Telling Rural Stories
A new series tells the stories of rural women
Christchurch based film producer Nadia Maxwell’s last two projects were feature films. Now she’s bringing her film experience to a new locally produced television series.
words: Pattie Pegler images: Supplied
A brand-new six-part, half-hour series, Shepherdess, celebrates eighteen different rural women –living in rural Aotearoa. A collaboration between the magazine Shepherdess and Nadia’s film production company, Overactive Imagination, the series offers beautifully filmed rural scenes and some thoughtful insights into the stories of women in those places.
Each episode focuses on a different geographic area and three different women who each bring a different perspective to the area. From a mum of four running a busy shearing gang for 200,000 sheep to a woman from Wales who left behind corporate life in London to follow her husband back to his family farm; and Serena (Ngāti Porou), a sixth-generation shearer from shearing royalty who has found her calling as a traditional healer.
It’s a fascinating take on the lives of rural women. And whilst Nadia has been immersed in the world of film both here and overseas, as the daughter of orchardists and now living in rural Leithfield with her winemaker husband, two daughters and errant chooks, she ‘gets it’ when it comes to rural life.
“Rural women wear a lot of hats and are very community centred,” she says of the women in the series.
Nadia, who started out studying law, has worked on documentaries for big players like TVNZ and Al Jazeera. She’s also turned her talents to psychological thrillers like Human Traces which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. And she’s worked on award-winning projects like Here Be Monsters which won Best Short Film at the NZ Film Awards in 2013.
Whilst the women’s stories in the Shepherdess series are beautifully presented – it takes a lot to put together these neat looking 22-minute episodes says Nadia. The film crew spent up to six days filming in the different areas and there was a huge amount of logistics involved – from finding good spots to film, to juggling everyone’s availability and more.
“The biggest challenge is probably being as prepared as you can be,” says Nadia. “Pre-production included extensive research, following the belief ‘every woman has a story to tell’ the logistics of travelling to small communities kept our team busy…things like putting together the crew, travel and even the catering.”
And even then, sometimes the best laid plans can go awry. Filming in Hawkes Bay, for example, was affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.
“There are some things you just can’t prepare for,” says Nadia.
Nonetheless, the finished series is a beautiful look at women in rural communities. Make it one to watch this summer.
The Shepherdess series is available free-to-air on Sky Open from Sunday 22 October.
