My Account
The return of cinema to the Warkworth Town Hall is also a return to programming film festivals for organiser Urs Bauer.
The four-day Sounds on Screen music documentary festival, from June 1 to 4, is a fundraiser for the hall. It will feature digital HD projections with surround sound inside the hall. Urs says it will be a unique experience to watch films in the newly-renovated town hall while raising money for it.
“It’s good to have a town centre where arts can be performed. Performing arts, music and film is an important part of life,” Urs says.
Urs and his wife Denise staged the first big screen open air cinema in New Zealand at Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour in 2004. It led to his running movies in parks for councils and organisations, with 40,000 turning out to 22 different parks in Auckland last year.
Urs says the outdoor cinema is designed to attract families and large numbers. Programming a festival gives him the freedom to select films that interest him. For the Sounds on Screen festival he followed his appreciation of great documentaries and his passion for music to select the best music documentaries.
“There are films I want to have on my screen and there are other films that are like a pollution of my screen. This festival is a work of art of what we love to show and see.”
The festival features 12 films over the four days with stories on artists including The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Ed Sheeran and The Topp Twins.
Urs says if it goes well he would like to do more regular cinema fundraisers at the town hall.
