NZIFF 2021 Q&A: Shirley Horrocks, director of Juliet Gerrard: Science in Dark Times

How's your 2021 been?

Lockdown in Auckland made it an interesting process to complete my film, ‘Juliet Gerrard: Science in a Dark Time.’ My editor was in a different city so at the end we had to work together remotely. The sound mix and the colour grade had to be done without me being there. Then the Auckland Festival was cancelled! I’m happy that the premiere is still happening, in Wellington, but gutted that I can’t be there! Still, the events of this crazy year are part of the subject of my film.

Give us the elevator pitch for your film in 10 words.

A remarkable woman tackles the challenges of our time.

The one moment of your film that stands out

When Juliet talks with her characteristic sense of humour about how she deals with gender stereotyping.

The one moment of your film that you wish you could have changed

Since one of the challenges that Juliet Gerrard has to deal with in the film is the COVID-19 pandemic it would have been wonderful if the last moment of the film had been the triumphant win for science over the pandemic, although New Zealand has done better than most countries because we’ve had good science advice from people like Juliet.

The one moment of your film that you think audiences will connect to

When Juliet, who had been through what she calls her ‘rough and tumble’ British comprehensive school education, gets into Oxford University on her intelligence only – her school hadn’t taught pupils enough for her to sit an entrance exam – and she encounters the very male “Brideshead Revisited” environment of that venerable institution. NZ audiences will relate to her down-to-earth approach.

The one moment of production during a Covid world that saw you enraged by the pandemic

While I was continually enraged by what Covid was doing to the world, on a production level I had countless shoots postponed because both Juliet and Jacinda Ardern were busy with the pandemic.

The one moment of production during a Covid world that really saw you seize your film's concept and refuse to give up

When I began the film 3 years ago neither Juliet nor I knew that a pandemic was on the horizon. When COVID hit the film I knew I was making a film that was an important historical record.

What's next for you?

I want to arrange screenings in Auckland because the Festival was cancelled here and it’s my home town.

The one film from the 2021 New Zealand International film Festival that everyone should see - apart from yours

The Power of the Dog since it’s a Jane Campion film and I really love her work and an added attraction for me is that our son-in-law Richard Flynn did the sound.