Christchurch filmmaker Sam Miller is flying high.
He's headed off to London to attend the world premiere of the first movie in his cinematic trilogy, Five Kingdoms - The Forest.
The first film is titled The Forest and Journey of Anandas the Monk.
Miller wrote, produced and directed the gritty period drama, which was filmed in Canterbury and the Chatham Islands.
"It's about a monk who goes to a town in 1901, and he has to stay in the forest in a little hermitage for a year. And he falls afoul of the local villagers."
He's hoping to emulate the high-flying New Zealand film directors that have gone before him.
The Wizard of New Zealand is one of 40 cast members in the film, and plays the role of an innkeeper.
"For years I've done film festivals, I've done cinemas, and I used to lecture on cinema as an art form in the 1960s."
"Oh yeah, because I like to show off. And I'm a good actor, in fact I'm a very good actor. No one quite knows what I think."
But the New Zealand project is a movie trilogy with a difference. Miller said the story builds as it goes along.
"As in real life, none of the cast members yet know the overall plot or how their characters will meet their end."
Nationwide screenings at independent cinemas across New Zealand are due to start later next month, and audience members are being invited to go along in costume.
http://www.fivekingdomsthemovie.com/
- By Geoff Sloan
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
