The Reality of Dunedin Student Life On Television

For immediate release March 2 2005

NHNZ Brings the Reality of Dunedin Student Life to Television

Cold flats, hot spots, hard swot, exams and loud bands and new faces… welcome to the world of the scarfie!

Student life has been central to Dunedin’s culture since the foundation of the University of Otago in 1869. From student pubs to sports tournaments, live gigs to capping shows.

Now Scarfiedays, a new documentary series produced by NHNZ for TVNZ will follow the lives of a cross section of first and second year Otago students as they negotiate through the highs and lows, the myths and realities, of scarfie life.

Producer of Scarfiedays, Graeme Duckham describes the Dunedin student life as “legendary, and full of expectation”, he adds that this sense of expectation has added pressure to the young people involved.

“There is a very typical image of student life at Otago and of the students themselves, but we will go beyond the popular idea and see how this group of students cope with the day to day realities of life as a student, some are away from home for the first time, others are dealing with life in flats and the situations that can bring. These can be the best years of life; it is also when people are at their most vulnerable.”

Of the students featured in the series, all are coming from outside Dunedin; some will be living in halls of residence, others in flats. The series is set to begin shooting near the start of the academic year and will continue through until November.

NHNZ is one of the world’s leading producers of factual programming embracing the genres of nature, health, science, adventure, and people. With over 70 programmes currently in production, its crews work in locations around the world to produce a diversity of films for international broadcasters including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Health, National Geographic Channel, France 5, NHK in Japan and NDR in Germany. Based in Dunedin, New Zealand, the company is wholly owned by Fox Television Studios.

ENDS

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