The spokesperson for the Islamic Women's Council says a film about Jacinda Ardern's response to the Christchurch terror attack is "the wrong film to make and the wrong time to make it".
Anjum Rahman told The AM Show on Monday if the film is to be made, it needs to be focused on the 51 victims, and families at the centre of the tragedy.
"Certainly the Prime Minister has a part to play, but to focus on her and the aftermath of what she did is really insulting."
They Are Us was announced on Friday with Australian actress Rose Byrne set to play Ardern. It will focus on the response to the massacre at the mosques in which 51 people were murdered on March 15, 2019.
However, the film has been strongly condemned over the weekend for exploiting the tragedy with commentators calling it "sickening", "insensitive" and "too soon".
Even the name is problematic, says Rahman as it shows the filmmakers have not been involved in the conversations the Muslim community had regarding the aftermath of the attack.
She says Ardern's initial speech had the right heart - but the words "they are us" were problematic.
"Soon after she was using much better phrasing about how this was an attack on New Zealanders, New Zealand Muslims... so to use those words as the title shows they are not involved in the conversations we are having in this country."
Rahman says there is room for a movie about the attack - but with a very different focus to what's been proposed.
"There's a place for a film that details the effects of radicalization white supremacy, demonisation of a community and the impact that has had and the way the victims responded, making sure they didn't respond to hate with hate."
