School hoping fair will be a big hit
Docos to premiere at showcase
St Pius X School students, staff and families are hoping to strike it big with its first fundraising gala in 18 years this Friday.
They are raising money towards interactive data projectors for the five classrooms.
Angeline O’connor, who celebrated 25 years as St Pius X School’s office manager last year, says it would be about 18 years since a full-sized gala was held. The school was opened in 1954.
Principal Jane Reddish is thrilled both the school’s 75 families and the wider community are supporting their Family Fun Friday.
‘‘We are looking forward to both the school and wider community, from Titahi Bay and beyond, coming to enjoy an evening of great food and entertainment,’’ she says.
‘‘We will have a range of ethnic and traditional Kiwi food, plus dessert and sweet treats that everyone can enjoy together.’’
As well as a bouncy castle, jeeps and family-focused games such as golf – hoop-in-one, rugby goal post and three-legged race competitions there will be cheerleading and Zumba demonstrations, nail and tattoo art, mystery bottles and more.
Raffles will be drawn during the evening with prizes including a Benji Marshall practice jersey, gym memberships, Interislander voucher, movie passes, Brother printer and jewellery. Two New Zealand documentaries will have world premieres as part of the World Cinema Showcase 2012, coming to Wellington next month.
Mental Notes and Te Hono ki Aotearoa will headline an international selection of more than 35 features and documentaries screening at the Paramount Theatre from April 5 to 22.
In Mental Notes, from filmmaker Jim Marbrook, five former patients recall their experiences in the psychiatric institutions that were the bastions of the country’s mental health for most of the last century.
‘‘ Jim’s subjects provide a gentle, affirmative assertion of survival against the odds while bearing eloquent witness to a long dark era in our social history,’’ festival director Bill Gosden says.
Jan Bieringa’s Te Hono ki Aotearoa documents the commissioning and delivery of a new waka taua for the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, Holland.
‘‘The sight of a magnificent waka taua being propelled through European waters is a thing of beauty to stir the heart of any New Zealander. What’s so fascinating here is Jan’s insights into the way it stirs European hearts too. The rapport between master carver Hekenukumai Busby and the museums director is the starting point for a gratifyingly thorough immersion in kaupapa waka.’’
The World Cinema Showcase, now in its 14th year, is selected by NZ International Film Festival. The main mid-winter Wellington International Film Festival will return in July.