A documentary on the three-day celebration of women’s culture that was the 1987 Mangawhai Women’s Festival. The film follows the development of the outdoor festival from its conceptual stages in mid-1986 to its culmination on 13-15 February 1987 at Mangawhai, north of Auckland.
The entire crew were women and the festival was open only to women and children.
The bands captured in the documentary are (in order of appearance): the Truda Chadwick Band, Putty In Her Hands (Charlotte Yates, Christine Jeffs), Women Of The Hokianga, Hilz And Frends (Hiliary King), Out Of The Compost (Karen Rush, Kirsty MacDonald, Robin Nathan), The Pikelets (Karin Kahurangi, Nettie Bird, Clare Bear), Girls Own Adventure, Let Your Hair Down (Trudi Green plus), Dead Famous People (Dons Savage, Biddy Leyland, Wendy Kjestrup, Jenny Renals, Robyn Tearle), Hot Doris & the Passionfruits, The Dolphins (Karin Kahurangi, Nettie Bird, Clare Bear), Kick Off, Foggy Pudding, Sweet Harmony (Mihinoa Naden, Hattie St John), Mahinaarangi Tocker, and Emma Peel. (Other musicians who played include Wendy Kjestrup and Donna Savage.)
The director, Fiona Niccol, was a longtime enthusiast of New Zealand music (she played bass guitar) and was present in the early Auckland punk scene in the 1970s. She filmed the Topp Twins in 1989, excerpts of which appear in ‘Untouchable Girls’. Fiona went on to direct critically acclaimed television for 60 Minutes and 20/20. She was the youngest sibling of writer/directors’ Linda and Andrew Niccol and she passed away in 2012.