Turangi man Kerry Scott laughs at the suggestion that he's a film star.
``It's great isn't it! No, I get a bit embarrassed I must admit.''
The idea of going from retired engineer to the lead character in a movie may seem a bit off the wall, but that's exactly what Kerry has become in a new film by Turangi filmmaker John Ball.
John has based his newest release, a social history of the Tongariro Power Development near Turangi around Kerry himself, a man who was there before the giant power scheme began, who worked on it throughout, and who had worked his way up to project construction engineer when it was finally completed in 1983.
The Kerry Scott Story: a history of the Tongariro Power Development will make its first public outing on Tuesday, May 29 at 7.30pm at the Tongariro School hall and John hopes plenty of locals will come along to watch.
The 52-minute film, which tells the story of the Tongariro Power Development through Kerry's eyes, has been John's baby for almost a year.
It blends archive film footage and photographs with interviews with Kerry and others, and shots of the power scheme today.
The film follows John's previous two film-making efforts, Ruaphehu - A Tribute to Our Skiing Pioneers and The Angler's Paradise, a history of the Taupo trout fishery.
It chronicles the Tongariro Power Development as experienced by Kerry, who first came to New Zealand from Britain in the late 1950s to investigate the potential for a power scheme in the Tongariro headwaters.
When that work was completed, he returned to Britain but missed New Zealand so much that he returned; and immediately applied to work on the scheme as an engineer when the Government gave it the green light. He worked on various parts of the scheme, including Poutu, Moawhango and Rangipo.
John says as a man who was involved from go to whoa, Kerry was the ideal person to give an overview of the Tongariro Power Development.
Although John had initially envisaged making a film covering the growth of Turangi, there were so many different aspects to the story of the Tongariro Power Development that he quickly realised there was no way he could fit it into one production.
So he is planning to make a further two films to form a trilogy: one on the development of Turangi and the other on the tunnellers who worked on the scheme's miles of tunnels.
He says one of the things that clearly emerged during research and interviews was the sense of camaraderie among the workers and the way they looked after each other, something he believes contributed to the power scheme's excellent safety record at a time when one death per mile of tunnel was the international norm (there were two underground and one above-ground deaths on the Tongariro Development Scheme compared with 16 on the Manapouri power project). Kerry was also keen to view the film project as a tribute to the men involved in building the scheme, says John.
``They were a great team of men, which made it a very, very interesting time in the birth of Turangi.
John says it's impossible to estimate how many hours of his own unpaid labour he's put into the film, but estimates that the research alone kept him occupied for several weeks.
However he's also grateful for funding support from Creative New Zealand Taupo Communities Fund, Genesis Energy and the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board.
Tickets to the premiere of The Kerry Scott Story: a history of the Tongariro Power Development are available at Sporting Life in the Turangi town centre for $20 each and John is hoping for a good turnout.
``It's our history, it's Turangi's history, it's where we come from.''
The film will also screen in Taupo and John hopes that cinemas in Auckland that have supported his other films will come on board.
``It's worthy of a further presentation I think. It's a national story - the Tongariro Power Development is one of the biggest projects in our nation's history ... it would have touched a lot of people's lives directly and indirectly.''