Helen Kelly: Together

Documentary portrait of the late Helen Kelly, telling the story of a woman whose advocacy and generosity changed the lives of countless New Zealanders.

"For the last year of her life, filmmaker Tony Sutorius was granted extraordinary access to Kelly: as she underwent hospital treatment, at home, butting heads with the bureaucracy in Wellington, and on the road. On the West Coast she rallies the Pike River families – with whose help Sutorius has secured extraordinary footage from within the mine – who refuse to be palmed off. In Tokoroa, she helps Maryanne Butler-Finlay win justice for her husband, whose death on the job had been written off as accidental. Along the way, Kelly finds herself an accidental flag-bearer for a change in the law around medical cannabis, something which became a palliative necessity as she underwent round after round of battering treatment. Kelly’s lucid, experience-supported argument played a substantial role in leading to next year’s referendum." (New Zealand International Film Festival)

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