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).
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 says, “The film asks the question - what will it take for women to become global leaders.”
My Year With Helen was funded by NZ Film Commission, NZ On Air and private investors.
Producer/director Gaylene Preston, co-producer Catherine Madigan, executive producer Alexander Behse, associate producer Tim Riley, editor Paul Sutorius, composer Jan Preston, cinematography by Sam Russell, Colin Sonner, Gaylene Preston. Australia & New Zealand distribution: Transmission.