'Don't get too excited about Poi E video,' Waititi

Members of the Patea Maori Club perform Poi E. File photo / Wanganui Chronicle

WELLINGTON - Award-winning director Taika Waititi has moved to temper excitement over the reworked video for the classic Patea Maori Club song Poi E.

The revamped video for the 26-year-old song featured in Waititi's latest film Boy was completed yesterday.

On the back of the film's popularity Poi E has climbed to No. 19 on the New Zealand singles chart.

The new video combines scenes from the original with scenes from Boy.

Waititi played down expectations for the new video on his twitter page, saying "don't get too excited about the video for Poi E. It's more a mix of the movie and the original vid and not much in between!"

Waititi had earlier tweeted about the video's progress.

Last week, he wrote, "I have no idea what I'm doing. It will either be average or terrible. I can't guarantee amazing. I just can't. Maybe amazingly average?"

The video was pulled together by Whenua Films.

The material was sent to Waititi, who is on location in New Orleans, who sent back the completed version.

It is available on the internet for free.

- NZPA