Kiwi film The Tavern spotlights rural New Zealand

“Leave your morals and maturity at home and come out for a great night laughing at stuff you shouldn’t.” That's producer, actor and screenwriter Matt Hicks.

Bringing eight metres of red carpet to the Luxe Cinema in Tauranga tonight, he is stoked to be touring his debut movie, The Tavern. 

Set in Cambridge New Zealand, it's described as a labour of love for Hicks, who had to get through the Covid-19 lockdown as part of the process to getting it shot and on screens 

To fundraise, and pull it off, Hicks picked asparagus, worked as a DJ and hosted quiz nights, among many other jobs. 

 Focussed on delivering a “real and raw” true Kiwi film that showcases life in New Zealand’s mighty Waikato, Hicks said much of his work as a producer, has been about showcasing rural New Zealand. 

Working with the team that brought ‘Home Kills’ (2023) to the screen, he told Dhaivat Mehta of TCFF Talks Podcast, including a rural voice where people speak with “that yuck Waikato accent” and are “very free with the swearing” was part of his story. 

Starring Ben Lummis (New Zealand Idol) and Josh McKenzie (Shortland Street) the film is about five small town guys who have a race against time to save their beloved, yet run down tavern from an evil Auckland property developer with sinister plans.

Hicks also acts in it, and plays a 29-year-old slacker who works part-time at his best friend’s famous older brother’s Cambridge Laundromat.

The Tavern is a run-down, eye-sore frequented by few customers with only the annual stripper night drawing a crowd. 

“It is in bad taste, let me tell you!” Hick said. 

So far, after hosting launch nights in Cambridge, Rotorua and Hamilton, he’s had people coming out of the cinema beaming with laughter.

"It's just got that Kiwi humour, it was so funny," one punter said, holding a can of Hick's brand of beer, which he called ‘Piss’.

Unable to use any well-known beer brands in the film, Hicks invented a brand for the Tavern clientele to drink in the movie. 

Matt Hicks created his own brand of beer for The Tavern movie. Photo/ TCFF

“The film’s pretty offensive and enjoyable nonsense. If you’re looking for The Piano or Power of the Dog, this is not for you. It’s more a hark back to silly Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell stuff - but in a Kiwi pub,” Hicks said.

“Underneath all the crude jokes and silly stuff, it’s ultimately a story about being happy where you are with the people you are with. It’s a story about home and friendship. Even if your home is a crappy pub and your friends are degenerates.”

After a five-year haul, Hicks says “I've got like an indie feature creatives, emotional support group - Josh Hamblin that made the The Red Admiral and Floris Van Gaalen who made Darkest Light - we'll constantly be on the phone to each other just offloading, you know, venting.

“It's really, really good to have those like-minded creatives scattered around the country, that know how stupid and painful it is.”

Hicks says making The Tavern required a lot of patience. “I wrote a similar kind of themed thing many moons ago, and it never came into fruition… I had a bit of a life crisis. So that never happened.”

“It was always inside me that I wanted to do it, but I don't know, sometimes you just have to wait for the time to be right, you know, the universe to be right.”

Another special feature of the film is the music. Casting Lummis, the first New Zealand idol winner was one highlight, but so was writing the movie’s theme song ‘Last one standing’ which was written by one of The Tavern’s actors’, and sung by Hick’s mate, Scott de Rooy.

“I used to DJ on Kiwi FM, which was a 100% New Zealand music station…I’m all about Kiwi music, it’s like my kaupapa.”

“We start off with the Datsuns…they’re from Cambridge, so that was really, really important to me.”

“It’s a really good Kiwi soundtrack eh, search it up on Spotify, it’s really good.”

Touring the film through New Zealand, Hicks said connecting with fans and new audiences is a big part of the fun for him but, pushing 40, he's also looking forward to taking a break after Sunday, when The Tavern's premier tour ends.  

“We're right in the heat of battle at the moment, you know, that this is kind of the last stage of the war really.

“Once the tour is wrapped I'm really, really tired and I want to get to the gym and go down to the park with my daughter and my little Sonny boy.

“And just be a good dad. Then in 2026, go hard and do it all over again,” Hicks said.