Gaylene Preston In Conversation – Queenstown Writers Fest

Filmmaker Gaylene Preston has always sought out the stories that have not yet been told, and in the pages of Gaylene’s Take she reveals the challenges and sometimes heartbreak that have come with realising that ambition.

In her memoir Dame Gaylene writes of the formative experiences of her exceptional life: of growing up in Greymouth in the 1950s, working in a psychiatric institution, interviewing her father about the war…there’s even the enigma of her great-grandfather chiselling a biblical text off a gravestone in the dead of night.

She takes us behind the camera as she makes some of the most enduring classics of New Zealand cinema, including Mr Wrong, Ruby and Rata, War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us and My Year With Helen. And she does it all with the same compassion, humour, irreverence and heart for which her films are renowned.

Gaylene Preston is a writer, producer and director. In 2001 she was the first filmmaker to receive an Arts Foundation Laureate Award, and in 2002 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She has received countless further awards in recognition of her contributions to film since.

Dame Gaylene will be interviewed by Queenstown filmmaker and Storyworks co-owner Holly Wallace.

Supported by Two Paddocks.

Queenstown Writers Festival (11 & 12 November 2023) brings together writers from across Aotearoa to discuss bold ideas and their latest literary work. This year's programme circles around the mysterious and morbid, and turns over the deeply personal act of memoir writing. Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of these conversations.