SCP Sunday Film Fest: Waitangi Weekend

Waitangi Weekend! A weekend where we celebrate Nationhood and duping people into signing away their country by giving them a document to sign that only loosely approximates what it is supposed to mean.

In the 1970s, Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk decided he wanted to distance the negative connotations of the Treaty of Waitangi from New Zealand Nationhood (and recognise NZ's newly discovered multiculturalism) by renaming Waitangi Day. It would now be known as New Zealand Day. And the Queen came to celebrate New Zealand's Nationhood on the first (and only) New Zealand Day! How about that. Thanks Queenie!

New Zealand Day at Waitangi is a compilation of highlights from the televised New Zealand Day pageant. In the 1970s and right through to the 1980s, New Zealand television was the home of television variety hours. This pageant encapsulates the New Zealand obsession with variety. Also, stars Bruno Lawrence, the ubiquitous star of New Zealand film and television.

Enjoy! And have a great Waitangi weekend.