Hundreds of people have been flocking to catch a movie at the Gaiety Theatre.

The end of May relaunch saw people lining up along Marine Parade to enjoy top movies The Little Mermaid and Fast X drawing crowds.

Schools have also supported the Gaiety’s reopening with students from Frasertown School, St Joseph’s School, Putere School and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungungu o Te Wairoa heading to the movies for the screening of Elemental.

There is also a new face at the box office with Roz Karangaroa staffing the cinema. Nuhaka raised, Roz lived in Auckland for 23 years and has a background in hospitality and administration. More recently she was owner/operator of the Nuhaka Fish and Chip shop for eight years.

Roz had been working at the i-Site on weekends and helped with the live streaming of the Matatini Festival from the Gaiety just after the cyclone. “I fell in love with the Gaiety building. It brought back the old days of playing basketball before the building was refurbished into a cinema. I love movies and the fact Wairoa has a cinema. It’s great to be a part of it all.”

The Gaiety is screening a steady stream of films and is aiming to play some of the movies that weren’t screened while the projector was not working.

The postponed Māori Film Festival is also scheduled for early October, so there is a lot going on.

Movie screenings are 5.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday and 2pm on Sunday, with two screenings on Friday at 5.30pm and 8pm and 2pm and 5.30pm on Saturday.

For the movie schedule, check out the Gaiety Theatre on Facebook or Tuesday’s Wairoa Star.

Photo: Roz Karangaroa is the new face at the Gaiety Theatre Box Office.

19 July 2023

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