Latest news with #NZMountainFilmFestival
Scoop
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Local Events Supported With $287,000 In Council Grants And New Policy
Councillors approved Queenstown Lakes District Council's (QLDC) events funding at its meeting on Thursday 26 June and adopted a district Events Policy at the same time. A total of $287,000 was awarded as part of the annual contestable Events Fund 2025-2026 which goes toward attracting and supporting sports, arts, cultural and community events across the district. Councillor Craig Ferguson, chair of the QLDC Events Funding Panel, said it was heartening to provide support to a range of commercial and community events that celebrate our district and boost community wellbeing. 'We've been able to award grants to 18 events which will take place across the district including the Queenstown Multicultural Festival, Central Lakes Polyfest, NZ Mountain Film Festival, Challenge Wānaka Festival, Arrowtown Autumn Festival and Wānaka A&P Show,' said Mr Ferguson. The funding criteria supports events that are committed to environmental sustainability, economic impact, event diversity, and positive community benefits. 'This year we've focused on events' environmental sustainability and prioritised funding for applicants that are taking steps toward better waste reduction and the minimisation of carbon emissions,' he said. As well as the yearly funding round, QLDC continues to provide ongoing support for community events through local support grant programmes. Over the past year more than 140 events were supported through in-kind services such as use of Council venues, reserves, equipment and waiving permitting fees. QLDC's Events Funding Panel, which consisted of councillors Craig Ferguson, Quentin Smith, Matt Wong and Barry Bruce, considered the applications in late May. 'It is never easy for the panel to step through the applications. Every year we see the increased demand for support from QLDC so we would like to sincerely thank all of those who applied for funding assistance,' said Mr Ferguson. Full details of the fund recipients can be viewed on the Council's website at Councillor Ferguson says the new QLDC Events Policy will help guide event organisers and staff to make decisions based on what the community want to see from events in our district. 'During the policy engagement we heard how events are highly valued in our district as they contribute to the economic, social and cultural vitality of the area, and reinforce our community identity,' he said. 'This new policy reflects the community's expectations of events such as reducing event waste and carbon emissions and managing the impacts events have on community experience, both positive and negative.' There are eight objectives that have been developed and embedded in the policy to ensure events held in our district support wellbeing in the community and our key strategies. These are mapped to the QLDC Wellbeing Framework. Future procedures, decision-making and funding criteria will be based around these objectives. To view the QLDC Event Policy go to FURTHER INFORMATION | Kā pāroko tāpiri The QLDC Events Fund 2025-2026 opened for applications from 1-30 April for people looking to organise events that benefit the community. The fund is open to both commercial and community-level events. QLDC received 22 applications to the Events Fund requesting a total of $830,971.83 in grants. To view details on past Event Fund recipients, go to QLDC awarded $180,000 through the QLDC Community Fund 2025-2026 to 28 local groups. For more information go to The draft Events Policy was open for community engagement from 10 February to 7 March 2025.
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Rock climbing great Beth Rodden
Considered one of the greatest rock climbers of all time, Beth Rodden, has conquered much more than some of the world's most challenging summits. She is known for epic free climbs - where a climber uses their own strength to go up the wall and rope in just to prevent falls. Beth has achieved multiple firsts for women in the sport including the first to complete a free ascent of El Capitan, the world-renowned vertical rock formation at Yosemite National Park. In 2000 she and three other climbers were kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan by rebels from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan for six days before overpowering one of their captors and escaping to a nearby military camp and returning to the US. In her memoir A Light Through The Cracks she tells the story of that harrowing event - including their decision to push their captor off a mountain top - and her long recovery from the trauma of it. Beth has gone on to advocate for better mental health support for climbers who often experience the deaths of close friends in the sport. and for equal pay for women. She is in New Zealand this week speaking to high school students in Wanaka as well as giving talks at the NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival . Photo: Supplied and AFP
Otago Daily Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Adventures to unfold on big screen
Some of the best adventure films from across the globe will be shown in Queenstown next week. The annual NZ Mountain Film Festival, now in its 23rd year, this year received a record 294 entries — the final lineup features 64 award-winning and finalist films, including 18 by Kiwi film-makers. Being held at the Queenstown Memorial Centre next Thursday and Friday, the films will also be available to watch online from July 1 to 31. The Thursday session here, from 7pm, starts with a 'social session' before a conversation with Beth Rodden, regarded as one of the greatest rock climbers of all time, who's recently published a memoir, A Light Through the Cracks, from 7.30pm. Four films will then be shown including Trango, directed by Leo Hoorn (US), the grand prize winner this year. The film follows a team of ski mountaineers, including previous NZ Mountain Film Fest guest speaker Christina Lustenberg, of the US, who skied the first descent of the Great Trango Glacier in Pakistan, after a two-year attempt. Navigating risk, grappling with grief and facing physical danger, the team pushes the limits of human experiences, facing the unimaginable together. Other films on Thursday night are Body of a Line (Henna Taylor, US), solo award winner Far Enough (Julien Carot, France), and Alone Across Gola (Jude Kriwald, UK), the best film on adventurous sports and lifestyle. Another seven films will screen during Friday's 'Pure NZ' session, between 3pm and 6pm. They include the community spirit award-winner, Spirit of the West (Pedro Pimentel), which is set against New Zealand's West Coast and captures the spirit of the Old Ghost Ultra, All In or Nothing, directed by Gordon Duff, which won the best documentary award, and follows young athlete Matthew Fairbrother who's up against 120 riders with full support crews as he attempts to win the overall title at the NZ MTB Rally, on his own, and Waiatoto (Josh Morgan and Jasper Gibson), winner of the Hiddleston/MacQueen Award for best NZ-made film. It tells the story of a traverse across the Southern Alps through packraft, skis and tramping. Starting at the Matukituki, Gibson, Nick Pascoe and Charlie Murray travelled via Tititea, the Volta Glacier and the Waiatoto to the Tasman Sea. "We didn't set out to make a film," Pascoe says, "the focus was on a creative adventure through an incredible corner of the country, simply for the sake of it." Rounding out this year's festival is Friday night's 'Snow Show', from 7pm, which includes best snow sports film Painting the Mountains (Pierre Cadot, France), set in El Chalten, a remote Patagonian village beneath Fitz Roy, where three French skiers arrive to pioneer new lines. Tickets to Thursday's session cost $30 ($5 youth discount) and $25 for each of Friday's sessions, with youth discounts. For more info, or to buy tickets, see
