Her Majesty (2001)

Her Majesty is a 2001 coming of age film about a young girl who realizes her lifelong dream when Queen Elizabeth II comes to visit her small hometown.

Directed by Mark J. Gordon, this New Zealand made, family-friendly feature film, is the winner of over 20 festival awards, including the Audience Award at Florida, Newport Beach, Stonybrook, World Cinema Naples and Marco Island.

Her Majesty was first released theatrically in the U.S. in April 2004 and continued to screen in select cities through March 2005, with positive reviews. The film was released in January 2005 in New Zealand to positive reviews, though it performed poorly at the box office, perhaps due to limited promotion and exposure. Her Majesty also screened theatrically in provinces throughout Canada from January to May 2006 in association with the Film Circuit, a division of the Toronto International Film Festival. The North American (Region 1) DVD of Her Majesty was released on 29 August 2006.

The film has also been licensed in various territories around the world, including the UK, Australia, South America, Scandinavia, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Thailand, South Africa, and others, where it's often shown on TV.

Vicky Haughton who co-stars in Her Majesty went on to play the grandmother in the movie Whale Rider. She also had a part in King Kong. Walter Coblenz, the producer, was also producer on such films as All the President's Men, The Candidate, and The Onion Field. Virginia Katz, the editor, also edited Kinsey and Dreamgirls. Production designer, Kim Sinclair, also won an Academy Award in 2010 for his work on Avatar.

Synopsis

Elizabeth Wakefield, a young girl who lives in Middleton, New Zealand during the 1950s, idolizes Queen Elizabeth II and writes to her continuously when she hears that the Queen will be making a visit to New Zealand, to convince her to make her town one of the stops. The town was built on land originally owned by the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The thoughts in the town are that the Maori are not to be trusted, and there is resentment as the young boys of the local tribe start to take jobs from the white English townspeople.

Actors