These posts from my Wellywood Woman blog are a kind of diary. In chronological order, they tell the story to
date of Development-the-movie, a screenplay I wrote for my Creative Writing PhD thesis. (DEVELOPMENT-the-thesis is an
autoethnographic—‘study of the self in culture’— exploration of gender and feature
film development in New Zealand.)
Set in an
imaginary corner of Wellywood, and in locations close to my home, Development
is a multi-protagonist story about women who want to make movies, wherever
they are. It asks What would you
sacrifice to make a movie? A friendship? Love? Motherhood? Your home? Your
life? It's also a
meditation on Jane Campion's challenge: "Women filmmakers must put on
their coats of armour and get going, because we need them." It’s a film from-my-heart. You can read Linda Voorhees' assessment of the script here and A Gender Across Borders article about the project here.
My research and
activism also come from the heart, and from long experience among artists and
writers, where I’ve watched and listened for images and stories by and about
women, and worked hard for resources to show and to publish them. The imaginary and the real are mixed in the 'chapters' that follow. In some posts I refer to Development-the-movie only in passing. And most posts about
Development-the-movie include
elements of research-and-activism, within the wider Development project. Within 'the real' since I wrote the first draft of Development three years ago are huge changes to the global screen
industry. Those changes permeate this collection; they transformed and continue to transform my thinking about Development’s content and future.
I intended to list the posts on a page at Wellywood Woman, where there's no longer a sidebar. But then I read one or two and decided that because they tell a story, I'd make them into an e-book here, like my other book 7 Risks For Single Mothers; & the Art of Managing Them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to include the comments when I imported the blog posts. My apologies to all those who contributed them, because I loved hearing from you, and hope readers will also comment here.
Gratitude permeates the posts/chapters, I hope, where I give names and
wherever I don’t. I’ve been blessed with wonderful support and there are lists of supporters here (Development project FAQs) and here (Development-the-movie website). Thank you all
again for your contributions and for your ongoing warmth and interest and patience. Here, I want to thank only two people by name. First: Lisa Gornick. We’ve
never met. But her drawings inspire me, warm me, make me laugh. Most of all
they helped me keep writing when times were hard. Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your work on Wellywood Woman, for your generosity. In bold,
with exclamation marks, and with a big cyberhug. Warm thanks too to Madeline
McNamara who encourages me to focus on Development, as documented in the final 'chapter'. I’m taking a fresh look at the
screenplay, remembering all I’ve learned as a writer, a researcher and an
activist. It may become a graphic novel, or a game. Or a film. Or something
else entirely. And it may take a while. But I have my armour on. And I won’t
give up.
November 2011
_____________________
LISA GORNICK
And Lisa’s an actor and filmmaker. Her short film DIP recently won a jury award at the Osnabruck film festival, and she wrote:
It’s the youth jury award for moral courage. It’s great for the film to be read this way – when we were making it and in the edit – I always saw the film as an anti violence film within a thriller genre. There’s this gun that features a lot being bought for revenge and then there’s an ex child soldier from Somalia obsessing with guilt at what he did because of revenge. The two worlds meet on the top of a London night bus. Thank you so much Youth Jury in Osnabruck for catching what this film is about and giving it such an honour.
 |
| lisa gornick Self-Portrait |
___________________
GIFTS
Why not give this e-book's link to someone who'll enjoy the content? That way you support trees while giving pleasure. And if you feel that you'd also like to offer a monetary donation, the wonderful projects listed below (alphabetically) would probably be happy to receive a little something from you:
Beauty in Truth: Alice Walker (documentary, Pratibha Parmar director)
Bubbles (narrative feature from short film, Leyla Pope writer/director)
The Fantastic Flights of Sophie Blanchard (animation, Jen Sachs director/animator)
Moms Got Muscle (narrative feature, Ramona Maramonte writer/director)
Neither the Veil Nor the Four Walls (narrative feature, Afia Nathaniel writer/director)
Stud Life (narrative feature, Campbell Ex writer/director)
The Fantastic Flights of Sophie Blanchard (animation, Jen Sachs director/animator)
Moms Got Muscle (narrative feature, Ramona Maramonte writer/director)
Neither the Veil Nor the Four Walls (narrative feature, Afia Nathaniel writer/director)
Stud Life (narrative feature, Campbell Ex writer/director)
Alternatively, you could add a DVD for a New Zealand woman director's latest movie:
The Insatiable Moon (Rosemary Riddell)
My Wedding and Other Secrets (Roseanne Liang)
Hook, Line & Sinker (Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader)
Add a comment