Wellywood Woman

Here, in alphabetical order by director, are the New Zealand women-directed short films selected for three sections of the New Zealand International Film Festival. Because a successful short film is seen as an element of the pipeline to taxpayer funding for a feature film, selection of these films really matters. Some of these come from this year’s New Zealand’s Best Short Film competition (BSF) , where half of those elected are #DirectedByWomen. NZIFF programmers Bill Gosden and Michael McDonnell made a shortlist of 12 films from 83 submissions and veteran filmmaker Gaylene Preston selected six finalists. And the winners of the associated awards do well! A jury of three will select the winner of the $5,000 Madman Entertainment Jury Prize, and the Wallace Foundation and Wallace Media Ltd will award a $3,000 Wallace Friends of the Civic Award to the film or contributor to a film they deem to merit special recognition. The winner of the audience vote takes away the Audience Choice A

Women's film activism now has real depth. And the networking that goes on gives it real strength. Women's film festivals are a vital part of all this (and, yes, I know I haven't finished the update of the film fest page here , but intend to as soon as I've finished my tax return!) One of my favourite women's festivals is Bluestocking , directed by Kate Kaminski, also one of my faves, as a human being. She began Bluestocking as an experiment that asked the question: 'if I brought female-centered, female-directed films to Maine, would the audience show up?'  When it began in 2011, Bluestocking was the first of its kind: an all-narrative short film festival that requires films to feature a female protagonist and to pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test (at least two female characters who talk to each other for more than a few seconds about something other than a man, men, or boys). It  celebrates complex female protagonists and filmmakers who place

Leana Hosea Leana Hosea's  Water Protectors is   about ordinary women in Flint, at Standing Rock and on the Navajo reservation who have had their water poisoned and are at the forefront in the movement for clean water. Water is a big issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, too– the degradation of our waterways; drinking water contamination; the offshore sale of our pure water; the debate about Maori sovereignty over water, under Te Tiriti o Waitangi/ the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840.  Partly because this has raised my awareness about the significance of access to water, my heart is absolutely with the women in Leana's work. And with Leana, editing through the night as I write this. Leana is a reporter/producer for BBC's World Service Radio and has held many other roles within the BBC. As a highly experienced multimedia journalist she's originated ideas, fixed stories, written scripts, filmed and edited them. Leana covering caste-based rape She was a shoot