The Suter Friends is proud to present Lovely RITA, a film by
Gaylene Preston that celebrates New Zealand painter Rita Angus.
Rita Angus uncompromisingly stood alone among her generation.
Surrounded by secrecy even after her death, at last her story can be told.
She lived and worked at a time in New Zealand when to be a
full time artist was not only unusual, it was hardly considered to be a serious occupation. Her
paintings were undervalued during her lifetime but appreciated by a small, informed group of
supporters including the composer Douglas Lilburn, with whom she maintained a life long close
friendship.
Over 300 letters from Rita to Douglas were in his possession
when he died recently and these form a moving and sometimes startling personal commentary from the
artist herself which illuminates a lifetime of painting.
Though Angus died in 1970, filmmaker Gaylene Preston has found
a colourful collection of friends and family who knew and loved Rita, while Angus biographer Jill
Trevelyan provides a fresh intelligence on the Rita Angus life story. Young artists share
enthusiasm for her work and the audience is taken on the occasional jaunt through an iconic work,
such as 'Central Otago' and 'Rutu'.
Loren Horsley reads Rita's letters to Douglas and evokes young
Rita on screen while Donogh Rees reads Rita's Thorndon letters, as her glorious paintings
articulate this sensitive portrait of one woman's struggle to illuminate her world.
In an age when to us women born into greater freedom having a family and a creative career is not
unusual, it is salutary to be reminded how hard this position we now take for granted was fought
for.
Rita Angus, this staunch, unbending, sometimes prickly, dedicated woman gave us those lovely
paintings. Our cultural life is richer for having her with us once. Lovely RITA celebrates that.
Produced and Directed by GAYLENE PRESTON
Cinematography ALUN BOLLINGER
Editor LALA ROLLS
Music PLAN9
Biographer JILL TREVELYAN
Rita Evocation by LOREN HORSLEY
Thorndon Rita letters read by DONOGH REES
A Gaylene Preston Production in association with NZ On Air and TVNZ with assistance from The
Fletcher Trust and Mataura Licensing Trust , Eastern Southland Gallery, the Douglas Lilburn
Endowment Trust, Thorndon Trust and the Rita Angus Estate.
Developed in association with the New Zealand Film Commission.