Kino Post Production

We're raising funds to complete post-production on Kino, a powerful short film set to begin shooting in Kirikiriroa-Hamilton in 2025. This project tackles a deeply important kaupapa: the devastating impact of drugs—particularly methamphetamine on Pasifika & Māori communities.

Kino (meaning "bad" in te reo Māori) is a gritty drama that follows a gang of Pasifika & Māori youth caught up in the meth scene. At the heart of the story is Ruthless, a young Māori gang leader who unexpectedly reconnects with his estranged father, a man now battling addiction, looking to buy drugs from his own son.

While Kino shines a light on the harsh realities of the drug world its darkness, pain, and consequences it also holds space for hope, healing, and whānau reconnection. It’s a story about choices, consequences, and the small moments that can change everything.

Kia ora, my name is Ezak Smith, and I’m the writer and director of Kino. This will be my second short film, and one I feel deeply connected to.

I’m working with an amazing small team under our banner, Roimata Productions:

• Ikaika Smith, my son, and a Media Arts graduate from Fraser High School, is our camera operator
• Isaiah McIver, a graduate of Wintec’s Audio Sound Engineering programme, is leading audio and post-production.

We’re raising funds to cover the final stages of production and to ensure this kaupapa is completed with care, quality, and cultural integrity. Your support will help us fund:

• Professional editing sessions with a post-production film editor
• Recording sessions with a musician creating an original film score
• Collaboration with a Taonga Pūoro artist, who will contribute sacred sound using traditional Māori instruments such as native flutes
• Hiring a movie theatre to host a premiere screening for our cast, crew, their whānau, and invited guests
• Koha for our volunteers, kai on set, petrol vouchers, and gear hire

I’m making Kino because I believe it’s time we faced the reality of methamphetamine or “P” in Aotearoa, especially in our Māori and Pasifika communities. I’ve seen firsthand the heartbreaking damage this drug has done to my own whānau and friends. Writing this screenplay was my way of responding to that pain, using storytelling as a tool to bring awareness, start conversations, and plant seeds for change.

Every donation no matter the size helps us tell this important story with the mana and care it deserves.

This film will hit hard in the places that need it most in the hoods of towns and cities across Aotearoa where meth has taken hold, where Māori and Pasifika are overrepresented among both addicts and dealers. Kino will pull no punches. It will show the brutal truth of what happens in these drug-fueled environments but also offer a glimpse of reconnection and hope.