Te Ahu Cinema
Corner Matthews Ave and State Highway 1, KAITAIA - Phone (09) 408 0519.
Cinema is open 1 hour before first session. Seating is unallocated.
Please enter via Church Road Entrance.
Ticket prices
Children under 14 : $8.00
Students with ID : $11.00
Seniors over 65 : $11.00
Adults before 5.00pm : $12.00
Adults after 5.00pm : $15.00
Family Pass before 5.00pm : $35.00 Two Adults plus two Children
Family Pass after 5.00pm : $40.00 Two Adults plus two Children
Email: cinema@teahu.org.nz
'Billy T - Te Movie' for Grand Opening of Te Ahu Cinema
Movie goers in Kaitaia will get to see a long-awaited film about the life of famous Kiwi comedian Billy T James before most New Zealanders. Te Ahu Trust and Cathay Cinema have secured the right to screen 'Billy T - Te Movie' at a gala opening of the Te Ahu Cinema on August 16 [2011] at 8pm.
The screening will be one day after the film's world premier at a new cinema complex in Hamilton, but two days before it screens elsewhere in New Zealand.
Te Ahu Trust member Monty Knight says the trust is very excited to be able to officially open the cinema with the film which celebrates Billy's extraordinary talent as a comedian, actor, writer and musician. "It's a very special New Zealand film for a very special New Zealand theatre."
The opening promises to be Kaitaia's social event of the year, with a two-hour soiree at the cinema getting underway at 6pm. "Mayor Wayne Brown and his wife Toni are going to open it. There's going to be canapés and bubbles." The trust will hold a charity auction of memorabilia and collectors' items before the movie to kick-start a final fundraising phase for the Te Ahu project. "We've got the money to finish the facility, but we need to add finishing touches."
New drapes, additional lighting and a better sound system for the newly-refurbished Far North Community Centre are among the items on the trust's wish-list. "We'd like to have a children's play area outside in the plaza and landscaped gardens."
Mr Knight asks people to support the centre by donating items to the auction. "It's a beautiful facility. Let's finish it off properly." Items donated so far include, a cricket bat signed by former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming and a limited edition magnum of Kaz Cabernet 1996 from Mr Knight's Okahu Estate winery.
People can also buy a $75 ticket for the movie premier and gala opening and have their names recorded on a plaque that will be displayed in the theatre foyer. "We're going to issue an invitation that will be a keepsake to show you were there."
The gala opening won't be a black tie event, but the trust is encouraging people to dress up. "We don't want people to come in their gum boots. Ladies might like to wear a gown."
Phone Monty Knight on 09 408 0888 or call at his 100% appliance store at 24 Commerce Street, Kaitaia, during business hours if you would like to donate an item for the auction. Tickets for the gala opening are limited to 100 and available from the Far North District Council's Redan Road Service Centre or by emailing Bev Crene at bev.crene@fndc.govt.nz.
From Northland Age
Tuesday 19 July 2011The magic of movies returns to Kaitaia
PACKED HOUSE: Every seat was filled for the Te Ahu Cinema's first screening
on Thursday, July 14 [2011], ending a cinema hiatus of more than 20 years
in Kaitaia.
It had been more than 20 years since the Princess Theatre was destroyed by fire, but on Thursday last week Kaitaia's movie drought finally ended with the "soft" opening of the Te Ahu Cinema.
It was a moment not lost on movie fans, who began queuing, in the rain, two hours before the ticket kiosk was due to open at 5pm. Te Ahu Trust general manager Mark Osborne took pity and opened the outer doors an hour early.
By 5pm the queue stretched the length of the foyer area.
Cathay Cinema (Kerikeri) owner Ingrid Galloway, who was there to assist on opening night, was surprised by the numbers and the excitement, but Mr Osborne reminded her that Kaitaia hadn't had a movie theatre for more than 20 years, so the night was a big deal.
A mix of people bought tickets - adults, teenagers and a handful of children
who had managed to persuade someone to ignore the M rating for Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 - but no one was more excited than Morrie Morrison,
self-confessed movie buff and more importantly theatre expert, who played
a leading role in the conversion of what was formerly the Far North Community
Centre's Little Theatre (and will be again from time to time
when it is used by the Kaitaia Dramatic Society).
The screening went without a hitch, with patrons commenting positively on the clarity of the picture, the size of the screen and the sound. The air conditioning worked well too, several commenting on how "nice and warm it was in there".
The movie was peppered with bursts of cheering, with a round of applause at both the beginning and the end.
And Mark Osborne was a happy man when it was all over.
"It was wicked. Everything went perfectly," he said.
There was some fine tuning to be done before the cinema's official opening in a few weeks, but nothing that would be costing him his beauty sleep.
Tuesday 12 July 2011 : KAITAIA'S CINEMA READY TO GO
ROLL ON MOVIES: Kaitaia's Te Ahu complex is really starting to take shape
now that the frame of the atrium is in place. The Far North Community Centre
refurbishment has been completed, and the long-awaited cinema opens in the
Little Theatre on Thursday.
Kaitaia has been without a cinema for more than 20 years, since the Princess Theatre burned down in 1990, but the long wait for a replacement is almost over. The cinema that is now part of the Far North Community Centre's Little Theatre will open for business on Thursday evening with a screening of the new Harry Potter movie, on the very day of its release in New Zealand. The ticket kiosk will open at 5 pm and the projector will roll at 7.30 pm, but tickets will be limited to 100, slightly fewer than the theatre's full capacity.
Te Ahu general manager Mark Osborne said that would enable him to check that every seat in the house had the view patrons would expect and tickets for the first show would be sold on a first come first served basis.
"When it's sold out it's sold out," he said, adding that the only entrance would be via the Church Road frontage. Anyone who went to the rear of the complex would not get in.
There will be two shows on Friday - Kung Fu Panda at 5pm followed by Harry Potter at 7.30 - and four on Saturday. Ticket prices will mirror those of Kerikeri's Cathay Cinema - $8 for children up to 14 years, $11 for students and senior citizens, adults $12 before 5pm and $15 after 5pm, families of two adults and two children $35.
Six local people have been employed as projectionists, from 50 applicants, and will have had all the training they need by Thursday evening.Audience facilities include a full audio loop, which will enable those with impaired hearing to make use of headphones.
The finishing touches were being put to the screen yesterday but everything else, including very comfortable seats, was in place. The fully-computerised projector was ready too. "There would be no need for the reel changes that sometimes interrupted films in the old days," Mr Osborne said, "and if something went wrong the machine would automatically send a message to Sydney for a diagnosis."
And in true cinema style the ticket kiosk includes a selection of ice creams, drinks and confectionary, a la the Nibble Nook that did such brisk business for many years before the Princess Theatre fire.
"We will have rubbish bins in the theatre for people who don't want to spend the entire film clutching their Jelly Tip stick," Mr Osborne added, "and we hope people will use them. In fact we hope they will give this lovely facility all the respect it deserves."
