Massacre movie 'sensitive'

Film director Robert Sarkies (left) and producer Steve O'Meagher. Picture / Otago Daily Times

The story of the Aramoana killings will be retold in film as testament to the seaside community it shattered, the project's planners say.

After two years of research, the Aramoana tragedy will be made into a feature film by Dunedin director Robert Sarkies. Filming will start next year.

Sarkies, who came to prominence with the feature film Scarfies, had expected people to question the motives behind making the film, but promised his intentions were "honourable".

"It's a story of the community. It's not just intended to be another doco-drama," Sarkies said. "It's a film about the community, not about David Gray [the lone gunman]."

None of the "sensitive" scenes would be filmed at Aramoana and the community of the coastal settlement had been consulted.

A former policeman involved, Bill O'Brien, liaised with the victims, their families and the police to ensure the community was comfortable with the idea.

"No one was thrilled, but they realised it was inevitable. One person said they were surprised it hadn't already taken place," said O'Brien, author of the book Aramoana, 22 Hours of Terror. No one actively opposed the project, O'Brien added.

Auckland-based producer Steven O'Meagher described the film as one about great integrity - "a story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things".

The idea for the film came after O'Meagher found a book on the event in a second-hand bookshop and was taken by the story.

"I had known nothing of Aramoana other than what I'd read and seen in the news," he said.

O'Meagher thought the story would make a powerful subject for a film.

Sarkies became involved in the project and the aim became to gather people's stories in their own words.

"This is a significant event in recent New Zealand history," said Sarkies, who had been living in Dunedin when the massacre took place.

"It's not an event people are particularly proud of. Why? Because they don't know the details of it. People in the community and police and what they did under great pressure - there are a huge number of positives in the story."

He said members of the community and police consistently looked out for each other during the 22-hour incident.

"And I think that's a representation of a way of how all of New Zealand once was. So, dramatically, this story is to me a sort of turning point in New Zealand history; a sense of New Zealand being somehow more innocent before this event happened."

He called Aramoana a peaceful paradise that had an innocence and beauty.

When asked whether now, 15 years after the event, was the right time to produce a feature film on it, Sarkies said, "You could ask is any time the right time?"

The film was not rehashing the story, which had been in the media for years, he said.

The movie, not intended as a blockbuster, was called simply Aramoana, and would be the first feature film to be shot entirely in Dunedin since Scarfies in 1998.

Aramoana would be filmed over seven weeks, it was planned to have 50 per cent of the cast from the area and it would not feature any famous actors.

The film will be co-produced by Sydney-based Tim White, of Southern Light Films, and O'Meagher, of Desert Road. Wellington's Graeme Tetley, who worked on the mini-series Bread and Roses, is a co-writer with Sarkies.

- NZPA