Private Project

The Pinkies are Back

The Pinkies are Back is a heart-warming and hilarious feature film, following a group of extraordinary women on their journey to rebuild a dragon-boating team despite some having never held a paddle before. The bond, love and laughs between these charismatic larger-than-life New Zealand women is spell binding and revealing.

  • Lisa Burd
    Director
    Changing Gear, Monterey, Let's Talk About Sex
  • Lisa Burd
    Writer
    Changing Gear, Monterey, Let's Talk About Sex
  • Lisa Burd
    Producer
    Changing Gear, Monterey, Let's Talk About Sex
  • John Davies
    Producer
    The Map Reader, Let's Talk About Sex
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 34 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 15, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Rialto Distribution
    Distributor
    Country: New Zealand
    Rights: All Rights
    Country: Australia
    Rights: Theatrical
  • Fan-Force
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Lisa Burd

Lisa has a keen interest in others and enjoys telling their stories. This curiosity has led to her spending the last 20 years working in film production and creating self-funded, award-winning documentaries.

Her intuitive (and not intrusive) interviewing style elicits insights and observations that even surprise the interviewee sometimes. The sensitivity she brings to a project creates a space where the authentic story can shine through. She has talked with people at the end of their lives, she has followed people pushing their physical limits, she has documented businesses growing and evolving – regardless of the subject she can find the truth and rawness behind it.

Lisa is a creative, lateral thinker with a proven ability to establish
a rapport with all types of people and to engage, motivate and manage the various stakeholders in a production, often to challenging deadlines.

As a director Lisa has created three independent documentaries, Changing Gear (2005), Monterey (2016), and her most recent work, Let’s Talk About Sex (2018). In the television industry she’s worked as a camera director/field producer geared towards factual observational and reality TV shows such as Life Flight, and filmed research projects for Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga for
the University of Auckland through to Qantas Award-winning Best Informative Show Pepi for Maori Television. She also worked on The Real Housewives of Auckland as a casting /field producer.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

After paddling her first season the director, Lisa Burd, realised the extraordinary benefits that being on the water with a team of 22 people from all walks of life can have. It has an amazing effect on one’s mental and physical wellbeing when the sole purpose is to paddle as one, and everyone must be equal in order to succeed.

From that point on (October 2018), Lisa started following the people and the teams with her camera, looking for the story she knew was waiting to be told.

Being a labour of love, Lisa was reliant on people she knew who were willing to be part of the project. This has meant she has been able to give a diverse range of people the opportunity to be part of the making of a feature film: from the South Seas Film & TV School students who turned up en masse to shoot the Auckland regionals, to a woman, keen for a career change, who took on aspects of production and postproduction coordination.
The lead creatives and production team are women, and the talent represents a unique female voice across a range of ages, socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities: Pakeha, Māori, Polynesian and Asian.

It became obvious that funding was required, so the project team kicked off a Boosted campaign, supported by a Facebook page, that raised $50,000 and attracted 100,000 Facebook supporters to take the project to the next level: story shaping
and filming. We knew that more funding was needed to complete the filming and enter the edit. Through Lisa’s tenacity she secured the sponsorship of Partners Life, a recognised life and health insurer. This sponsorship delivered a fantastic fine cut that was crying out for the treatment it deserved in the grading, sound treatment and music. The crew applied to the New Zealand Film Commission and was successful in receiving the Feature Film Finishing Grant that brings us to where we are today.

The making of the film has given confidence to the women who are its subjects, helping them come together as a team. It shows how important connection is to all types of people: healthy or health-compromised, young or old, and culturally diverse. It will encourage people of all ages and sizes, who may have believed their sporting or competitive days were over or had not even started, to join dragon boating or another team or activity in their local community.

This film exudes camaraderie and inspiration to the max. If all goes to plan, our mission is to follow the Pink Dragons to the Worlds, which are held in Aotearoa at Lake Karapiro in 2022. We already have a following so this is an amazing goal to work towards; we believe our main characters are role models in New Zealand and many viewers will benefit from watching their journey.