Why thousands joined protests

Press, 17 May 1984, Page 19

Why thousands joined protests

“Women on the Move,” a controversial documentary which examines events which culminated in rallies by thousands of New Zealand women on May 24 last year, will be screened on Two at 4.15 p.m. on Sunday. The rallies called for a nuclear-free and independent Pacific region. The documentary, produced by Umbrella Films, of Auckland, explains that the women were answering the call for support from those camped outside the Greenham Common Airbase

in Britain, protesting at the Elanned deployment of United States cruise missiles. The producers of the documentary hope that it will “provide information for people debating the nuclear issue and encourage more people to take a stand for the future of their world.” The producer, Lisa Prager, said, “Many people here are under the impression that a nuclear confrontation in the Northern Hemisphere will not affect

them, and they don’t regard it as a dire threat, as the Europeans do. All scientific studies show that this is not the case and also it appears more than likely that New Zealand would be a nuclear target.” The strength of women’s rallies in May last year surprised many observers, including the Government, said Ms Prager. The Labour member of Parliament, Ms Helen Clark, told 20,000 women in Auckland, “I’d like to thank from the bottom of my

heart, the many thousands of women who have come to this solidarity rally to show that they care about the cause of disarmament. I’m sure the size of this rally will surprise the people down in Wellington who didn’t think that women were going to do it.” The Government response came quickly. The Minister of Defence, Mr Thomson, described those involved in the anti-nuclear movement as lemmings caught up in communist propaganda.

This half-hour documentary, which Umbrella Films describes as a beautiful and moving account of the events of May 24, examines why the Greenham Common call received such a massive response in New Zealand. “Women on the Move” also gave a unique perspective on the world-wide antinuclear movement, and much interest had been shown in it internationally, said Ms Prager. Negotiations were ’ underway with several television networks in the United States, Britain and Europe. Umbrella Films was researching a follow-up,

which would focus on the nuclear situation in the Pacific region, she said. However, experience with “Women on the Move” had shown that finance for such politically sensitive documentaries was almost impossible to obtain, so the company had developed an innovative new method of funding which would be announced soon.

“‘Women on the Move’ was a test-case for Umbrella Films documentaries of this type, and we found we needed to find a new method of financing a documentary which examined such a controversial issue,” Ms Prager said.

“Women on the Move” was stalled prior to the post-production phase because of lack of finance.

Ms Prager, convinced that the story of the May 24 rallies throughout the country was of historical significance, approached the traditional funding bodies.

"The situation was the same wherever I went,” she said. “The budget was limited and funding was just not available. The New Zealand Film Commission referred me to the Arts Council, claiming that it funds film-makers, not artists, and the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council referred me to the Film Commission, claiming it didn’t fund film-makers, only artists.” A friend of the company, Adele Kennedy, raised a second mortgage on her home to put “Women on the Move” into the post-produc-tion stage.