Arrowtown Autumn Festival to celebrate 25 years on the big screen

The Arrowtown Autumn Festival is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2009 and to show the true colours of our first 24 years a documentary is being produced which will premiere during next year’s Festival celebrations.

The documentary Going For Gold is being funded by the Arrowtown Autumn Festival Society. Festival Committee member and community documentarian Michelle Buckham, of local company Reel Art Video Productions, is aiming for the documentary to be both fun and informative, as well as an enjoyable stroll down Arrowtown’s memory lane.

“I’m really excited about this project as a few people have already donated copies of video footage from the very earliest festivals, and it’s been great to watch and to realise that some of our local identities from 25 years ago are still involved in the festival today” says Ms Buckham.

Lakes District Museum archivist and researcher Karen Swaine says that much of the video footage from decades past is starting to physically deteriorate, and is often stored on hard-to-find formats, so it is essential to digitise important footage wherever possible to ensure it can still be enjoyed by future generations. All footage donated for this project will be gifted to the Lakes District Museum on completion of the documentary.

The Arrowtown Autumn Festival Committee and Reel Art Video Productions are now calling for video footage, photos and stories to help capture the emotions and spirit of this long-loved community event. We welcome people who have enjoyed the Festival over our first 24 years to come forward and share with us their memories, pictures, and videos.

Going For Gold will premiere on the big screen during Arrowtown Autumn Festival 2009, and will be available to purchase on DVD, with a portion of the proceeds from sales to benefit the Arrowtown Autumn Festival Society and the Lakes District Museum.

If you have anything to share that can help us produce this historical documentary celebrating the rich festival heritage of Arrowtown please contact producer Melanie Kees on 0275 460 888, or email mel@neatnz.co.nz.

The Arrowtown Autumn Festival will be held from Friday 17th April to Sunday 26th April 2009.

For further information please contact:

Melanie Kees, Neat Marketing, mel@neatnz.co.nz
Michelle Buckham, Reel Art Video Productions, michelle@reelart.co.nz
Julie Hughes, Arrowtown Autumn Festival Secretary, (03) 442 0809