Kristin Seth

Gravity & Grace may be writer and critic Chris Kraus’ final and exuberant attempt at an artists’ career. Kraus is best known for her novels, (I Love Dick, Aliens & Anorexia, Torpor and most recently Summer of Hate), her art criticism (Video Green, Where Art Belongs), and her work in publishing subjective narratives through Semiotext(e)'s Native Agents Series, which she founded. Prior to writing, Kraus was an artist, actress and filmmaker. She made short, experimental, low-budget films, and one feature, Gravity & Grace; its failure on the market is chronicled in detail in her book Aliens & Anorexia.

The story of Dame Whina Cooper, the beloved Māori matriarch who worked tirelessly to improve the rights of her people, especially women. Flawed yet resilient, Whina tells the story of a woman formed by tradition, compelled by innovation, and guided by an instinct for equality and justice whose legacy as the Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of the Nation) was an inspiration to an entire country.

Evoking the style and pace of the Noir genre, the film is essentially a murder mystery with Stanley (Gareth Reeves) the prime suspect. Stanley's success as a novelist has been largely due to his style where he writes from the first person perspective of the central characters, who are always the killers in real-life cases. Troubled with writer's block, his agent suggests a tramping trip "to clear his mind". However, when he wakes up on the first morning of his tramp, he finds his fellow tramper dead.