SIT media student's new movie poised to win hearts and minds

Author: Maree Field - The Southland Times
Date posted: 19/03/10

SATURDAY night marked the debut of third-year SIT Digital Media student Matt Inns' second short feature Oku Tuakana, My Brothers at Centrestage in Invercargill.

The premiere represented months of hard work for Inns, the crew, the actors and everyone involved in the project.

And it's a project that was well worth it.

Set during the land wars of 1846, Oku Tuakana, My Brothers follows the fortunes of a wounded British soldier and a Maori warrior who have been thrown together under less-than-ideal circumstances after the soldier's troop wagon is ambushed.

Many of the soldiers are killed or wounded, and Gabriel is separated from his troop. He's found by a leftbehind Maori warrior and they form a bond in the course of a night, before the rest of Gabriel's troop is sent back to find him.

For a short film, it packs a strong emotional punch.

The story itself is kept simple, to the benefit of the film, and everything pulls together in a coherent whole: the camera work and editing are spot on, and the visuals - the film was shot at Cosy Nook and Daffodil Bay - are stunning.

The cast and crew are made up entirely of Southlanders and, based on the full audience and the speeches given after the film, it embodies the Kiwi spirit of pulling together, and No 8 fencing wire ingenuity.

It's easy to forget that Inns is still a student, and that Oku Tuakana My Brothers is only his second film - his directing is very assured already, showing a maturity and  coherency that experienced makers would envy.

Inns' first short, The Flying Monk, was an award winner, and this one is sure to follow, as Inns plans to enter it into festivals soon.

And he isn't resting on his laurels. He's already planning his third film, and talking of possibly turning Oku Tuakana, My Brother into a full-length feature.

With these two films under his belt already, Inns is off to a very good start as a film-maker.