Wellywood
Wellywood
Wellywood is an informal name for the city of Wellington, New Zealand. The name - a conflation of Wellington and Hollywood - is a reference to the film production business established in the city by The Lord of the Rings film director Sir Peter Jackson, and Wellington-based special effects...
sign on the hil beside the Miramar Cutting, the highest-profile industry opponent of this initiative.
She is the mother of actress, Chelsie Preston Crayford.
Filmography
- Home By Christmas (2010) - Writer / Director / Producer
- A narrative documentary with drama based on her father's recollections of his service during World War II, contrasting with her mothers's perspective (which were first used in War Stories: Our Mothers Never Told Us (1995), see below.)
- Earthquake (2006) - Producer / Director
- A documentary presenting eyewitness accounts of Napier earthquake1931 Hawke's Bay earthquakeThe 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday 3 February 1931, killing 256 and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster...
, New Zealand's most devastating earthquake in modern times.
- Lands Of Our Fathers – my African legacy (2004) - Executive Producer
- Opening an old leather suitcase compels a New Zealand filmmaker to revisit her Rhodesian childhood, and reconcile herself with the effects of the colonial past
- Perfect Strangers (2003) - Writer / Director / Producer
- Female Eye festival 2005 Toronto Best Film; Fantasporto Film Festival 2004 Portugal Best Actress Rachael Blake; Vladivostok Film Festival 2004 Best Actress Rachael Blake
- Selected: Melbourne, London Montreal, Film Des Femmes Paris, Fantasporto ( in competition ), Stockholm, Seattle, Chicago, Fantasy Film Festivals Brussels ( in competition ), Germany, Hof, Shangahai, Vladivostok (in Competition), Cincinnati, Vancouver among others
- Coffee, Tea or Me? (2002) - Producer
- The surprising tale of the underestimated trolly dolly.
- Selected: NZ International Film Festival 2002, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver
- Titless Wonders (2001) - Producer/Director
- Emotional journeys after a breast cancer diagnosis.
- NZ Media Peace Awards 2001 Winner Premier Award; Selected: NZ International Film Festival 2001; Keynote presentation World Breast Cancer Symposium 2002
- Wahine Requiem (2001)
- Semi-permanent cinema installation for the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.
- Getting To Our Place (1999) - Producer/Co-Director
- A fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes look at the remarkably bumpy road to Te PapaMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaThe Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
. - Selected NZ Film Festival 1999
- Punitive Damage (1999) - Producer
- The true story of a death in TimorTimorTimor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
and the power of a mother’s grief. - Munich Film Festival Awards Silver Medianet; Sydney Film Festival Awards Best Documentary 2nd place; Selected Critics Week Locarno International Documentary Festival
- Survivor Stories (1998) - Producer/Director
- The Hawkes Bay Earthquake of 19311931 Hawke's Bay earthquakeThe 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday 3 February 1931, killing 256 and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster...
remembered. Semi-permanent cinema installation.
- No Other Lips (1996) - Director/Co-Producer
- A documentary portrait of Māori poet, Hone TuwhareHone TuwhareHone Tuwhare was a noted New Zealand poet of Māori ancestry. He is closely associated with The Catlins in the Otago region of New Zealand, where he lived for the latter part of his life.-Early years:...
. - Selected NZ International Film Festival 1996
- WAR STORIES Our Mothers Never Told Us (1995) - Producer/Director
- Seven New Zealand women share stories of love and loss during the Second World WarWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. - Best Film – NZ Film & TV Awards 1995; Most Popular Film – Sydney Film Festival 1995; Best Documentary – Sydney Film Festival 1995
- Selected: Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 1996, AFI Assoc. Charity Screening, Los Angeles 1996, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Gothenburg, Munich
- Bread And Roses (1993) - Director/Co-writer/Associate Producer
- A four-part mini-series for television based on the autobiography of Sonja Davies.
- New Zealand Film & Television Awards 1994: Film: Best Performance in a Dramatic Role – Female, TV: Best Performance in a Dramatic Role – Female, TV: Best Supporting Performance – Male, TV: Best Design; Melbourne Film Festival – 3rd Popular Choice
- Selected: New Zealand, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Seattle, London, Toronto, San Francisco among others
- Ruby & Rata (1990) - Director/Co-Producer
- New Zealand Film & Television Awards: Best Editing, Best Film Score, Best Contribution to a Soundtrack, Best Male Performance; Winner - 3rd Place-Popular Choice, Best Feature Sydney & Melbourne Film Festivals; Gold Medal Award Giffoni Children's Film Festival, Italy; Top 10 selection most popular, Toronto Film Festival
- Selected: New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, London, Milan, Seattle, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Palm Springs International Film Festivals
- Kai Purakau The Story Teller (1987) - Producer/Director
- A documentary for Thames Television (UK) on Booker Prize winning author Keri HulmeKeri HulmeKeri Hulme is a New Zealand writer, best known for The Bone People, her only novel.-Early life:Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children. Her parents were of English, Scottish, and Māori ...
. - Selected: New Zealand International Film Festival
- Mr Wrong, (The Dark Of The Night - USA) (1985) - Director/Producer/Co-writer
- Based on a short story by Elizabeth Jane HowardElizabeth Jane HowardElizabeth Jane Howard, CBE is an English novelist. She was previously an actress and a model.In 1951 she won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for her first novel, The Beautiful Visit...
. - New Zealand Film and & Television Awards Best Female Performance; 2eme Prix du Public Festival de Films de Femmes de Creteil 1986
- Selected NZ, Seattle, Chicago, Melbourne and Munich Film Festivals
- Patu (1983) - Co-ordinator
- Merata Mita’s feature-length documentary about the protest against the Springbok tour of New Zealand (1981)1981 Springbok TourThe 1981 South African rugby union tour of New Zealand was a controversial tour of New Zealand by the South Africa national rugby union team, known as "the Springboks"...
.
- Making Utu (1982) - Producer Director
- A documentary about the making of Geoff Murphy’s feature-film UTU, looking at the issues involved in exploring New Zealand’s racial past.
- Hold Up (1981)- Director/Co-Producer
- A deaf dress designer, a blind radio announcer and a spastic film critic witness the robbery of a cinema.
- Australian Teachers of Media (1983). Best Overseas Film for under 12year-olds; Best Overseas Film. Rehabilitation Film Festival (New York 1983); First Prize – Dramatisation category – Rehabilitation International World Congress (Lisbon 1984)
- Learning Fast (1980) – Producer/Director
- A documentary about seven small-town seventeen-year-olds leaving school and finding their place in the world.
- All The Way Up There (1978) - Director/Producer
- Bruce Burgess, a 24-year-old, spastic since birth and Graeme Dingle, a well-known mountaineer, climb Mt Ruapehu together.
- Special Jury Prize – Banff Festival of Mountain Films (1980); Special Jury Prize – Festival International du Film Alpine, Les Diaberets (1980)
External links
- http://www.gaylenepreston.com
- http://www.perfectstrangersthemovie.com
- Gaylene's biography and screenography on NZ On ScreenNZ On ScreenNZ On Screen is an online showcase of archival New Zealand television and film. The website is fully funded by NZ On Air and provides free worldwide access to NZ-produced television, film and music videos. Content is streamed and the webpages provide authoritative background information.The site...