Lucy Excerpt:
Lucy Lawless strutted onto the world stage as the leather-clad, sword-wielding, chakram-chucking Xena: Warrior Princess. Throughout the six-year run of kung-fu style high kicks and a script heavy with subtext, the dark-haired warrior and her blond bard sidekick, Gabrielle, were drawing attention not only to their fighting abilities and athleticisms, but to the wild and rugged photogenic landscape that is New Zealand.
With New Zealand the world's new cinematic hotspot, Auckland seemed the most suitable place to host the biennial summit conference for Women in Film and Television International (WIFTI). And, quite appropriately, Lucy Lawless returned to her native homeland to accept the reins as summit patron. Lawless hosted an exciting blend of networking opportunities and professional development workshops with some of the screen industry's finest and most influential from around the world. Xena may no longer be on prime-time TV. but Lucy Lawless's impact was still clear, with 350 delegates heading to Auckland to immerse themselves in a series of sessions, from "doing business" through to social responsibility in storytelling and the art of the pitch.
