Wairarapa College old boy Richard Falkner won belly laughs and bouquets during his appearance on Saturday at a Masterton screening of his debut feature film, How To meet Girls from a Distance.
The 33-year-old co-wrote and starred in the film, billed as a "peeping Tom romcom", which was produced in six months on a $100,000 budget after winning the Make My Movie competition.
He and the film's producer, Ruth Korver, attended a Saturday night screening, which was playing as part of the New Zealand 2012 International Film Festival at Regent 3 Cinemas in Masterton.
The pair fielded questions after the screening from the loudly appreciative full house audience.
The R13 film follows the fortunes of a stalker and won the contest with the tagline "Get to know her, then meet her". Ms Korver said Madman Entertainment had acquired rights to the R13 film and were planning a theatrical release in select cinemas from Thursday.
She said the film also could yet be released in Australia despite trastasman audiences who "don't quite get" the Kiwi sense of humour.
Ms Korver said the Madman deal is an encouraging sign for Kiwi film makers.
"So many people have believed in this project and made it happen and having a distributor on board who also has faith in the film is really exciting and makes all the hard work worth it."