The Last Saint

"Having suffered numerous rejections for funding, writer-director Rene Naufahu turned to crowd-funding and many, many favours to get his debut feature The Last Saint made. The relentless passion Naufahu and his crew had for this story can be seen in the finished film, which impresses on a number of levels. However, the technical budgetary constraints weigh the film down, with the limited lighting and sound design being sorely evident in particular spots (mainly outdoor night scenes). It’s incredibly frustrating, because The Last Saint could had stood as tall as The Dark Horse and What We Do in the Shadows in this year of great Kiwi cinema – had someone actually funded it."

"This is impressive genre fare, well-executed and intoxicating. Impressive, brutal."

"The audience took a moment to get their breath back, and quite possibly share a collective realisation they'd witnessed something special."