Jack Nicol’s doc She Shears follows five female shearers, competing in Aotearoa’s Golden Shears, whipping blades through wool at high velocity in pursuit of respect and records. We put a few questions to Nicol as he counts down to his documentary’s world premiere at the NZ International Film Festival.


FLICKS: Please summarise your film in EXACTLY ten words.

JACK NICOL: Five female shearers compete for glory at the Golden Shears.

Please now tell me you’ve changed the words to the Straitjacket Fits song ‘She Speeds’ for the film. Or if not, that there are plenty of other sheep puns.

Haha! Blimmin’ great song by an epic kiwi band, but actually She Shears just worked for what our movie is about.

Sheep puns are everywhere, and there’s some pretty terrible sheep jokes that can be made. Some of my favourite parts of our movie are when the Golden Shears commentators make jokes about the sheep – getting their woollen knickers shorn off is a particular favourite. The rural folk in our movie have great senses of humour.

I saw Kevin Gordon from Rialto Distribution try to shear a sheep and it looked really difficult. Do we take for granted what shearers do all day?

Poor Kevin, I think I pressured him into doing that. It’s a ridiculously hard job shearing sheep – but the way they approach it is so fascinating: to them it’s an artform to be perfected, in the same way Jiro making sushi is art in that beautiful documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I love anyone doing something they love and wanting to perfect their craft.

How much shit do you think female shearers have to put up with compared to aspiring women in other traditionally male-dominated fields?

I think it’s probably the same for most women in most industries: it’s certainly easier if you’re a man to get ahead, there’s no denying that. Female shearers do have to jump a few more obstacles but they are driven by passion and determination.  The women in our movie handle that reality with so much grace and good humour, and blimmin’ well just muck in and get on with the job, proving they’re just as good. The other thing I like about our movie is that the supporting characters, the men in these women’s lives, are so supportive and encouraging and genuine fans of female sheep shearers.

What qualities did you find most interesting about your subjects?

Our movie is about finding what gives you joy in life and just getting on with it and doing that. I was inspired by our subjects in the movie because they’re just so fearless and unapologetic about doing what they love and being who they are.

How did you go about building a rapport with your subjects to get them ready for filming?

My one job was to make sure the subjects were open and honest, so all I have to do really is really hang out with them and make sure they’re being themselves. To keep costs down and not pay a catering company, I’d bake a bacon and egg pie every day for our shoots. Then we’d all just hang out, eat some pie and maybe some ginger nuts, then I’d ask them questions. Bacon and egg pie is a good filmmaking tool.

What things surprised you as you made the film?

Just how deep you can get with sheep shearing sports. In competition shearing and woolhandling, there’s all sorts of mind games that go on, kind of like sledging in cricket. At the top level, like many sports, it becomes like chess, who can handle the pressure and make the best decisions win.

What was the last great film you experienced?

Moana, the Disney film. Holy cow I love that movie. It’s about an 8-year-old Polynesian girl being groomed for chieftainship who makes a leadership decision to save her island by going on an epic adventure. It’s about being who you are, which is a favourite theme of mine. Our movie is similar, except our movie cost probably the equivalent of the coffee budget on a Disney film. Also, our movie doesn’t star The Rock.