American premiere for Kiwi director

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A low budget New Zealand feature film that almost did not make the silver screen thanks to a conman will premiere at the Feel Good Film Festival in Los Angeles this week.

Christchurch-born Emily Corcoran will put on her "posh frock" and step onto the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard tomorrow to showcase the movie she toiled over for the past five years.

"It's been a long old road," she said

The movie Sisterhood features Nick Ball, who also stars in Footballers' Wives and East Enders, and comedian Jon Gadsby as well as Corcoran.

The festival only includes features films and short movies that have happy endings something appropriate for Sisterhood that was close to ending up a tragedy.

In 2006, drama school graduate Corcoran had raised enough money from an investor to make the film and had organised a director, Richard Wellings-Thomas.

However, six weeks into production Corcoran's investor's cheques began to bounce.

"His identity began to unravel and I eventually discovered the man was a well known criminal fraudster," she said.

The project fell apart and Corcoran was threatened with a lawsuit from an equipment company that had not been paid.

But 12 months later, after intensive fundraising efforts, the writer was back on track and had pulled most of her family and friends along for the ride.

"My brother was a runner, my sister did continuity, my uncle did all the lighting, my aunty did the catering, my cousins also did the catering and helped out, an old friend from school played one of the sheep shearers it was crazy, we all knew each other.

"Oh, and my mother was in it, playing my mother."

Corcoran plays the main role of Shirley a girl who grew up on a Southland farm and heads to London to find her rogue father Ball.

She ends up by finding her chic upper-class half-sister who is continually embarrassed by her exploits.

"It's a very silly, silly movie, I should point out. It's a very fun, light hearted feel-good film."

Corcoran said Sisterhood was one of the few foreign films showing at the festival.

For Corcoran's next project she will be returning to her homeland to work on a film called Gold Diggers, based around the goldrush in New Zealand, and hoped to film much of it on the West Coast.

She did not think there would be a shortage of grizzly, gnarled actors to take up any extra roles.

"I don't think I'll have much trouble in Greymouth and I think I might be all right in Hokitika.

"I think we won't even really have to cast actors, we could probably just cast locals."

-NZPA