Treasures from the Vaults reveals freshly-preserved taonga

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision's new Treasures from the Vaults programme reveals freshly-preserved taonga

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s new programme, Treasures from the Vaults will provide a unique opportunity to hear directly from the Archive’s experts the stories behind the recent preservation of some of its audiovisual taonga, and then experience the results of that work.

Treasures from the Vaults is launching at the Archive’s Wellington venue on Thursday, 22 February with acclaimed photographer Brian Brake’s 1955 promotional film, Snows of Aorangi, as the featured treasure.

Snows of Aorangi was the first New Zealand film to be nominated for an Oscar. Shot by Brian Brake as a National Film Unit tourism promotion, it captures stunning imagery of ice forests, lightning storms, volcanic craters, glaciers, avalanches and wildlife. The narration was scripted by James K Baxter.

Leslie Lewis, Film Team Leader at Ngā Taonga said that the preservation work came in the wake of a screening of this film in the Archive’s Wellington cinema at the end of 2017 when it was shown alongside a Kaleidoscope programme on Brian Brake. The Kaleidoscope television series had just been inscribed into the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World register.

“We’re particularly happy to share with the public the preservation work we have done on this stunning film. What at first seemed like a quite straight-forward job turned into a really complex preservation project involving multiple source materials for picture and sound and some very tricky colour grading and sound restoration work. We wanted to ensure we remained true to the colour and sound of the original film,” said Dr Lewis.

Treasures from the Vaults screenings will be a regular feature at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Wellington cinema. We'll share our latest preservation treats with you every three months. The 2018 dates are:
Thursday, May 24th
Thursday, August 30th
Thursday, November 29th

If a particular screening proves popular the Archive will add other dates and these will be listed on its website – ngataonga.org.nz/events.

More information on the 22 February Treasures from the Vaults screening can be found here.

About Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is New Zealand’s audiovisual archive. We save and cherish the stories, creativity and history of Aotearoa New Zealand in sound and moving images. With strong values of connection, creativity and conservation our purpose is to collect, share and care for New Zealand’s audiovisual taonga.

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