The "true colours" of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival will be shown next year when the annual event celebrates its 25th anniversary with a documentary on its first 24 years, Going For Gold, funded by the festival society.
Festival committee member Michelle Buckham, of Reel Art Video Productions, said the documentary would be 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," Ms Buckham said.
Lakes District Museum archivist and researcher Karen Swaine said much of the video footage was starting to deteriorate and was stored on hard-to-find formats, so it was essential to digitise important footage.
The Arrowtown Autumn Festival Committee and Reel Art Video Productions were now calling for video footage, photographs and stories to help capture the emotions and spirit of the community event.
All footage donated for the project would be given to the Lakes District Museum on completion of the documentary.
"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," Ms Buckham said.
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.
• Anyone willing to give footage for the documentary can contact producer Melanie Kees on 0275 460-888 or email mel@neatnz.co.nz. The 2009 Arrowtown Autumn Festival will be held April 17-26.
