FLOWERS IN THE CULTURAL DESERT

Who would believe that the Far North has a film festival at all, let alone one held over a three week period, not just in one theatre but in two cinemas both with very historic pasts? Well we do and it’s still going, so if you haven’t visited either Swamp Palace at Oruru or the Cathay Cinema in Kerikeri, then you’ve really missed something.

We can thank that delightful eccentric, Richard Weatherly whose love of cinema keeps us up to date with films released from all over the planet.

Richard has hunted out 17 great films from 11 countries, battling distributors for whom small far flung cinemas h are a harder way to make money than simply supplying the big multiplexes. So far Jindabyne, an Australian film about four guys whose annual fishing holiday trip into the real outback is disrupted by the discovery of a murdered girl’s body in the river is my favourite. They make the sort of poor choices that a few blokes here might make and the ensuing hassles remind us of the complexities of community life.

Swamp Palace at Oruru remains the most unlikely site for a cinema, particularly as much larger Kaitaia has not managed to screen movies for years in spite of a suitable venue at the Community Centre where territorial issues with the live theatre folk have deprived locals of films. Swamp Palace was once at Cable Bay where the Trans Tasman cable came ashore and was shifted to Oruru where it is wonderfully run- down, giving it a certain old world charm and providing fodder for council inspectors.

The Cathay is Kerikeri’s most important historic building but goes unrecognised by Historic Places Trust who are lost in the pc world of missionary history. Built in 1930 by expats from China it has had a colourful history including a long council battle over parking so the excellent restaurant there could open (at night when there are heaps of carparks unused).

We should all support both of these great old buildings and the fun that is in them.