Toa Fraser always wanted to be a director. No. 2 is his debut feature and premieres tonight at Sundance. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Toa Fraser always wanted to be a director. No. 2 is his debut feature and premieres tonight at Sundance. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Several deaths occurred for the film No. 2, but no one seems to agree on the numbers. About eight, says director Toa Fraser. Closer to 14, reckons actress Mia Blake. More like 18, says another. Vegetarians might disagree, but at least the pigs killed for the film's banquet scene didn't die in vain.

"A whole bunch of my cousins were extras," Fraser hoots. "Which was handy for the leftover food."

A major coup awaits this small Kiwi film. No. 2 premieres tonight (NZ time) at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Which could mean success story No 2 for New Zealand cinema at the festival. Whale Rider was catapulted on to the world stage after winning the audience prize in 2003.

"It's huge for me," says Fraser, holidaying on the Coromandel a few days before the trip. "A lot of the films and film-makers who have really influenced me come from Sundance - Hoop Dreams and When We Were Kings, Tarantino and Soderbergh. It's really amazing to be in that sort of calibre of film-maker."

By now, Fraser will have hob-nobbed at the Sundance gala that kicked off the 10-day event, his eye peeled for festival founder Robert Redford, film critic B.

Ruby Rich or sexy actress Rosario Dawson. The experience will likely remind him of when No. 2 the stage play wowed crowds at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000.

"This is different because it's in the movies and it feels like really high stakes," he says. "It's difficult to think of it in terms of a competition. For me it's about hanging out. I'm going with an open mind, hoping we just have a really cool time. But on the other hand I hope it goes off and is really well received. It's nerve-racking."

Fifteen other films are competing with No. 2, making Fraser's story as vibrant as a hibiscus flower in a bleak, war-torn terrain.

The story revolves around Nanna Maria, an elderly Fijian woman who has grown disillusioned with family life. What happened to the big parties? Why don't the children come together and drink till all hours and laugh and eat and fight and dance and sing? Where has the life gone?

She demands her grandchildren put on a feast. No outsiders. And not just any feast. There will be a pig. And dancing. This will be a huge and magnificent party at which she will name her successor. And yes, she wants it today!

No. 2 began life seven years ago when Fraser, a Fijian-New Zealander, sat down and wrote a stage play, or as he puts it, a "love letter" to his family, friends and life.