Gaylene’s Take: Her Life in New Zealand Film

Abstract

Three mothers dominate filmmaker Gaylene Preston’s new autobiography. One is Tui her mother, the person in the family who coped (“she is very strong in me. I have to fight her off constantly but she travels with me always.”); another is her mother’s mother Elsie (“she had a very personal relationship with Jesus.”); then there is Gaylene herself as mother to Chelsie (“my best ambassador.”), and towards the end the mother to her own mother suffering with dementia.