Local film Penny Black will premiere in Te Aroha's Arohanui Film Festival after four years in the making.
Co-written by producer Fiona Jackson and director Joe Hitchcock, they completed two weeks of filming to start with and filmed when they could every few weeks after.
The film follows the life of highly strung model Penny Black (Astra McLaren) and her sister who dresses, always, as a super hero.
Penny goes on a road trip with her sister to try to mend her crumbling career, where she meets a low-key anarchist in a zebra-striped van.
The road trip on screen made a road trip off screen necessary, and saw the cast and crew travelling all over the North Island including Huntly, Taupo and Napier.
A convoy of four vans transported all the cast and crew, with crew often camping out in them.
The screen play required a beach-side bonfire just north of Napier.
Jackson said they were nervous as to how they would go about it, not knowing if it would be frowned upon or not.
But locals pitched in, to the crew's relief, and offered drift wood for burning.
Jackson said the morning after the fire they all decided to go for a swim - it was the middle of winter.
"I thought we were all going to die I don't think it was a swimming beach," Jackson said.
Almost all of the crew for the film attended the University of Waikato at one point or another.
Jackson said they had approximately 50 people help put the film together, with three main actors.
Arohanhui Film Festival runs in Te Aroha from October 30-November 1. Penny Black screens at 8.30pm on October 30, tickets $15. Full film festival passes cost $55. www.arohanuifilmfestival.nz