Steffan Lewis, community constable, novelist and filmmaker has made his film The Waimate Conspiracy for around $15,000. The film which is a mock documentary about a land claim set in the Canterbury plains is based on a novel by Lewis, who says that real crime is actually quite dull but is in no hurry to give up his life as a constable. Check out this great interview
Kathryn Ryan and Steffan Lewis
Steffan Lewis, community constable, novelist and filmmaker has made his film The Waimate Conspiracy for around $15,000. The film which is a mock documentary about a land claim set in the Canterbury plains is based on a novel by Lewis, who says that real crime is actually quite dull but is in no hurry to give up his life as a constable. Check out this great interview
Kathryn Ryan and Steffan Lewis
Image: The Waimate plains, secrets unfolding....

Feature | D: Stefen Lewis | 2006 | New Zealand | 111 mins | DVD | Dark Horse Productions With: Jim Moriarty, Helen Pearse-Otene, Powley Pearse-Otene, David McPhail, Mark Hadlow, Janice Gray

"This good humoured, deeply fanciful mock documentary about a land claim has a distinctively Cantabrian flavour. The 2005 discovery of a cannonball buried for 138 years in a paddock throws Waimate into turmoil. It's all some locals need to confirm their long-held belief that local Maori were forcibly removed from their tribal lands in a bloody battle in the winter of 1866. The town is divided as a hotly contested claim eventually ends up in the District Court. Cameraman Dave is embedded with George Kepa (Jim Moriarty) and his whanau - for whom the concept of 'behind closed doors' does not seem to exist: we're privy to their every desperate strategy. This 'verite' footage is intercut with candid interviews with townspeople, including the farmer at the centre of the dispute and with the crucial courtroom drama. Mark Hadlow and David McPhail provide expert caricatures of the white man's law - and a good many other cast members appear to be having just as much fun playing themselves. Helen Pearse-Otene lends gravity as George's niece whose legal training is sorely challenged in the fray." - New Zealand Film Festival 2006 "This is an inspiring work. It's as if the camera left the film-set for a bit and came out right amongst us. That's exactly what we were seeking to achieve with Ngati" - Barry Barclay. The Waimate Conspiracy is an entry to the Wairoa Maori Film Festival.

* Screening: The Waimate Conspiracy, Gaiety Cinema 12.00 p.m. Monday October 23rd 2006