Calling The Shots

- Judy Bailey

Gaylene Preston has a theory: New Zealand would have a lot less domestic violence if we had a values system that encouraged men to take an equal part in housework and child-rearing.

“The amount of toxic masculinity is on the rise… We have to look at it,” she insists.

One of our most celebrated filmmakers, Gaylene is an avowed feminist, not a radical, but thoughtful, feisty and politically savvy. “Liberation starts at home. It’s about sharing the thankless things… like cleaning. I come from a long line of women worn down by cleaning.” Gaylene’s mother told her, as she lay dying, “I have one big regret. I really regret spending my life doing all that housework.”

Gaylene has been bringing her own unique view of the world to audiences for more than 40 years with her prolific filmmaking. Her early thriller Mr Wrong was about the fear women feel in broad daylight. There’s a key scene in the movie where the character watches a self defence course. “Don’t think about what he’s going to do to you,” they’re told, “think about what you’re going to do to him.”

Her catalogue of work includes such seminal pieces as Ruby and Rata, the tale of a young solo mum and an elderly woman. “It poses the question of what you do when the very old, the very young and the dispossessed don’t fit into the scheme of things,” she explains. Her docudrama Bread & Roses, about the early life of pioneering feminist, trade unionist and politician Sonja Davies, shone a light on the often painful experiences of New Zealand women and drew praise for Gaylene’s sharp eye for social detail. More recently she cast her lens on post-earthquake Christchurch with Hope and Wire. Her documentary,