GFC FILMS, in association with the New Zealand Film Commission, present
DAWN RAID
DAWN RAID is the story of two Manukau Polytechnic students, Andy Murnane and Tanielu Leaosavai’i (aka Brotha D) who turned a bootleg t-shirt business and Hip-Hop night at a local bar in Otara into the influential Dawn Raid Entertainment empire. From humble beginnings to fame and fortune, Andy, Brotha D and the Dawn Raid artists gave voice to a disenfranchised Pacific community, for which the violence of the dawn raids, twenty years previously, was still raw. (The Government initiated dawn raids that had indiscriminately targeted Polynesian communities in South Auckland searching for overstayers. In the years following, the New Zealand Polynesian communities seethed with resentment.) But the bravado and contempt for the status quo that drove Andy and Brotha D to the top, was also the unravelling of their empire. Unpaid tax debts, rifts between artists, and a feeling of betrayal and failure underpinned the downfall of Dawn Raid Entertainment, though not before they had created an immeasurable musical legacy that would pave the way for future New Zealand artists to reach international audiences.
CAST
Judd Apatow
John Barnett
Kirk Harding
Adam Holt
Danny “Brotha D” Leaoasavai’i
Malo “Scribe” Luafutu
Taupe “Alphrisk” Maoate
Andy Murnane
Mike Murnane
Che “Che Fu” Ness
Aaradhna Jayantilal Patel
David “Devolo” Punuani
Mark Kolani “Mareko” Sagapolutele
Demetrius “Savage” Savelio
Feagaigafou “Nainz” Tupa’i
Logovi’i “Viiz” Tupa’i
Peter “P Money” Wadams
Vitaly Zolotarev
CREW
Director – Oscar Kightley
Producers – Matthew Metcalfe, Leela Menon
Executive Producer – Fraser Brown
Written by – Matthew Metcalfe, Tim Woodhouse
Director of Photography – Fred Renata
Editors – Tim Woodhouse, James Brown
Composer – Lachlan Anderson
Running time:
1hr 38mins 24secs