Q & A: Kirsty MacDonald
Documentary Film-maker & Animator
How would your mother describe you?
My mother encouraged me to be very independent. Like her I am very hard-working, and watching her I absorbed the idea that my own impulses and ideals were worth following. How would shedescribe me? Perhaps intense, earnest, adventurous and a handful!?
How did you get into documentary making & animation?
I wrote poetry from the age of 5 and always wanted to be a writer. My first job was in a traveling theatre company, and I busked on the streets of Wellington and toured NZ in an acoustic performance art group called "Out of the Compost". I then worked for an independent documentary-making company in Wellington before playing music in the United States for ten years in the 1990s while climbing and snowboarding all over the country. In 2006 I completed a Masters at the University of Auckland majoring in directing documentary. Making documentaries was a way that I could combine art and politics in my work (much of my favorite art does this). At University I saw a Lisa Reihana film "Wog Features". I loved the way she used animation to talk about racism and sexism in an irreverent way, introducing much colour andplayfulness at the same time as challenging social norms. Istarted using simple handmade animations in my own documentaries as a way to visualise parts of the stories that were hard to recreate withoutbeingheavy-handed, and as a way to condense complex meanings while still leaving them open to interpretation.
What did you enjoy most about the project Assume Nothing?
I love that the risks that we took to make the films together, and the struggle to tell these stories in an innovative, beautifully crafted and open way has borne fruit. I don't think we made any compromises ethically or aesthetically and yet we have still managed to find an audience (Thank you NewDowse) for these challenging stories of gender difference.
Describe your creative side?
Mmmm...I get drawn into my projects with quite some intensity...when given the chance my "creative side"takes over and I forget (or neglect) to eat, sleep or participate in my life "outside" the project. Running or gardening helps keep me grounded.
Do you have a muse?
I used to be a musician and wrote songs and poems all the time. When I am paying attention I feel that I can tap into a river of some sort that pulls me along almost inevitably into the making of the song or the film. So the "muse" for me is connecting with this sense of purposeful unfolding (while holding on in the rapids and doldrums).
What’s your principal defect?
Using ten words when one will do (but then, ten are quite fun too...)
What are you most proud of?
Four years ago I had a very strong instinct to contact Rebecca Swan after seeing her book "Assume Nothing" in the window of Unity Books. The hairs on my arms were standing on end, and I knew I had to seek her out to propose a collaboration. I am extremely proud of what Bex and our other collaborators have achieved together in "Assume Nothing". I am also very proud to be the mother of my wonderful daughter Lily who has grown into a terrific 9-year-old as this film was slowly pieced together.
What’s your favourite foreign word? Why?
"Ia". Maori isn't really a foreign language, but Ema (from the film and the cover of "Assume Nothing") introduced me to this word "ia"which means "he/she" in Te Reo Maori. I love this reminder that our ideas about "reality" can be both limited and freed by language and context, and that therefore anything might be possible.
What is at your bedside table?
For the last three months I have been working on the feature film "The Vintner's Luck" in France and have moved house (and bedside tables) five times. Across these moves I usually slept beside a copy of the script, the next day's schedule, two telephones, and a necklace of my sister's: this I wear or keep in my pocket to give myself courage on the most challenging days.
When do you feel most inspired?
Dancing to really great live music, and in the presence of passionate people and their work.
Who’s your favourite fictional hero?
Jeanette Wintersten as herself in "Oranges are Not the only Fruit"
What are you working on now?
Part of my job on "The Vintner's Luck"has been shooting/directing the "making of" for the film. There is as yet no firm plan for the editing of this footage, so right now I am working on a proposal that would allow ME to be the editor (please)! There is also the possibility of following one of "Assume Nothing"'s participants to New York for a little more filming...