387 Distribution is excited to release the first trailer for local feature film Dawn Raid ahead of its nationwide release on January 21, 2021.
Directed by Oscar Kightley and from the producers of McLaren and The Dead Lands, Dawn Raid is the extraordinary untold story of Dawn Raid Entertainment and its two founders Andy Murnane and Brotha D - the unlikely duo behind some of New Zealand’s biggest hip-hop and RnB artists including Savage, Mareko, Adeaze and Aaradhna.
The trailer release comes off the back of Savage’s Swing seeing a resurgence via a viral TikTok trend using a mash-up of the song and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, leading to Swing going double platinum just this month in the US, more than a decade after its original release. The mash-up has seen over half a million user generated videos to date from some of TikToks biggest stars.
The film explores the incredible challenges and struggles that were buried deep beneath the glamour of chart-topping hits with the hottest local and international talent – rifts between artists, unpaid tax debts, feelings of failure and betrayal – and the immeasurable musical legacy that was created in spite of this.
“Dawn Raid is about two hustlers from South Auckland who decided to chart their own destiny. It’s a tale of achievement, community and cultural empowerment, and all of the glamour and glitz that comes with success in the global recording industry,” says Kightley. “It is also a narrative of failure, of crushing defeat and devastating loss. But most of all, it is a story of rebirth. Of a culture, a people, an art form. And of the legacy that rebirth has left behind.”
Featuring some of New Zealand’s top hip-hop and RnB artists including Savage, Mareko, Adeaze, Aaradhna, Scribe and P Money, Dawn Raid is an inspirational, heart-pounding, big screen celebration of local home-grown talent who not only gave a voice to their local community, but paved the way for a future generation of artists.
Dawn Raid was made with investment by the New Zealand Film Commission, produced by Matthew Metcalfe (The Dead Lands, Capital in the Twenty-First Century) and Leela Menon (Orphans & Kingdoms, Born Racer), with Fraser Brown (Wayne, McLaren) as executive producer.
Dawn Raid hits cinemas nationwide on January 21, 2021.