Dawn ceremony marks leap forward for NZ film future

The New Zealand Film Archive holds 120,000 films videos and television programmes, held on around 300,000 cans of film, in addition to hundreds of thousands of photographs, publications and papers of our cinematic history.

A year ago it was full to bursting. Now there’s room to grow.

A dawn ceremony will be held to commemorate a significant moment in the preservation of our moving image culture and history, with the official opening of the New Zealand Film Archive’s new archive facility at Northpoint, Plimmerton north of Wellington.

The ceremony will be held 6.30am March 31 at the Northpoint facility, 21 Northpoint Street, Plimmerton

Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Hon Chris Finlayson will open the building. Also attending will be Film Archive Chair Dr Anne Phillips, Chief Executive Frank Stark, and representatives of Ngati Toa and Te Ati Awa.

Light refreshments will be provided.

The Film Archive is a passionate protector of New Zealand’s film and television history, working to restore and preserve films dating back a century and providing a public resource to view our past as captured through the camera lens.

The wealth of New Zealand’s film history is immeasurable, but in the eight years since the Film Archive relocated to its present site on Taranaki St, Wellington its collection has grown by 50,000 titles and forecasts another 25,000 by 2015.

The new facility not only has the space to house the growing collection, but it also mitigates the risk of potential catastrophic disaster (such as an earthquake) by allowing for duplicates to be stored at geographically distinct locations.

The Film Archive is an independent charitable trust, and is grateful for the philanthropic consideration for the $850,000 facility from Pub Charity, the Lottery Grants Board, the Trusts Charitable Foundation, The Stout Trust and a number of private donors

For still and moving images, further information and interview opportunities in advance of the event, please contact Phil Reed, communications manager: 04 384 7647 ext 823

The Film Archive
Northpoint Facility official opening
March 31 2011, 6.30am
Northpoint, 21 Northpoint Street, Plimmerton

ENDS

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