Home by Christmas

Film (Full Length and Trailer) – 2010

Parental Guidance

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Available in full on NZ On Screen, Home by Christmas marks Gaylene Preston's return to the hidden stories of ordinary Kiwis. Inspired by attempts to get her father Ed to reveal his WWll experiences, the movie mixes three strands: Ed (played by Goodbye Pork Pie's Tony Barry, in a Qantas award-winning peformance) retelling his story; recreations of Ed’s wartime OE; and life for the woman he left behind in Greymouth. The cast sees Preston’s own daughter Chelsie Preston Crayford playing her grandmother Tui, with Martin Henderson as young Ed. Director Preston describes it a "film memoir", rather than a docudrama.

Anyone who says he wasn't scared was telling lies.
– Ed (Tony Barry) talks about going to war

Key Cast & Crew

Chelsie Florence

As: Tui

Gaylene Preston

Director, Writer, Producer, As: Herself

Tony Barry

As: Older Ed

Sue Rogers

Producer

Jed Brophy

As: Mart Preston

Sophie Hambleton

As: Mavis MacDonald

See all 30 credits

Music

Music composed, recorded and produced by Jan Preston. Song 'I'll Walk Behind You' (heard in trailer) performed by Cherish the Ladies, composed by Alan Murray and Edward Lockton