The Gisborne premiere of the NZ feature film, Mahana, saw a rousing welcome for the cast. Locals honoured Lee Tamahori, Witi Ihimaera and Akuhata Keefe who all have strong East Coast links.
A vintage convoy of cars saw Gisborne come to a standstill as some of the coast's favourite sons returned home.
For lead actor Akuhata Keefe it was an exciting moment, “Getting in front of the red carpet I was almost in tears cos all my friends were in the lines and all the boys doing mau rākau and I just felt like grabbing a taiaha and spinning it around with them.”
Keefe’s mother Pele Takurua says it was an opportunity of a life time, “Akuhata was very fortunate to work alongside one of the best in the business, Temuera Morrison.”
Being a first time actor in a major feature film would be difficult for anyone, but for 15-year-old Keefe, both his grandmothers passed away during production.
“It was quite hard for me for the first day because yeah I was filming and then it happened but I just moved on and it was really hard for me and it's still hard now,” says Keefe.
But this occasion was special as Keefe got the chance to join in the haka with his mates from Tolaga Bay Area School.
“It was a big deal for us all when we heard that he got the part in the movie,” says Hinemoana Pardoe-Crawford.
“We are all really excited to see him in the film when we go inside,” says Kahurangi Delamere.
“I first met him in Year 11 and he was one of the first people at Tolaga to be my friend and he just always had a happy personality always a bubbly person to be around and always able to have a laugh with him,” says Nikita Brown-Garrett.
The official opening of the movie will mean a big two weeks ahead for the Odeon Theatre. Manager of the Odeon Theatre, David Hall told Te Kāea, “Normally we're contracted for any of the big films around 1200 seats a day this one because basically of Witi Tem and Lee and Augs we're going to have over 2000 seats a day.”
From tonight, this movie will be screening in more than 50 picture theatres around the country.