 
Te Aroha News
19 February 2009
German film crew fall for Te Aroha
Te Aroha has received rave reviews from a visiting international film crew. About 60 cast and crew members were in town from Wednesday to Monday to shoot scenes for a German television movie.
Fifty stayed in Te Aroha, with local restaurants also offering late-night eating and drinking on request at the end of the crew’s 17-hour days.
“The whole town pulled together,” said Te Aroha Business Association president Teena Cornes. “Everybody’s positive about it.”
Speaking to the Piako Post on Friday, she said a lot of people came into Te Aroha “to have a look” while the filming was being undertaken. “That’s got to be good for businesses.”
German members of the cast and crew told the Piako Post that they absolutely loved New Zealand wine and the “very friendly” New Zealand people who seem “more relaxed” than their German counterparts.
The main actors were from Germany, with some other roles (dubbed) played by Kiwis. A German/New Zealand mix were behind the cameras, lighting, building and production. Filming in Te Aroha involved the namesake mountain, domain and central business district.
The film’s story involves a young American woman who inherits a piece of land in New Zealand, with Te Aroha the nearby service town.
She travels to this country to sell the land and receives an offer from a real estate agent who wants to build a big hotel on the property. The heroine meets a local man who wants the land kept for Maori and the pair fall in love.
After finishing filming in Te Aroha on Monday, the cast and crew were scheduled to head to Rotorua for further shooting.
The movie will be shown on German television, on a Sunday evening at prime time with an anticipated audience of 11 million to 12 million people, in May.
The film-makers, Auckland-based GFC (Germany), required a “really attractive rural town”, with Te Aroha offering stunning locations and scenery. They stressed that the town will be presented as Te Aroha in the film.
By Soenke Dwenger & Steve Edwards @ Piako Post
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