Since the start of the year, the 275 pupils at Winton Primary School have been involved in filming The Great Sword of Ithsgul either acting or helping behind the camera.
The idea for the project came from principal Steve Wadsworth, who was passionate about movies.
He wrote the script during a sabbatical in 2022 and decided to bring it to his school.
"Rather than do another stage show, I decided during Covid that we would produce a feature-length film involving every student in the school."
An audition was held with 40 pupils for 10 roles and filming - with the help of videographer Samantha Robertson - began at the start of the year in locations across Fiordland and Southland.
The story involved an adventure for a group of children, Mr Wadsworth said.
"During their journey through different lands, the main cast meet different kinds of people and creatures, some nice and some not-so nice, ... played by different classrooms.
"I’ve coined our movie the primary school version of The Lord of the Rings."
Mr Wadsworth wanted the children to do something different and learn there was a lot of hard work involved in making a movie.
"Children are watching TV programmes and movies all the time, but they don’t get to appreciate what goes on behind the scenes to get it to that finished product.
"When they are on location, there is a lot of waiting around, having to be patient, acting when they’re told to, re-setting, bloopers, breaks, etc.
"It’s quite messy, but then when they see their scene in the movie at the end of the year, they’ll appreciate how all that messiness turns into a smooth storyline and final product."
The cast and crew aimed to finish filming by the end of the term and then editing will start.
On November 17, it will be premiered at the Invercargill Christian Centre at a red carpet event.
"It’s been a lot of hard work. It will definitely be a huge sense of achievement for us all, for the children, staff and for the whole community ... I just can’t wait," Mr Wadsworth said.
