Cutting those Apron Strings

Reuters

APRON STRINGS: Laila Rouass stars in this tale of two mothers who must find the courage to contront the secrets and misunderstandings of the past.

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Apron Strings is the debut feature of Sima Urale and looks at the changing face of South Auckland through the eyes of two very different families.

The movie was made for $2 million and filmed on location in Auckland in October and November last year.

Producer Rachel Gardner describes the film as "a little kiwi movie made for not very much money by a bunch of women."

The original concept for the film was conceived by writers Shuchi Kothari and Dianne Taylor over a bowl of noodles in London, and food remains a recurring theme throughout the film.

"Food is a metaphor for mothering and smothering. All of the women in the film nurture their loved ones through food, in very different ways - the cake house, the curry house and the television chef."

The low budget nature of the production meant that from the very beginning the filmmakers were forced to examine how every single cent could be best spent.

"Sima (Urale) and I went through every scene talking about where we could compromise, location changes or where we could fit a scene into that day, keeping actors out of whatever or putting them in, just constant changes with the schedule to try to make it fit."

Gardner said that making a low budget film is always going to be a challenge.

"With low budget films there's more of a chance they'll make less money. If you've got bigger budget films you have bigger stars and audiences are attracted to them."

There might be no ‘big names' but Apron Strings has attracted a talented cast with plenty of international experience.

Actress Laila Rouass who plays the television chef has previously appeared in the UK series Footballers Wives and Hollyoaks and Actor Scott Wills has appeared in the features Stickmen and Perfect Creature.

"Sima got such great performances out of everyone. The cast loved her! They adore her!" Gardner said.

She credits the "amazing synergy and communication" of the cast and crew with the success of the project, saying "there was such great feeling on the shoot from everyone".

The film opened the 48^th International Film festival in Auckland, something Gardner says was a great payoff for everyone involved.

"We purposely didn't have a cast and crew screening so that everyone would come to the one at the film festival and everyone did. So the crew had the opportunity to celebrate what they did."

A charity screening of the film will take place on Monday, before the film opens to general audiences on Thursday, with proceeds going to the widow of Navtej Singh - the shopkeeper recently killed in an armed robbery in South Auckland.

"The positive multiculturalism in Apron Strings was a good opportunity to have a charity screening in South Auckland for the people to recognise the positives in that community."

Gardner hopes the film will repeat the recent success of Second Hand Wedding.

"It's about how the audience responds to it and you can't second guess them, everything is subjective and some people will love it and some won't. It's great to evoke strong emotion either way."

* Apron Strings opens on August 14 across New Zealand.

- © Fairfax NZ News