It’s all go. We officially opened the Festival of Colour last night with a special sneak preview of Grahame Sydney’s film ‘Dreaming of El Dorado’ – a screening for Patrons, Benefactors and Sponsors. "It is a very beautiful Grahame Sydney work with stunning cinematography, lingering on the iconic Central Otago landscape - it's a painter's film" said festival director, Philip Tremewan. 

We start the festival with a screening of this film at Cinema Paradiso at 10am, there are a handful of tickets available on the door, so get there early to avoid disappointment.

	Also showing today is Serenata a Tre which gets the Infinity Crystal palace underway at 12pm. You can pop into the Crystal Palace at any time from 10am for a coffee, light snacks, platters, hot soup and a selection of wine and beers from Red Lemon catering. Door sales available for $5
	Strange Resting Places at the Wanaka Masonic Lodge at 6pm has 3 tickets left at time of publication.
	Finders Keepers is an extraordinarily powerful piece of dance. We’ve seen the rehearsal and it is stunning. Make sure you book now – there are a few seats left for this world premiere.
	Witches over Wanaka at Hawea Flat hall was a sell out on day one for this popular local theatre group. All of their shows at Hawea and Wanaka Masonic Lodge have sold out. The New Zealand Army Band will bring the house down at Luggate Hall. Fabio and Ana Robles are over from Melbourne to show off their Tango moves. There was one seat left at the time of writing, but there are other performances in Clyde on 1 May and Tarras on 29 April at 7pm.

All of these, and tickets for performances over the next few days can be booked in person at the Lake Wanaka Centre box office, open from 10am until 7pm, www.festivalofcolour.co.nz and (03) 443 4178.

Ticket availability

The website home page will be constantly updated during festival week with information on the latest ticket sales and which shows still have availability, so make sure to check this out.

And do remember to check our ticket exchange board in the foyer of the Lake Wanaka Centre. where people can buy and sell tickets they can no longer use - you might just get lucky for one of these sell out shows.

Be inspired … Be astounded … Be in Wanaka … Be there.

 The next Festival of Colour takes place on 28 April to 3 May 2009 and is generously supported by Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust of Otago, Creative New Zealand, Infinity Investment Group, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Aurora.