Congratulations to WIFT member John Barnett and the team at SPP. Their film White Lies/Tuakiri Huna has been invited to participate at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Written and directed by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Dana Rotberg (Otilia Rauda, Angel de Fuego, Intimidad) and based on the novella 'Medicine Woman' by Witi Ihimaera, author of 'The Whale Rider', White Lies/Tuakiri Huna stars singer/song-writer Whirimako Black in her debut acting role along with Rachel House (Whale Rider, Boy) and Antonia Prebble (Outrageous Fortune, The Blue Rose).
White Lies/Tuakiri Huna follows in the footsteps of South Pacific Pictures' Oscar�-nominated feature film Whale Rider as the second film collaboration between Producer John Barnett and author Witi Ihimaera that has been invited to participate at the Toronto International Film Festival. In September 2002, Whale Rider debuted at the Festival and went on to beat out 345 other films to win the Festival's AGF People's Choice Award.
White Lies/Tuakiri Huna opened in New Zealand cinemas on June 27 and is still screening in theatres nationwide. The film was shot in Te Urewera, Ruatahuna, Waikaremoana and Auckland in 2012 and was financed by the New Zealand Film Commission, the Screen Production Incentive Fund, NZ on Air and South Pacific Pictures.