Modelled on the British series 7-Up, Sheilas: 28 Years On follows the lives of five New Zealand women, first encountered in a groundbreaking 1976 TV series, Women. You don't need to have seen that original programme to enjoy this engaging and thoughtful personal history. Intercutting footage from Women, together with marvellous, and often hilarious, archival material and revealing interviews with the subjects today, the latest film from Annie Goldson (Georgie Girl, MIFF 2002) and Dawn Hutchesson is wonderfully entertaining.

Tracing the changes in the lives of these remarkable women'Miriam Cameron, Aloma Parker, Sandi Hall, Donna Awatere-Huata and Marcia Russell'sheilas: 28 Years On also acts as a social history, allowing us to reflect on the shifts in the gender landscape over the past three decades. Clearly inspired by Michael Apted's groundbreaking 7-Up series, this documentary is also in the same family tree as its antipodean cousin, Gillian Armstrong's Not Fourteen Again.

Dawn Hutchesson is a guest of the Festival.

D Annie Goldson, Dawn Hutchesson P Dawn Hutchesson WS Occasional Productions TD Video/Col/2004/71mins

Annie Goldson's films include: The North of Ireland (1990), Punitive Damage (MIFF 1999).

Dawn Hutchesson was born in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1968. Films include: Rockpool (2002, short).