THE CONVERT
Section: Special Presentations
Director: Lee Tamahori
Writers: Shane Danielsen, Lee Tamahori
Logline: Lee Tamahori’s action-filled historical epic stars Guy Pearce as Thomas Munro, a newly arrived preacher in a colonial town in early 19th-century New Zealand who finds himself at the centre of a long-standing battle between two Māori tribes.
Sales Agent: Mister Smith Entertainment
Premiere Date: Sept 8, 2023
Panelists: Lee Tamahori, Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Jacqueline McKenzie
Key Quotes: “Most of the stories [of Māori] deal with the period after this, where there were far more European colonists and Māori were being subjugated and wiped out… this period is when they were dominant, but they were just introduced to the musket and firepower, and gunpowder and all the repercussions of that.” – Lee Tamahori
