A heart-warming and funny new feature film tells the story of a group of Auckland women who rebuilt a dragon boating team, despite some having never held a paddle before.
THE PINKIES ARE BACK which opens next Thursday, follows the fortunes of the Pink Dragons crew, a team comprising 17 newbies, most unfit, some overweight, and all survivors of breast cancer.
Kathryn Ryan talks with captain Annemarie Stevens, film director Lisa Burd, and couch potato-turned dragon boater Kylie Hodgson.
Burd says she took on dragon boating out of the blue and came across the Pink Dragons crew while having a drink with her team after a day of training. That’s when a Pink Dragons member told her they had an interesting story to tell.
“Actually they interviewed me first, I had to pass,” Burd jokes. “I thought there’s some really neat characters here.”
The film follows captain Anne Marie Stevens, who along with the coach, has just four months to get the team in shape to get to the regional competition.
Stevens says the team had struggled for the past three years as it dwindled, because people came along but most ultimately had to move on.
“We’d been leeching people for a wee while and it just got rock bottom and we sat down and said this is it, this is the last time we’re going to do this – we either go forward or call it quits now.
“None of us – because we’ve paddled for over 10 or 11 years - wanted to fold but we just couldn’t see our way forward.”
Those discussion were had in their Annual General Meeting, where Burd was also present.
“I can still see Anne Marie, banging on the table saying ‘come on, we can do this … we can go for gold, we’ve done it before, let’s do it again.’ And I said yes, let’s do that,” Burd says.
“I’ll never forget – I even feel goosebumps saying this – all of us putting our hands together and saying ‘kia kaha, Pink Dragons, let’s do this’.”
Stevens agreed to be filmed as way of paying forward. She says her cancer journey has made her much more open to accepting opportunities.
“To be honest I thought ‘oh dear God, imagine having someone in my house, this is going to be terrible’, but then I thought no, you’ve got to look outside the picture.
“I didn’t know about dragon-boating [before], there must be hundreds of women out there in whatever age thinking ‘what am I going to do now, how can I get my fitness back, how can I get my confidence back, be with people who have been through that’ and dragon-boating fits that to a T.”
But Burd says the members don’t want their experience with cancer to define them.
“I was like high-five to that, let’s just go, we’ve got a mission, let’s just film these amazing women, they’re strong and this is a silver lining and it’s onwards and upwards. It’s inspirational.”
It’s clearly captured in the humorous moments seen in the film, like one in the trailer where team member Annabel says she’s been too busy to put the beer in the fridge to another member who has just finished training – while holding a bag of chips.
“That was the little gems we got all the way through the story … I think that spot has been amazing, we hung out in each other’s lounges and just chatted like really good old mates,” Burd says.
Photo: supplied
But there’s also moments where we see the pain of the women in what they’ve had to endure.
Newbie Kylie Hodgson says, having gone through the same experience as a team, they understood each other – but didn’t dwell on it.
“We actually don’t really focus on it too much at all to be honest. I think it’s an experience that was so dreadful that to actually think about it, you get yourself back in a bad place and nobody wants to go there.”
The sport has been transformational for Hodgson, who has turned her life around from being what she describes as a Netflix guru. She regularly now goes to the gym and for walks, thinks about her diet and is more willing to take chances.
“I’m not sitting back watching life happen, I’m actually in life doing it.
“I think we use the dragon boat and the experiences in all sorts of walks of life to try and help other people and motivate them as well. So it’s actually not just me that’s been transformed, my friends, my family, it’s like ‘get off your butt and starting moving, live life to the fullest’.”
And you don’t have to be sport-orientated to take up dragon-boating, Burd says, there’s something about it that’s rejuvenating.
Captain Stevens says she got involved back in 2009, just weeks after finishing treatment for breast cancer, and hasn’t stopped since.
“Cancer was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me, because I’d turned 50, I’d always played sport, my knees had it, hips weren’t that great and I saw an advertisement in the local paper for Pink Dragons, wanting more paddlers.
“I had no idea what a dragon boat, never seen one, never sat in one, but I sent off an email.
“Dragon-boating would give me the lift that I needed and I’m a great believer in the calming influence of water and also when you dragon boat, it’s repetitious on your arms and core muscles so it’s a physical fitness all over whole body toning.
“You come off that boat and you’re tired but, man, you’ve got a smile on your face because you’ve achieved so much and you haven’t achieved it by yourself, you’ve been in that boat with those people in that moment.”
Hodgson, on the other hand, joined later in 2019, and with lots of support from the team she stuck through with it.
“I figured I’ve gone through some s--t, I need to actually get strong and get some good recovery and use my body in a much more positive way.
“I gave it a go and thought ‘oh this is amazing’ … I just loved it.
“Most people who knew me were going ‘really?’ … There was kind of a lot of puzzlement around it, but it was this sense of empowerment and sense of strength and I wanted to use my body for good, and this really was a vehicle for me to be able to do that.”
She says a type ‘f--- cancer’ attitude is needed to get through the rough treatment, but also the training regime.
“I think it’s pretty bloody awful what people have to go through, but that’s what got me through.”
