One of New Zealand's catchiest ever hits is about to undergo yet another resurgence in popularity, with the world premiere of docudrama Poi E: The Story of Our Song at the 2016 NZ International Film Festival (NZIFF).
The trailer has been released for the film, which is written and directed by Tearepa Kahi (Mt Zion).
It is described as a laugh-and-cry emotional journey that tells the remarkable story of the iconic Patea Maori Club hit.
'Poi E' was the highest-selling single in New Zealand in 1984 and charted again in 2010 after the success of Taika Waititi film Boy, which it featured in.
Poi E: The Story of Our Song will premiere at Auckland's Civic Theatre in Auckland on July 14, the festival's opening night, before screening in Wellington on July 22, Christchurch on July 28 and Dunedin on August 4.
"As irresistible as the song it celebrates, Kahi's documentary explores the many tributaries that flowed into the mash-up of pop music, traditional waiata and bop that first took New Zealand by storm in 1984," says NZIFF director Bill Gosden.
"The film is brimful of music and frank and funny testimony from numerous participants in the song's richly peopled history. Taking a lesson from the man himself, Kahi draws the next generation into the story, ably assisted by Taika Waititi, who provides Stan Walker, aged 25, with essential information about what life was like before Poi E."
Tickets go on sale on Friday, June 24.
Newshub.
