The much-anticipated movie Cousins saw co-directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith walk the red carpet alongside novelist Patricia Grace for the world-wide premiere in Rotorua on Wednesday night.
Cousins is the powerful story of three wahine Māori who spend a lifetime in search of each other.
Gardiner says the three characters in Cousins are Mata, Missy and Makareta.
"Mata is the cousin who is given away by her Pākehā father because he doesn't want her raised by her Māori whānau, so she is lost to her whānau. She is disconnected from her culture.
"Her cousin Makareta is raised to be the princess of her tribe.