The Dead Lands: Rotorua expertise called on

The Dead Lands, which opens in cinemas tomorrow, has a strong Rotorua connection. Photo / Supplied

There's a strong Rotorua connection for the first movie to be shot entirely in te reo Maori.

A special screening of The Dead Lands was held at Rotorua's Reading Cinema last night before its national release tomorrow. The film is set in pre-colonial New Zealand and follows a Maori chieftain's teenage son, Hongi (James Rolleston), as he avenges his father's murder.

Local producer, performer and kapa haka tutor Jamus Webster was the film's Maori martial arts expert. Early reviews have praised the movie for its furious fight scenes involving ancient Maori weapons. Mr Webster also had an acting role as Tahi, a member of the warring tribe.

"The reason why I jumped on board was because I knew it was an awesome way to expose our language and form of martial arts to the world, but it's a first of its kind, total immersion."

The lead actor, Rolleston (Boy, The Dark Horse) spent a week in Rotorua with Mr Webster before filming began, working on his Maori pronunciation and martial arts.

Television presenter Scotty Morrison of Ngati Whakaue translated the script. He also played a small role as a tohunga (priest) in the film. When the idea was first pitched to Mr Morrison, it was described as a cross between Apocalypto, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Braveheart.

"I had a short turnaround of 10 days to translate the whole script so was quite heavily involved in pre-production. It was a lot of Red Bull and staying up all night; whatever spare moment I had it would be focused on it.

"I had a lot of late nights and days needing to research around it as well, as I was asked to do a 16th century style language. That kind of language isn't readily available, and I relied on ancient chants to gauge on its style and poetic prose," he said.

"It's a huge honour and privilege anytime to be involved in something like this. The best thing to come out of it is that it's an awesome vehicle for our language and stories to show to an international audience."

• The Dead Lands will be in cinemas throughout the country from tomorrow.