Poi E: The Story of Our Song

'They want you to perform at the Royal Command Performance in Scotland.' I said 'We haven't got any money to do that!' And so I went and mortgaged my house.

– Dalvanius Prime

It lifted the whole community out of the [post-freezing works closure] doldrums. It just gave pride back to a lot of us and we felt we were someone again rather than nobody — and that our town was something rather than nothing.

– Patea Māori Club Chairman John Nyman, The NZ Herald, 7 May 2010

...it's a warm, funny, touching movie too, care of the many personalities that [director Tearepa] Kahi captures including Patea Māori Club veterans and extended whanau of the song's co-writer, the late Dalvanius Prime ... There's never been a better screen treatment of music and the people who make it to come out of New Zealand...

– NZ Herald critic Russell Baillie after the film's debut at the Auckland Film Festival, 15 July 2016

...[the] lovingly crafted, intimate documentary captures the anarchic spirit of the song and its creator Dalvanius Prime. The man whose name makes him sound like a Transformer was the ringmaster of the whole operation and his mana, determination and eccentricities are laid bare for all to see ... a terrific shared experience that will leave you tapping your toes, laughing at all the 80s fashions and culture, and smiling all the way home.

– Reviewer James Croot, The Dominion Post, 6 August 2016, page C16

Two thousand dollars from the local businesses; twenty businesses, a hundred dollars each ... I think most of them put in.

– Pātea butcher Grant Hurley on local fundraising to record 'Poi E'

When I first recorded 'Poi E', I knew very well that white radio wouldn't play it at all. And so I had to take a new strategy. And so I took a couple of kids, and we did all the dance clubs in Auckland and Wellington ..

– Dalvanius Prime, at the end of the first excerpt