Gaylene Preston

Gaylene Preston
ONZM
Born (1947-06-01) 1 June 1947
Greymouth, New Zealand
Nationality New Zealand
Citizenship British
Occupation Film maker
Spouse(s) Andy Dennis (m. 1968–73)
Partner(s) Jonathan Crayford (1982–91)
Children Chelsie Preston Crayford

Gaylene Preston, ONZM (born 1 June 1947) is a New Zealand film maker with a particular interest in documentary films.

Biography

Her first film was All The Way Up There. 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 film Home By Christmas was a dramatized oral history based on her father's memories of his wartime experiences, contrasted with her mother's perspective.[1]

Her other 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 starring Sam Neill and Rachael Blake.[2]

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). She 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.[3] 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.[4] In 2016, Preston received the New Zealand Women of Influence Award for Arts and Culture in recognition of her work on New Zealand-focused films and documentaries.[3]

In May 2011 she publicly protested plans for Wellington Airport to erect a Wellywood sign on the hill beside the Miramar Cutting, the highest-profile industry opponent of this initiative.[5]

She lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand, and is the mother of actress Chelsie Preston Crayford.

Filmography

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.)
A documentary presenting eyewitness accounts of the Napier earthquake
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
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
A story of an underestimated flight attendant.
Selected: NZ International Film Festival 2002, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver
Documentary about life after breast cancer diagnoses.
NZ Media Peace Awards 2001 Winner Premier Award; Selected: NZ International Film Festival 2001; Keynote presentation World Breast Cancer Symposium 2002
Semi-permanent cinema installation for the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.
A documentary on the founding of Te Papa.
Selected NZ Film Festival 1999
A true story of a death in Timor and 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
The Hawkes Bay Earthquake of 1931 remembered. Semi-permanent cinema installation.
A documentary portrait of Māori poet, Hone Tuwhare.
Selected NZ International Film Festival 1996
Seven New Zealand women share stories of love and loss during the Second World War.
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
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
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
A documentary for Thames Television (UK) on Booker Prize winning author Keri Hulme.
Selected: New Zealand International Film Festival
Based on a short story by Elizabeth Jane Howard.
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
Merata Mita’s feature-length documentary about the protest against the Springbok tour of New Zealand (1981).
A documentary about the making of Geoff Murphy’s feature-film UTU, looking at the issues involved in exploring New Zealand’s racial past.
A deaf dress designer, a blind radio announcer and a film critic with cerebral palsy 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)
A documentary about seven small-town seventeen-year-olds leaving school and finding their place in the world.
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)

References

  1. ↑ Hogan, Ambrose (October 21, 2010). "Review of 'Home By Christmas'". Thinking Faith. British Province of the Society of Jesus. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Perfect Strangers". Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Women of Influence winners". Stuff. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  4. ↑ "Gaylene Preston Film maker". The Arts Foundation. The Arts Foundation. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Chapman, Katie (31 May 2011). "It's all go on Wellywood hill". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 1 October 2011.

External links

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