A film by Will Watson
Soldiers Without Guns
The Untold Story of Unsung Heroes
ABOUT THE MOVIE
THE UNTOLD STORY OF UNSUNG HEROES
The riveting journey of New Zealand soldiers as they land unarmed into the heat of a 10 year civil war using only the weapons of Music, Maori Culture and Love to create peace. This radical idea of sending soldiers without guns was condemned by the media because they felt the soldiers would be massacred given the first 14 peace attempts had failed.
Directors and Producers
People behind the vision
The riveting journey of New Zealand soldiers as they land unarmed into the heat of a 10 year civil war using only the weapons of Music, Maori Culture and Love to create peace.
Will Watson
Director
Will Watson is an International award winning filmmaker. Will started out his career in journalism and publishing in the 90’s and then moved into film in 2002. His first job was cameraman for BBC, ITV, Sky. Will worked on many films but completed his own feature documentary called, “Soldiers Without Guns” in 2019. The film won 13 international awards and is the highest rate New Zealand film ever, according to IMDB the worlds largest film database. He recently was Executive Producer for “Savage” a NZ Film Commission feature which was recently sold throughout Europe. He was also Executive Producer for “The Pick Up Game” which has won international acclaim.
john keir
Producer
John Keir began his career as a TV reporter, and from the late 70s on was producing and directing an extended slate of documentaries. His CV includes docos about air crashes (Flight 901: The Erebus Disaster), war (Our Oldest Soldier), gender (Intersexion) crime (First Time in Prison) and the Treaty (Lost in Translation). His many collaborations with director Grant Lahood include two short films that won acclaim at Cannes.
Chante
Marketing/Distribution Manager
Chante has covered many rolls in the film business. She has the ability to take any roll and champion that position. Her skills as film music director were legendary. She managed to get all the largest NZ musicians from Anika Moa to Fat Freddys Drop and bring them into the film sound track. Her skills in social media marketing became a talking point amongst professional film distributors. She not only hit a $30,000 target on a crowd funding campaign to raise funds to complete the film, but she also created the largest NZ film premiere of 2019 with almost no budget. She is the sort of person at adapts quickly and makes it all happen.
Matt Donaldson
CREATIVE PRODUCER
After directing and producing his own projects, Matthew brought his digital production, and storytelling skills to this project as Creative Producer.
He now manages Doc Edge Schools, the free educational documentary programme for students and teachers as part of the Doc Edge Documentary Film Festival. He has recently been busy transitioning this film festival to an online experience during COVID19.
Premier Behind the scenes
Movie Awards
Story of Unsung KIWI Heroes
The riveting journey of New Zealand soldiers as they land unarmed into the heat of a 10 year civil war using only the weapons of Music, Maori Culture and Love to create peace. This radical idea of sending soldiers without guns was condemned by the media because they felt the soldiers would be massacred given the first 14 peace attempts had failed.
Soldiers Without Guns was completed and launched in New Zealand in April of 2019. Since its launch it has won 6 major international awards. It is currently the highest rated New Zealand film ever according to IMDb the world’s largest film database at 9.5 out of 10. The film has had rave reviews throughout New Zealand during its cinema release.
Movie Reviews
Watch the journey
The untold story of soldiers using guitars instead of guns.
The riveting journey of New Zealand soldiers as they land unarmed into the heat of a 10 year civil war using only the weapons of Music, Maori Culture and Love to create peace. This radical idea of sending soldiers without guns was condemned by the media because they felt the soldiers would be massacred given the first 14 peace attempts had failed.
