KEY POINTS:
Pukekohe farmboy whose interest in human evolution led him to Otago University and the University of California will be honoured in his hometown tomorrow.
Billed as "almost a world premiere", Allan Wilson: Evolutionary _ a documentary by film-maker George Andrews _ will be shown to Wilson's family and former friends and classmates at an invitation-only screening.
Wilson, who was born in 1934 and grew up in Pukekohe, is renowned in the scientific community for his research into anthropology, molecular biology and human migration.
He died of leukaemia, in Seattle, in 1991.
Documentary maker George Andrews believes Wilson's achievements match those of New Zealand's greatest scientist, Ernest Rutherford.
For Wilson's brother, Gary, the film screening will be an opportunity to highlight work that was "much more significant than many of us, including family members, recognised at the time".
"George has ... pulled together a documentary which, among other things, will help a number of New Zealanders understand the scale and influence of [Allan Wilson's] work.
"It's a nice opportunity for them to get some grasp of the work, and the influence that Allan had," Gary Wilson said.
Andrews told the Weekend Herald it was Allan Wilson's questions to his Sunday School teacher about human evolution that sparked his interest in science, and led to his attending King's College in Auckland.
When news of the screening reached as far as Wilson's old school chums, it lead to a hastily-arranged reunion of the Pukekohe Primary class of 1947.
"They have been buzzing with excitement," Gary Wilson said, though that was likely as much due to renewing old acquaintances as learning about their great classmate.
The 40-minute documentary has screened in the United States and been picked up for distribution. It will screen at Te Papa national museum in Wellington next month.
Andrews said he approached UC Berkeley for funding for the documentary after Television New Zealand declined to help.
TVNZ' said it couldn't schedule the production, which Andrews said cost "a couple of hundred thousand".
TVNZ has since shown an interest in the documentary, at a rate of about $500 an hour. But Andrews said the film was likely to go to a general theatrical release first.
About 170 invited friends, family and colleagues have been invited to tomorrow's "premiere", at Pukekohe's Harrington Hall.
