*Female lead projects*

The Golden Girls/ All Wise Women (Documentary)

The making of A short film and photographic festival about women in their golden years and the stories from their past.

Inspired by this incident:
The rain was relentless that day and from where I was sitting in the cafe I could see an older woman sitting in the park on a bench with no umbrella or nothing else protecting her, it looked odd, so i walked across the  road to where she was sitting and led her back to the cafe where it was warm and dry, she told me that her left leg  felt numb, i ask her if she wanted me to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital just to get checked out, she shook her head and said. 

At my age, you don’t come out of there once you go in.

I understood what she meant, so persuaded her to go to the medical Centre which was a couple of doors away.

I sat her down in the waiting area and approached the receptionist. I told him the situation and asked if the woman could be seen as she looks unwell and says that her leg felt numb, she was elderly turned out she was in her 90s, the receptionist came out from behind the desk and said in a very dismissive tone “We don’t bulk bill here” At the same time that he was saying that,  a young woman come out of the doctors room and was bulk billed by the other receptionist.

Meanwhile, the male receptionist tells the older woman that she will have to go somewhere else and asks her if she has a doctor. She replies that she used to see a doctor. Still, it was up the top of the hill, and she looked at me with sadness and said, “I can’t walk up there,” then said, “I just want to go home,” and asked if I could ring a taxi? I insisted that the receptionist ring a taxi for her. That was the least they should do.

It  took an hour and a half for the cab to arrive because the rain was relentless, and everybody wanted a taxi that day, so finally, when the taxi came we got her into the cab and  she went off home,

I’ve seen her since, and she’s okay.

 But, I was really angry, I was angry at just how  this Older woman was dismissed and neglected in this country.

  I will stand up and fight, because I’m really amazed that it was acceptable to treat an older person, particularly a mother and grandmother, this way in favour of money.

These Golden Girls are the women who have got stories to tell, the women who birthed and raised nations; they’ve been there every time they’ve been needed, so we’ve got to do better than this. 
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A Fish & Bird (Short Ai film)
A Fish & Bird can fall in love, but where would they build their nest?

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The Wisdom Of The Good Sisters ( Series) You may not like them or you may not understand them but you soon realise that you don’t want to mess with them.

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SLAMM’N

Mookz, an Indigenous teenager, has a secret and a dream while struggling with a dysfunctional life and other obstacles to reach that goal Mookz discovers who Mookz is.
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The Invisible floating island of KIA KAI-(Awards)

The invisible floating island of Kia Kai is a complex, multi-layered story that blends elements of drama, magical realism, and environmental themes. Set on the mysterious, invisible floating island of Kia Kai, the story follows Diana, a young doctor who wants to return her mother’s ashes to the island of her birth. 

The story is a woven rich tapestry of unique characters and cultures and the exploration of the island’s mythology and magic within this visually striking, naturally unnatural world of family, community, and environmental issues.

Kia Kai is a thought-provoking and immersive story.

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In Bad Company (Awards) Never underestimate a mother willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family.

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Samurai butterfly- Onna-musha

Onna-musha is a term for female warriors in pre-modern Japan who were members of the bushi (warrior) class. They were trained in the use of weapons to protect their households and their honour in times of war; many fought alongside samurai men.

A female samurai is given a small book of maps to protect. She and the sensei draw blood from their thumbs, leaving two prints resembling butterfly wings on the map book.

On the road outside a village She is attacked by bandits. In the fight, the young Ronin is badly wounded.

She finds help with a blind widow & her young daughter.

As she lies wounded under a cherry blossom tree, three more bandits arrive – 

She gives the book of maps to the young girl, telling her to hide it until she comes back for it. She tells them to run away before she gets up to take on the bandits, killing them all.

The women & Girl escape under the floor of the house – where 

The girl puts the maps inside a wooden puzzle box and hides it in the sleeve of her mother’s stored wedding kimono.

Under the blossoming cherry, the Samurai takes her final breath. There is a fleeting sound that death makes as life leaves the body.

150 Years later, a major tsunami hits Japan, devastating much of the country. 

The puzzle box with the maps inside washed up on the coast of  New Zealand.

The box with the book of maps in it is found and ends up with a curator of a collection of Japanese antiquities at a university.

When he opens the puzzle box, the spirit of the Samurai awakens.

She was the protector of the maps and their owner; her spirit is attached, and at first, she doesn’t realise she is dead. He senses her presence, but ignores it. 

The Samurai is with him everywhere he goes, She finds modem day confusing and intriguing, She is with him when he witnesses his wife cheating on him, he becomes withdrawn, a loner, She becomes his protector, and companion, eventually he senses her presents, he discovers her and the story when he researchers the history of the maps, he is infatuated with an old painting of her, but he finally meets her in his dreams and falls in love with her to his end. The story swings between two different cultures and two time periods.

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