Jacinda Ardern meticulously documented her governance, now it’s a documentary
Monday, 27 January 2025
While former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern’s leadership and governance was highly scrutinised, few may have realised Ardern herself was documenting her own life.
The result is the documentary Prime Minister, which has debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and with footage its directors describe as “incredibly intimate” - captured by Ardern’s then fiance now husband Clarke Gayford - a producer on the documentary - and her own audio diaries.
Ardern was approached by Dark Doris Entertainment after her resignation, seeking permission to work on a documentary which was also backed by US producer Madison Wells.
The documentary makers have said they were thrilled with the treasure trove of material Ardern had incidentally recorded.
Scenes from the documentary include Ardern with her family in Massachusetts, where she is studying at Harvard University, and footage captured in the early days of her governance, rocking newborn daughter Neve while reading papers, in bed reading papers, and candidly discussing breastfeeding or telling Gayford she wasn’t in the mood to be filmed.
The film was nearly finished when US President Donald Trump was re-elected and with its directors describing the documentary as a study of empathetic leadership, reviewers have noted the timing of its release.
Prime Minister is directed by Kiwi Michelle Walshe (Richie McCaw doco Chasing Great), and American Lindsay Utz (an editor on the Oscar-winner American Factory), and was one of 10 titles selected for the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
“There was so much good material to look at and evaluate – it was an embarrassment of riches,” Utz says in a festival featurette. “Not only the incredibly intimate footage that Clarke [Gayford] captured, but also the classified audio diaries which gave us a glimpse into what she was feeling in the moment.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reviewed the documentary positively, describing it as “disarming”, although noting political die-hards would be disappointed at how little it gets into the weeds of actual politics.
The film is a combination of Ardern’s oral history project interviews, conversations and archived footage. “Deftly edited together, they offer a rare firsthand look at the toll and demands on politicians when crises come flying at them,” Reporter reviewer Caryn James wrote.
Ardern told Deadline she had long been a part of the Oral History Project, but wanted to keep a record for herself and her family: “I appreciate and love history, and perhaps my history teacher was ringing in my ears when I thought about just keeping a visual record. But you can see that often I was a reluctant participant.”
Daughter Neve was also an inspiration; “She was one of the reasons Clarke wanted to keep a record, because it was her story as well.”
Ardern will also, in June, publish her first memoir, A Different Kind of Power, which she says will reveal stories she’s never told before.