10 September 2018 Media Release
An Evening With Award-Winning New Zealand Director Gaylene Preston
The woman behind well-known New Zealand films including “Bread and Roses”, “War Stories” and “My Year with Helen”, is speaking at Knox Church in Christchurch on Wednesday 19 September as a suffrage fundraiser.
The Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust (KSMT) has organised the evening as part of Suffrage 125th Anniversary Celebrations,
and to announce the Kate Sheppard Memorial Award scholarship recipient for 2018.
KSMT chair, Judith Sutherland, says it is a special privilege to have Ngai Tahu Wahine Toa, Jo Mclean as a special
guest, to share aspects of Maori women’s experience of Suffrage, and to have Mayor Lianne Dalziel presenting the KSMT award.
“These three amazing women have achieved so much in their fields and we are very honoured to have them with us on the
19th,” says Judith Sutherland.
Ms Preston will present HERSTORY – (Ms)adventures in Filmland, about her exceptional career over more than three decades making feature films and documentaries with a distinctive
New Zealand flavour and a strong social message.
In 2001, she was the first filmmaker to be made a Laureate by the Arts Foundation, recognising her contribution to New
Zealand film and television, and in 2014 she also wrote, directed and produced Hope and Wire, a dramatisation of the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Tickets are available here, are $45 ($25 for unwaged and ‘Friends of KSMT) and include refreshments. Proceeds from this event will go to the Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust Award which provides opportunities for women to develop their potential through undertaking further education, study,
research or training in areas which are of value in the community of New Zealand.
ENDS