One Vincent Ward project follows another

The New Year is set to dawn paternal for Vincent Ward.
Not only is the vaunted Greytown filmmaker expecting the birth in seven weeks of his second child but also his latest film project, The Rain of Children, is coming closer to delivery after almost four years so far in the making.
Ward already has a son, three-year-old Ariel, to partner Yvette Thomas, who is now expecting their second child, a boy, in February.
Ward, speaking on Wednesday at his Greytown home during a family birthday celebration for Ms Thomas, said The Rain of Children once complete would drift from drama to documentary and centres on the life of a woman married to the son of the prophet Rua Kenana, also known as Ruatapu.
The project owes its existence to In Spring One Plants Alone ? a short film documentary shot over 18 months in the same region, which captures the moving story of an 84-year-old Maori woman struggling to care for her handicapped 40-year-old son.
"This will be the second year now this time around ? In Spring took just over two years to shoot and edit ? and I'm very excited."
Rua had 12 wives, allowed him he said by scriptural sanction, and commanded influence not only over the Ureweras, but also over other neighbouring tribes living as distant as Rotorua and Gisborne.
The stand he took against his followers fighting in World War I led to charges of liquor law breaches and unpaid dog taxes being brought, and an armed police expedition in April of 1916 of up to 60 men on horseback sent to arrest him.
During an ensuing gunbattle four constables were wounded and two followers in the Rua camp were killed, including his son. Rua was convicted and sentenced to 18 months hard labour and a sensation was created soon afterward when members of the jury publicly spoke of their disdain at his treatment.
The location filming this year for The Rain of Children has been at times "suitably Spartan", he said, with a minimal crew and a cast that ranges from extras living in the region to professional actors including Temuera Morrison and Tangaroa Emile.
"The film is like Ben Hur but we push the chariots. And because its small scale with such a tiny crew I've been dressed as a policeman myself, racing round a house on horseback with a rifle.
"The locals were amazed by the spectacle and reminded me of their warning that the horse I was trying to ride 'wasn't broken in' as I nearly skewered myself on the surrounding barbed-wire."
Ward said he is now shooting for the film in Greytown ? filming the discharge of rifles firing .303 rounds ? alongside Wellington-based filmmaker George Rose.
The present filming, and the imminent birth of his second child, take priority for Ward leading into the New Year, with an invitation already declined to attend an industry ceremony as guest of honour on a ship in the Caribbean.