Gaylene Preston

Dame Gaylene Mary Preston (born 1 June 1947) is a New Zealand filmmaker with a particular interest in documentary films. Early life and family Born in Greymouth on 1 June 1947, Preston was educated at Colenso High School (now William Colenso College) in Napier. She went on to study at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury from 1966 to 1968, and then the St Albans School of Fine Art in Hertfordshire, England, where she completed a Diploma of Art Therapy in 1974. Preston's sister is the pianist and songwriter Jan Preston. She has one daughter, the actor Chelsie Preston Crayford, who was born in 1987. Career Preston's first film was All The Way Up There (1979). As a producer she has contributed to the award-winning feature documentaries Punitive Damage (1999) and Coffee, Tea or Me? (2001) and Lands of our Fathers (executive producer). Her feature film Home By Christmas was a dramatised oral history based on her father's memories of his wartime experiences, contrasted with her mother's perspective. The music for the film was composed by her sister Jan Preston.