James Croot was recently a guest on Radio Live with Graeme Hill where he discussed the documentaries on offer, including My Year With Helen.
This year's New Zealand International Film Festival boasts one of the strongest line-ups of Kiwi films for many years.
From documentaries to short-films and dramatic features, New Zealand filmmakers are setting up 2017 as a cinematic year to remember. There's something for everyone, from insights into the worlds of hard rockers Head Like a Hole, natural historian Sheila Natusch freestyle-skier Jossi Wells, to a recreation of the invasion of London's Iranian Embassy and a psychological thriller set on a subantarctic island.
Gaylene Preston's latest documentary starts out as a chronicle of our former Prime Minister's bid to become UN General Secretary.
However, despite some warm and intimate moments involving Clarke and her father, the real drama comes from following the machinations of the UN's voting process and all the political factors that come into play.
Gaylene Preston recently did an interview with Radio Live's Sunday Social show, where she talked about My Year With Helen, and the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Click here to listen to the full interview.
MY YEAR WITH HELEN is the first film to sell out a session in the NZ International Film Festival. The film’s first Wellington session on July 30 at the Embassy Theatre sold out on the first day of ticket sales yesterday.
There are still seats available for the second Wellington session on August 1 and both Auckland sessions (July 23 and 25). Click here for Wellington tickets, and here for Auckland tickets.
An observational documentary, MY YEAR WITH HELEN travels alongside former Prime Minister Helen Clark campaigning to become the first woman UN Secretary-General while continuing her work as the highest ranking female at the UN, leading the UN Development Group and managing to stay in daily contact with her 94-year-old father back in New Zealand.
Preston’s cameras explore the cracks between the diplomats, the embedded press and feminist activists as they push for change while caught up in a power process as secretive and patriarchal as the selection of the Pope.
Clark says: “The film conveys how tough it is to break the remaining glass ceilings. May it motivate future generations of women to keep at it!”
Preston: “The film asks the question - what will it take for women to become global leaders.”
"It’s great to see doco-maker Gaylene Preston make a film about Helen Clark.
The film, My Year with Helen, will premiere at Auckland’s Civic Theatre on July 23 as part of the opening weekend of the NZ International Film Festival.
There will be a second screening at the Civic on July 25, followed by Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson screenings.
The fly on the wall documentary follows former Prime Minister Helen Clark campaigning to become the first woman UN Secretary-General while continuing her work as the highest-ranking female at the UN.
Preston’s cameras explore the cracks between the diplomats, the embedded press and feminist activists as they push for change while caught up in a power process as secretive and patriarchal as the selection of the Pope.
Clark says the film conveys how tough it is to break the remaining glass ceilings. “May it motivate future generations of women to keep at it,” she says.
I had a bit to do with Helen when she was prime minister. I was based in London from 1997 to 2001 as NZ Press Association’s London bureau chief. Helen made several trips to London and she got me inside 10 Downing Street and I met Tony Blair before she had a private chat with him."
Read the full story on Make Lemonade here.
Kiwi director Gaylene Preston says the debut of her latest documentary "couldn't have been better", with the audience leaping to their feet to applaud the film at its conclusion.
My Year With Helen, which followed former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark as she unsuccessfully campaigned for the role UN Secretary-General, had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival last weekend.
Preston, who had finished editing the film only days before Saturday's screening, says she was delighted with the response from the packed State Theatre.
"When you have your first screening, you don't know how it is going to work with an audience. This was amazing. People laughed quite a lot at things we didn't think would get a laugh and they started clapping at certain points.
Q&A: Helen Clark on cracking the glass ceiling and life post-UNDP
It has been less than two months since Helen Clark finished her time at the head of the United Nations Development Programme. But never one to rest or shy away from controversy, Clark is already approaching new challenges head on — including highlighting the United Nations’ lack of transparency in the election of its secretary-general.
At the 2017 Research for Development Impact conference in Sydney on June 13, Clark gave a keynote speech discussing her experience on the value of broad partnerships to deliver sustainable development outcomes. Clark made time to speak with Devex about life post-UNDP and creating chips on the glass ceiling for other women to pierce through where she did not.
You are here in Sydney not just for the Research for Development Impact conference but also the Sydney Film Festival, where they are screening the documentary My Life with Helen about your campaign for U.N. secretary-general. From that experience, does it bring home how important you have been in breaking the glass ceiling for women?
The filmmaker, Gaylene Preston, is one of New Zealand’s best known filmmakers. When she approached me, I said “yes, why not.” At that time, I had made no decision to run for the secretary-general job, so she started because she was interested in me as a change agent.
We started in Botswana and then of course the secretary-general story started to overtake the documentary.
There is always a lot of interest in New Zealand on what Helen is doing, and I think the movie will be of great interest to them. But it is also of broader interest — it sheds light on the opaque processes of the U.N. And that’s something worthy of wider debate.
Elle Hunt from The Guardian spoke to Helen about the glass ceiling in the UN, as well as a broader discussion of her entire political career.
"In the United Nations’ 72-year history, eight of its nine secretaries general have been decided behind closed doors by a few powerful countries. But not the ninth. Last year’s appointment process resembled American Idol: a public-facing contest with a strong social media component and a side of drama and double-crossing.
When the process to replace Ban Ki-moon got under way in April 2016, it was said to be unprecedented in its transparency. Helen Clark, one of the eight unsuccessful challengers, is quick to put that into context. “The ‘transparency’ – I’ll put that in quotation marks – I don’t think that had any impact on the outcome,” she says. “What it did was expose how opaque the real process was.”
As head of the UN development program, Clark had been considered a strong contender when she announced her candidacy, particularly given the groundswell of support for a female leader. By 30 September – the week before the former Portuguese prime minister António Guterres was confirmed in the top job – her chances had reportedly dwindled to nil.
“I won the public vote, I won the social media scene, I won the staff votes – all of that, but it didn’t matter at all,” says Clark pragmatically, without bitterness. “Clearly, the security council wasn’t looking for someone like me, from a small, independent-minded country, having been an independent-minded leader, who looks at the evidence and makes decisions accordingly.
“That’s fine. That’s the outcome.”
Clark’s experience of the process is the subject of a documentary, My Year with Helen, that screened last weekend as part of the Sydney film festival. What thoughts or feelings did she have, watching her failed bid unfold again, from within the audience?
“You know, I’ve always had a capacity to move on from things very fast,” she says. “That was a pretty intense six-month period and at the end of it I shut the door, went home to see my family and got on with life.”"
Newshub's Connor Whitten wrote an opinion piece following watching My Year With Helen at the Sydney Film Festival.
"She may be New Zealand's most high-profile politician - but being diplomatic is no longer a concern for former Prime Minister Helen Clark. Especially when asked about her previous employer.
"There's a very big glass ceiling," Ms Clark recently claimed.
She was talking, of course, about the United Nations, the job she left only two months ago. It's the first time she's spoken with such cutting candour.
And it shows the spectre of workplace sexism extends to the highest offices in the world.
Ms Clark's collision with the UN's glass ceiling is the subject of a new documentary, My Year With Helen, which premiered Saturday at the Sydney Film Festival.
The film should make Kiwis - men and women - hopping mad."
While in Sydney for the My Year With Helen screening, Helen Clark was interviewed by ABC News about the importance of the film in showcasing the glass ceiling for women.
She said:
"I'm constantly shocked by how little progress the whole world has made."
"The number of women leaders in the world actually peaked a few years ago and is back on the way down."
The upcoming documentary following Helen Clark for a year has premiered in Sydney.
My Year With Helen, directed by filmmaker Gaylene Preston, follows the former prime minister in the year she campaigned for the position of UN Secretary General.
Clark shared a photo of her and Preston on Instagram, confirming the film received a standing ovation.
1,032 Likes, 40 Comments - Helen Clark (@helenclarknz) on Instagram: "With Gaylene Preston at premiere of her latest documentary 🎥 #myyearwithhelen at its premiere..."
My Year With Helen's debut in Sydney was reported on by the Daily Mail, who noted the following:
She went from a modest upbringing on a rural farm to becoming New Zealand's first elected female Prime Minister.
And on Saturday, Helen Clark, 67, made her big screen debut at the Sydney Film Festival at State Theatre in Sydney.
The celebrated politician, who cut a sophisticated figure in a snazzy embroidered coat, joined filmmaker Gaylene Preston at the world premiere of My Year With Helen.
In 2016, Helen attempted to become the United Nations' first ever female Secretary-General.
Gaylene's film follows Helen as she campaigns for the coveted Secretary-General role while also carrying out her work as Administrator of UNDP.
The camera travels with the politician around the world to Botswana, Britain, Spain, the Ukraine and the UN in New York.
Gaylene hoped to showcase the achievements of a female politician in a male dominated field.
While premiering at the Sydney Film Festival, Helen Clark spoke to TVNZ on the red carpet about the upcoming release of the film.
Watch the clip in full below:
MORE INDUSTRY STARS ON THE SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2017 LINE-UP
The 64TH Sydney Film Festival announces Korean-American actor and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun will join director and 2017 Cannes Palme d'Or contender Bong Joon-ho, and Australian actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) at the Sydney Film Festival in June (7-18). Their film Okja will premiere at the Festival, direct from sparking controversy in Cannes.
The Festival also reveals former New Zealand Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clark will attend with director-producer Gaylene Preston for the World Premiere of her documentary My Year with Helen.
These Festival guests join an incredible line-up with some of the world’s most exciting filmmakers and industry stars, both local and international.
Festival audiences can see and hear from Oscar-winning actor and political activist Vanessa Redgrave, Hollywood based Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn, Cannes-winning Indigenous director Warwick Thornton, 2017 Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner Alain Gomis, 2017 Berlinale Golden Bear winner Ildikó Enyedi, Australian director-writer-producer David Wenham, Red Dog director Kriv Stenders, and acclaimed Indigenous actor and director Wayne Blair.
These luminaries and many more will join audiences at the premieres of their films, in talks, panels and at Q&A sessions. The Hub at Town Hall will also host FREE Meet the Filmmaker talks: a collaboration between the Sydney Film Festival and Vivid Ideas, part of the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, Vivid Sydney.
International:
• Oscar-winning actor and political activist Vanessa Redgrave and producer and son Carlo Nero | Sea Sorrow | Cannes selected directorial debut by the 80-year-old about the global refugee crisis | Talk at The Hub (Saturday 17 June, 2pm)
• Former NZ Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clark and director- producer Gaylene Preston | My Year with Helen | Extended Q&A in the Town Hall Vestibule about the year-long project (Saturday 10 June 6:30pm)
• 2017 Cannes Palme d'Or contender Bong Joon-ho, Korean-American actor and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun and Australian actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) | Okja | Closing Night | Netflix film starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Daniel Henshall and An Seo-hyun.
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark is signing off after eight years at the United Nations.
Online tributes have been pouring in marking her two terms as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Filmmaker Gaylene Preston and her team spent a year with Clark at the UN making the documentary My Year With Helen.
Preston says it was good luck more than anything that meant they were filming when the race for Secretary General was on, which also gave them an insight into how Clark “spruced up” the UNDP.
“The tributes to Helen all point out how she had reformed the organisation made it more efficient. She’s clearly been effective within the UNDP.”
Preston says that was evident from spending long workdays with Clarke.
“If you spend time in anyone’s office, you can tell whether it functions or it doesn’t. Helen runs a very functional good-humoured, working office.”
Gender parity is another of Clark's achievements, Preston says.
“Now down the line, all the areas, top to bottom are 50 percent. Helen is rigorous in terms of systems.”
Preston says her film crew captured Clark’s tilt at the top job and the arcane processes surrounding the election.
“We filmed three tribes – the diplomats, the press and the civil society groups – all with very different kaupapa, rubbing along together, trying to get a handle on what’s happening.
“Everything was transparent to a certain point, then it went behind a wall of secrecy where the process became almost papal.”
She says of Clark’s campaign: “We see what resilience really is.”
“I hope we get out of this documentary a discussion about what does it take for women to become global leaders?
“Because it seems to me that once women are in the leadership seat everybody settles down, and they seem to be good leaders and they seem to last for quite some time.”
Despite this, of the UN’s 193 members only 22 are women and the UN itself is falling some way short of its own gender parity standards, says Preston.
“We just keep seeing men in suits. It’s crazy, it’s not doing our species any good.
In the last contest [for secretary general] 50 percent [of the candidates] were women, and as soon as there were straw polls the women were at the bottom of the heap. Helen wasn’t the only hugely qualified woman, but she was the most qualified, and the most high profile, and the one the staff at the UN voted for. But they gave it to the best man.”
Read the article and listen to Gaylene talk with Jesse Mulligan here
A documentary about former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will debut in Australia.
Made by Kiwi filmmaker Gaylene Preston, My Year With Helen has been confirmed to debut at the Sydney Film Festival on June 10.
The film follows Clark in her 2016 campaign to become the United Nations' first ever-female Secretary-General.
It is described as casting "a wry eye on proceedings as the United Nations chooses a new Secretary General" with "unique access" to Clark.
Clark served as the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008. My Year With Helen will go on to screen as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival in July.