Meet me in Miami Premiere

Wednesday 22 March 2006

Hon Mahara Okeroa, Hon Jim Anderton, Members of Parliament, Christchurch City Councillors, Mark Solomon, Lisa and David Abbott, Eric Hannah, the cast and crew of Meet Me in Miami, and distinguished guests. Welcome to this grand evening. It is not every year that Christchurch is privileged to host a red carpet film premiere.

However, tonight we are able to celebrate with Lisa Abbott, her director Eric Hannah from the US, the Abbott family and the stars and local crew of this very special romantic comedy film, ‘Meet Me in Miami.’

What we are celebrating here is the art of story telling. It is an art that will increase in value this century.

Kevin Roberts, who heads Saatchi and Saatchi globally, says that story telling is central to our collective future. He likes to quote someone who specialises in the future…. Rolf Jensen ….. who has this to say about good story telling.

Jensen predicts that "the highest-paid person in the first half of this next century will be the story teller. The value of products will depend on the story that they tell." I agree.

This evening celebrates a remarkable combination of determination, creative filmmaking ability and the harnessing of collective energy to produce this film. We salute those who collaborated on this project.

Meet Me in Miami is set for release to 40 cities across America – a huge mission for Lisa and Eric, that commences in the next couple of weeks. The film begins its national release in NZ tomorrow and then its international release in 40 cities across America within the next couple of weeks.

Through this movie, New Zealand's Garden City will be presented to the world, and we’re here tonight to give the film a good Cantabrian send off.

To everyone involved in the project, Lisa, David, the Abbot family, and the cast and crew of 'Meet Me in Miami' –Christchurch congratulates you.