#directedbywomen in Mokopōpaki’s Shop Window Cinema

Mokopōpaki’s shop window cinema, from the footpath at 454 Karangahape Road Auckland

Mokopōpaki’s shop window cinema is small and perfect for two; but I’ve seen seven or eight people crammed in there.

Inside, there’s magic– #directedbywomen short films, videos and wild footage from the 70s to the 90s with a special three minutes from 2005. All on an approximately 4-hour loop. But with a menu: if you visit for something special, you can choose it.

The (totally free!) films will run until 14 April, during Mokopōpaki’s opening hours:

Wednesday-Friday 11–5

Saturday 11–4

What’s available to watch?

Auckland Women’s Community Video

• Heather McPherson interview and reading, Women’s Gallery, 1980
  ‘Tidied up’ by Annie Mein

Title card for one of Heather’s poems

• J.C. Sturm interview, Women’s Gallery, 1980
  (Divided from next item and ‘tidied up’ by Annie Mein)
• J.C. Sturm reads One Thousand and One Nights, Women’s Gallery, 1980
  (Divided from previous item and ‘tidied up’ by Annie Mein)
• Keri Hulme reads, Women’s Gallery story evening, 1980
  ‘Tidied up’ by Annie Mein
• Wild and sometimes silent footage, Women’s Gallery Opening Show, 1980

Bobbie Carroll Sharon [Alston]’s Breakfast Bayou Cafe, nd

Gaylene Preston How I Threw Art Out the Window, 1981

Joanna Margaret Paul

• Roses, 1975
• Sisterhood, 1975

John Irwin Interview with Juanita Ketchel re her Getting Free oral history project, nd

Peter Burger & Pirimia Burger [the bone people and Irihapeti Ramsden, Keri Hulme, Miriama Evans & Marian Evans], 2005

Unknown [Wilds of] Lesbian Ball, 1992

Unknown Sharon [Alston]’s Anniversary 11 February 1996, Art Retrospective, 1996

Looking into the cinema’s side window on your way through the gallery door. That’s Keri Hulme onscreen, reading at the Women’s Gallery 1980

We thank the Alexander Turnbull Library, The Estate of Joanna Margaret Paul, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington and CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa; Gaylene Preston; Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, for preserving these films and videos and making them available to screen in association with This Joyous, Chaotic Place: He Waiata Tangi-ā-Tahu. And kia ora! to Annie Mein, who worked very hard to put it together, with Mokopōpaki.

If you want to do the full four-hour marathon watch, it’s easy to take a pleasant break or two.

For a chat about the work with Mokopōpaki’s Jacob, who might offer you a cuppa.

Or you can pop next door-but-one for one of the best sandwiches in the world, at Divine Morsels, with some peaceful tables to linger at.

Or you can take an ice-cream break, at the dairy across the road.

Another option is a sit-down lunch or takeaway at Merge cafe across the road, with its warm welcome and amazing value.

Or there’s The Thirsty Dog, also across the road, with food as well as all kinds of drinks.

And on a hot afternoon, a charming place to rest up and catch up.

If you want to multi-task, there’s also the laundromat. Right next door to Mokopōpaki.

Enjoy!