Auckland-based City Impact Church pastor Tarry Mortlock creates feature film
A City Impact Church pastor who has made his first film about gang violence in New Zealand says it couldn't have been made without "God's favour".
The trailer for Broken, a tale of vengeance which claims to be "based on a true story", debuted on Friday afternoon and quickly went viral, racking up 850,000 views over the weekend.
It is written and directed by first-time filmmaker and City Impact Church pastor Tarry Mortlock, who shot the film over five weeks in Gisborne earlier this year.
City Impact Church pastor Tarry Mortlock, the writer and director of gang film Broken.
IMDB reports Broken follows Logan, "an ex-gang leader who has left the gang life to raise his daughter Tori. But when Tori is murdered by an opposing gang in town, Logan must choose forgiveness or revenge".
"They need to pay for what they did to her. They will pay," Logan says in the trailer, which is full of gang violence, fight sequences, shotgun shootings and an axe attack.
In a service filmed in June, Mortlock said he and his crew were constantly blessed by "God's favours" during the shoot.
"There was one scene where we needed a stormy, rainy day. I'd got to the last week and resolved that I'd have to fly down at a later stage. I figured worst case that's probably what we'd have to do," he said.
"On the second to last day the ocean picked up, the waves had gotten bigger, the wind turned and it all went ugly and it was big and gnarly and rainy and horrible.
"My wife was laughing, she said, what did you expect? I prayed for this."
Mortlock said making the film had been a "journey" and "a dream of mine for about 10 years or so".
"We want the end result to change lives and have an impact," he said. "We punched above our weight because ... the favour of God opens doors, it opens doors that no man can open."
A scene from Broken, a new film that looks at gang violence in New Zealand.
Viewers of the trailer were quick with praise, comparing it to other New Zealand films Once Were Warriors and Boy.
"I got a lump in my throat watching this. Another amazing film from NZ. Proud kiwi right here," wrote one.
"Wow! Gave me chills, I wanna watch it now," said another.
According to IMDB, Broken is due for release in February.
