The Women From Cambodia

Another great news story for Go Go Media - we have received initial production funding to go to Cambodia http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif to complete filming on our documentary, The Women from Cambodia. I've been working with Niborom Young, interpreter/oral historian/and community worker for a year filming many of the women she has been working with for many years. Their stories of loss and hardship during the Pol Pot era and their subsequent years of waiting in refugee camps and finally gaining entry to New Zealand shows the resilience and strength of the human spirit..thanks to our supporters and to the crew who have worked voluntarily on this project so far...

Decriminalisation of Sex Work in NZ

The Open Society Instutite has funded an educational DVhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifDhttp://wwwhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and website with resource kit to tell the story of the effect of decriminalisation of sex work in NZ. This project will be used by other sex work organisations throughout the world to inform sex workers, HIV/AIDS activists, policy makers, NGOs and governments about the way the law can assist in sex worker rights.
The NZ Prostitutes Collective was asked to tell their story and since we worked together on 'A Double Standard' - the TV3 doco I directed before the law change, we have worked closely and collaboratively on these issues for many years.
The project was funded by an international human rights organisation. The Open Societhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gify Institute. The web is being designed by Sam O'Leary from Conduction.

Gordon Crook: A Life in Art in Festival

Our docmentary about 89 year old Wellington artist, Gordon Crook features in the 2010 International Film Festival. The premiere is in Wellington at The Paramount Theatre at 6 p.m. See the trailer here and come along.

Gordon Crook: A Life in Art

Our doco has been selected for the 2010 International Film Festival. We got post-production funding from the NZ Film Commission to complete the film we have been working on for nearly three years. Gordon Crook is an artist who works across media, from drawing and collage to sophisticated abstract tapestries. He is influenced by the psychoanalysist Freud and Jung and integrates much of their work into his work which explodes with shape, colour and rich textures.

Leanne Pooley talks Topp Twins

Produced for ScreenTalk by NZ On Screen.

See more about The Topp Twins on their website. Topp Twins.

Annie Collins on ScreenTalk

Whilst working at NZ On Screen as Director of ScreenTalk I interviewed editor, Annie Collins who has worked on some of the most important documentaries and feature films to come out of New Zealand. Her groundbreaking work on Patu helped to politicise her which led to many years of anti-racism work in the eighties.. She went on to work on many other documentaries including my doco on the sex industry in NZ, A Double Standard. She has a rigorous editing process and is an inspiration to work with.

Her feature film work spans films by Gaylene Preston, Peter Jackson and Robert Sarkies.



You can see excerpts of many of the films mentioned on NZ On Screen.

Gordon Crook

I'm currently working on a documentary about Wellington artist, Gordon Crook.
He has an amazing body of work, from drawings and collage to large paintings, tapestries and banners.

He came to NZ in 1972 after teaching art and design at the Central School of Art in London and also St Martins School of Art - now a merged entity known as Central.

He has been in Wellington since then and exhibited regularly ever since. He continues to work in his studio in Te Aro and you can see his latest work, Smoke, on the MaryNewton Gallery website.