Reframing Women - A History of New Zealand Film

The screen achievements of such women as Jane Campion and Gaylene Preston are well documented, but there have been hundreds of women involved in creating New Zealand's rich cinematic history. For almost a century women have been involved in the film industry, yet many of them, particularly earlier figures, have gone largely unrecognised within official histories of New Zealand film. Reframing Women details the diverse and frequently innovative contributions of such pioneers as Hilda Hayward, who was working in film as early as 1923, and our first woman director Margaret Thomson, right up until the end of the 20th century. If follows the rise of feminist documentaries in the 1970s, led by Deirdre McCartin, the increasing number of women creating dramas and short films, and the explosion of experimental and feature films made by New Zealand women in the 1980s and 90s. Key contributions to New Zealand film by Ramai Hayward, Kathleen O'Brien, Alison Maclean, Melanie Read, Shereen Maloney, Athina Tsoulis, Niki Caro and Sima Urale are described, as well as the work of women script-writers, editors, producers, composers and art directors.