Mullooly on the big screen

MOVIE STAR: Shearer Catherine Mullooly, from Matawai but nowadays based in Piopio, is one of five women shearers to feature in the documentary film She Shears that will screen at the Odeon Multiplex on Friday, October 12 — the same day as the Friday of the 2018 Spring Show. File picture

The Odeon Multiplex will host a one-off screening of the shearing documentary She Shears, featuring Matawai’s Catherine Mullooly, on Friday, October 12.

There will be a question-and-answer session with Mullooly and film director Jack Nichol as part of the screening.

She Shears is an insight into the gruelling world of competitive sheep shearing in which women compete against men.

It is billed as a story of the passion, purpose and determination of five women for whom shearing is not just a job.

The film investigates what drives women shearers to sacrifice so much personally and professionally to follow their dream to win The Golden Shears.

The five are Mullooly, a senior shearer working in Piopio and Australia; Hazel Wood, a junior shearer and dairy farmer based in Ruawai; Pagan Karauria, a senior shearer and open woolhandler based in Alexandra; Emily Welch, an open level shearer, shearing contractor and current world record holder for shearing 648 sheep in a day; and Jill Angus Burney, an open level shearer, former world record holder and barrister based in Masterton.

The documentary was produced by Rialto Distribution in association with the New Zealand Film Commission and Miss Conception Films.

The film premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival in July/August, with Nicol described as “applying camera poetry to the agility, strength, skill and rhythmic grace of women wielding blades of steel”.

In an item on the film’s premiere, TVNZ’s Seven Sharp presenter Hilary Barry hailed it as “a stunning slice of rural life and the gutsy women who share a passion for shearing”.