Eighteen great concerts and movies are planned heading into March, the final month of this year’s Music in Parks season.

Movies including Goodbye Pork Pie, Show of Hands, Sione’s Wedding and Separation City, will feature at Grey Lynn and Owairaka parks this month in what has been the biggest Movies in Parks line up to date.

The Culture Garden series presents a wide range of niche musical genres, with four Sunday evening concerts during March set in Auckland’s stunning Domain Wintergardens.

March also sees the return of the popular Tea Dances – featuring some classic tunes and an outdoor dance floor at Highwic and Alberton, two of our city’s beautiful heritage buildings.

Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee chairperson, Councillor Greg Moyle, says the 2010 Music in Parks season has been extremely well received so far.

“We’ve had some big crowds turning out to enjoy the huge variety of free music and movies provided by the council. While the weather remains good, I encourage people to come along and experience what Auckland’s spectacular parks have to offer,” says Mr Moyle.

This is the 17th year Auckland City Council has produced what is the largest free outdoor music and film series in New Zealand. The 2010 Music in Parks programme runs until the end of March and features 40 events.

Read more….

If you fancy yourself as a Pink Lady or T-Bird, can do the ‘Time Warp’ or consider yourself a ‘Dancing Queen’, then Auckland Zoo’s new series of three participation-based outdoor movies is the ‘one that you want’.

Beginning the series of late summer outdoor movies is Grease on Thursday 19 March – sure to be a blast with celebrity guest Shane Cortese performing before New Zealand’s biggest outdoor movie screen lights up. The classic sing-along movie, Rocky Horror Picture Show, follows on Thursday 26 March with a special mystery guest, and concludes on Thursday 2 April with the enormously popular Mamma Mia! You’ll want to say ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ to this, the series finale, that also includes pre-show entertainment with celebrity guest Petra Bagust.

All three outdoor films are full of well-known tunes, catch phrases, and much-loved scenes. ZooMovie-goers are encouraged to dress up and embrace the participation-style of the event, and at each movie, every attendee will receive a bag of props to use throughout the evening.

While general admission allows you to stake out your place at the band rotunda, Gold Grass provides an adult only, premium-seating area and glass of wine. Access to the outdoor cinema area is from 6.00pm. Live entertainment begins at 6.30pm, and will incorporate hosts taking you through some fun participation moves (with your handy bag of props) before the movie gets underway at 7.45pm.

Your movie ticket is also your zoo entry– so come early to explore the zoo and check out your favourite animals. Bring a picnic, or purchase dinner from the zoo’s Darwin’s café (licensed venue). Please be aware the band rotunda area will be closed off in the afternoon to enable safe equipment set-up.

Tickets for the outdoor movie event are available from Auckland Zoo. Purchase tickets with Visa and you will go into the draw to win a VIP viewing spot for you and three friends.

ZooMovies is presented by Visa Entertainment, in association with The Radio Network.

Source: Press Release: Auckland City Council. Read full article at: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0903/S00054.htm.

When New Zealand brought to Sundance one of the finest films in foreign cinema, New Zealanders celebrated in style. “No.2″ premiered in Auckland, New Zealand at a special outdoor movie screening. Filmmakers attended and pre-show entertainment included indigenous dancers. The Open Air Cinema proved to be a perfect setting for the film set in their homeland. The following is Variety’s review of “No.2″, which won the dramatic World Cinema prize at Sundance. You can read the original blog post about the outdoor cinema event here.

New Zealand playwright Toa Fraser makes a smooth transition to the screen directing “No. 2,” an adaptation of his 2000 stage work. This warmly observed drama about a Fijian-Kiwi matriarch gathering her discordant clan around one last fete is formulaic at its core: One can guess grandma’s fate from the start, but only after, all wounds have been healed and every narrative string tied. Still, assured handling and an appealing cast make this a deserving crowd-pleaser (it won the dramatic World Cinema audience award at Sundance) that should find friendly theatrical and tube berth in numerous terrains. Title, however — which in the U.S. is scatalogical slang may have to go.

Still from "No.2"

Ruby Dee (the sole imported Yank thesp) plays octogenarian Nana Maria, whose ramshackle longtime house is perched on Auckland’s Mt. Raskil. Widowed, she now shares the abode with two adult grandchildren — heavy-drinking but loyal Erasmus (Rene Naufahu) and quietly soulful single mother Charlene (Mia Blake) — and Charlene’s young son. One night Nana wakes up, then wakes everybody else up, demanding they orchestrate a “great feast” for the family that very day.

It’s a daunting request, given various factions aren’t speaking to each other and Nana’s own two sons are the most bitterly divided of all — from each other and from her.

Yuppiefied grandson Tyson (Xavier Horan), her particular favorite, has distanced himself from the family as a whole. He happens to be visiting the area, but declines attending until the Danish girlfriend he’s brought — (Tuba Novotny) — persuades him to stop by. Surprising everyone, Nana treats this white stranger as an honored guest, though she’d previously insisted “no outsiders” and only grandkids (“not my kids, they’re useless”) be allowed to attend.

Among other imperious decrees, she orders a pig be roasted in traditional style — though no one wants to kill the cute live one delivered — and that the old, massive, view-blocking trees in the backyard be chopped down forthwith. Adding more tension to her beleaguered grandchildren’s day is the announcement that at the party’s climax Nana will reveal her successor, who will presumably inherit the house.

Outdoor Movie Screening of "No.2" in Auckland, New Zealand

News of the surprise celebration spreads to other relations, including the children with whom Nana has severed communication, sons Percy (Pio Terei) and John (Nathaniel Lees), along with the latter’s spouse Auntie Cat (Tanea Heke). The snobby brothers loathe each other, yet they can’t resist the pull of discovering just what Nana is up to.

Natch, the long day’s crises, spats and revelations mellow by sunset. Despite the relatively brief running time and large character roll, Fraser is able to make this evolution seem relatively natural and emotionally satisfying. Adding a layer of emotional insight are brief flashbacks to Nana’s youth on Fiji, where her noble family lived a charmed existence sorely missed once a philandering hubby moved them to New Zealand after WWII.

Dee’s aristocratic air and commanding theatricality are put to fine use, while she also limns Nana’s physical frailty and a possible streak of senility. The twenty- to thirtysomething grandkids are played by a sensationally attractive lot who subtly convey the mixed emotions and painful parental histories Fraser wisely refrains from spelling out too bluntly.

Affectionate care has been put into all the film’s visual aspects; though the majority of the pic was shot in 16mm (with exterior night scenes in 35mm), the 35mm print looks fine. Don McGlashan contributes a lovely original score, though use of pre-existing music is occasionally heavy-handed.

Source: “No.2″ by Dennis Havey -Variety. Read full article at: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2006&content=jump&jump=review&head=berlin&nav=RBerlin&articleid=VE1117929437&cs=1&p=0.

Be one of the first to “move it move it” at the New Zealand outdoor movie premiere of the highly anticipated Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa at Auckland Zoo on Friday 12 December.

The zoo is the perfect place to catch up with your favourite movie characters and their real-life Auckland Zoo counterparts. Along with access to the zoo, there will be special movie-themed encounters with the lemurs and hippo, along with Madagascar-styled entertainment and giveaways.

As night falls, the zoo will transform into a unique open air cinema, with the animated feature premiering to celebrity guests and public on a giant 18-metre outdoor movie screen. Also on offer will be traditional movie offerings of popcorn and ice creams; however, moviegoers are encouraged to bring their own beanbags and blankets.

In this sequel to Madagascar – the number one family movie of 2005 – the New York zoo-raised crew embark on a new adventure in the vast plains of Africa, an unscheduled stop aboard Air Penguin on their return home.

Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins encounter species of their own kind for the very first time. While discovering their roots, they quickly find the differences between the zoo and the heart of Africa. Despite long-lost relatives, romantic rivals and scheming hunters, Africa seems like a great place…but is it better than their Central Park home?

Auckland Zoo is the first place to see Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa that opens in cinemas 18 December and is brought to you by DreamWorks Animation, the studio that brought you SHREK and Kung Fu Panda.

Event Details:

Madagascar : Escape 2 Africa, 6pm – 10pm Friday 12 December (rain date Sunday 14 December)
Gates open 6pm and movie starts 8.45pm (nightfall)
Animal encounters 6.30pm – 7.15pm followed by entertainment until movie premiere
Tickets available from Auckland Zoo www.aucklandzoo.co.nzService fee applies.
Limited capacity venue. Tickets are expected to sell fast – advance booking recommended Prices: Adults $25, Children (4 – 15yrs) $15
This is a licensed event and no BYO is permitted.

Official Press Release: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0811/S00195.htm

What better way to start the long weekend than by attending the New Zealand premier of “No 2″ at the opening night of the Open Air Cinema. I had attended screenings here before, during the first season back in 2004, so I knew that I was in for a treat. There is something quite special about open air cinema, especially in such magnificent surroundings as Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.

Elizabeth and I got there early in time for the pre show entertainment in front of the familiar inflatable screen. The seats were filling up fast and it was great to see Aucklanders from all walks of life attending. The entertainment consisted of Fijian style dancing, first a solo woman and then a troop of male dancers. Impressive stuff! Shortly before the sun went down (and the start of the screening) Toa Fraser addressed the crowd. He originally wrote the story as a play. As a film “No 2″ has recently won a Sundance Festival world cinema audience award.

Another person attending the screening was Prime Minister Helen Clarke, who also said a few words before the start of the movie. I think her comment about “No 2 doing for Mt Roskill what BroTown did for Mornington Crescent” was supposed to be a joke.

No 2 is a charming story about what it takes to bring family together. Nanna Maria demands that her grandchildren put on a big feast at which she will name her successor. The story is set in Mount Roskill, south Auckland, and it was fantastic to see familiar locations in various scenes. One of the biggest laughs came from a scene on Mount Eden (a place I’ve been to many times) when the ‘Tolkien Enthusiast’ asked the tour guide a question…

After the film Liz told me that the actress who played ‘Danish Maria’ (as the credits describe her) got the part from a web cam audition before flying over to start filming the next day. Apparently Tuva Novotny is one of Scandinavia’s most successful young actresses. To get the cast in the right mood for the project a real feast was hosted at Toa’s family home in Mount Roskill.

Read full article at Travel Pod: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jawad/aotearoa/1139106600/tpod.html