Kiwi Film Selected for Prestigious Screenings in Australia

MEDIA RELEASE: 21 May 2012

Kiwi Film Selected for Prestigious Screenings in Australia

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has selected Gaylene Preston’s film memoir of her father’s World War II experience, HOME BY CHRISTMAS, to screen for a two-week season in Canberra June 14-24.

The Archive’s chief programmer, Quentin Turnour, says, "Gaylene Preston's films have always been respected by Australian critics, especially her feature documentary WAR STORIES. We had also been aware of the popularity of HOME BY CHRISTMAS at the Australian festival screenings it achieved in 2011. So we were surprised - but not entirely - that it was not picked up for Australian distribution; but grateful that this gave us an opportunity to give the film a short screening season.

“HOME BY CHRISTMAS is a great showcase for one of Australia's most iconic actors, Tony Barry. But it is also another reminder that New Zealand cinema is too little seen and too little appreciated by Australians. “

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia is Australia's major audio-visual archivewith a special interest in work of enduring cultural significance. Its Arc Cinema in Canberra offers one of the major cultural cinema screening programmes in Australia.

Tony Barry, who stars in HOME BY CHRISTMAS, will attend the opening night on June 14 date with writer, producer, director Gaylene Preston and the composer, Jan Preston. 2012 Logie Award winner (for her role as Tilly Devine in Underbelly Razor), Chelsie Preston Crayford, who plays her own grandmother as a young woman in HOME BY CHRISTMAS, will be attending on Saturday the 16th June.

Gaylene Preston says, “This is a fabulous way for HOME BY CHRISTMAS to be seen by Australian audiences. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia is treating our film as one of its own taonga and we are all honoured.”

HOME BY CHRISTMAS remains one of the most popular films at the New Zealand box office – with takings of nearly $1.2 million, it is the 15th highest-grossing NZ film of all time.

HOME BY CHRISTMAS
Written, produced, and directed by Gaylene Preston
Executive Producer: Nigel Hutchinson
Co-Producer: Sue Rogers
Funded by NZ Film Commission, NZ On Air and The Wellington Company
Winner Asia Pacific Awards 2010 Honourable Commendation Best Actor – Tony Barry
Winner New Zealand Film and TV awards – Best Actor – Tony Barry

Gaylene Preston has been making independent feature films and documentaries in New Zealand for 35 years. She was the first filmmaker to receive an Arts Foundation Laureate Award and is an Officer of the NZ Order Of Merit for services to the film industry.
She most recently produced and directed the ILLUMINATE installation for the exterior wall of the Auckland Museum for ANZAC week honouring the 24th Battalion.
STRONGMAN THE TRAGEDY, a docu/drama for which she was executive producer, screened last week on TV3.
Preston is currently executive-producing a feature documentary, TATARIKIHI The Children of Parihaka, by director Paora Joseph and ELLEN IS LEAVING, a short film by Michelle Savill for the NZ Film Commission-funded short film programme.
ends

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