Filmmaker hosting Valley showing of recent release

A film shot in Gisborne, New Zealand by an Anchorage man will have its second U.S. showing Nov. 8 at Mat-Su Cinema.

Anchorage filmmaker Fred Potts, who grew up in the Valley, is showing Tikanga Amerikana at Mat-Su Cinema, along with three short movies he has written and directed. Tikanga Amerikana means "The American Way" in Maori.

"I wrote a seven-minute movie here, and I had a project going in New Zealand that was pushed back. They asked me if I had anything else, so I sent them this script," Potts said. "They asked if I could rewrite it and make it fit for New Zealand, so I did and we ended up with an hour and 15 minute movie."

The movie has been cut to 60 minutes and details the friendship between an American foreign-exchange student, a young Maori girl and a Kiwi girl. Ultimately, the friendship leads to murder.

Pat Ashford, Tom Cruise's special weapons handler flew in to Gisborne, N.Z. for the project, Potts said.

Potts is heading back to New Zealand in April to shoot Vanished, the true story of a plane that vanished just minutes from landing in the late 1920s.

"I think people like the fact it's a true story," Potts said. "It's going to be a real fun project to shoot."

The Valley showing of Tikanga Amerikana is at 11 a.m. on Nov. 8 at Mat-Su Cinema. In addition to the movie, three shorts will be presented. They are "Sideroad," a 10-minute comedy filmed in New Zealand; "Karl," a 15-minute "creepy and scary" movie; and "Final Twist of Fate," an 11-minute Alfred Hitchcock-type film.