Hot Words and Bold Retorts

In this unique short film from Gaylene Preston, actors perfectly lip-sync to real life interviews from times past. Recalling the 1893 New Zealand general election — the first in which women had the vote — the four female interviewees give their accounts of that momentous milestone. Filmed in the historic Ewelme Cottage in Parnell, Auckland, actors Lucy Lawless, Miranda Harcourt, Jean Sergent and Chelsie Preston Crayford give life to the radio interviews that were recorded between 1947 and 1969. The film was created for an Auckland War Memorial Museum exhibition in 2018, on women and equality in Aotearoa. 

It was said that New Zealand women had the vote handed to them on a platter. That they were given it before they ever asked for it. This is not at all true. There were a great many agitations...

– Helen Wilson as performed by Lucy Lawless

Key Cast & Crew

Gaylene Preston

Director, Producer

Jean Sergent

As: Hilda Lovell-Smith

Chelsie Florence

As: Arabella Manktelow

Miranda Harcourt

As: Ellen Peryman

Lucy Lawless

As: Helen Wilson