A Roxburgh group hoping for big-screen glory came one frame closer to success yesterday.
The Roxburgh Entertainment Centre Improvement and Promotions Inc was successful in gaining financial support from the Teviot Valley Community Board.
The board owns the building, now known as the Roxburgh Entertainment Centre, where movies are regularly screened by the group.
In fact, movies have been screened in that location since as early as 1897, according to an advertisement that year in the Mount Benger Mail newspaper, group secretary Gaynor Crabbe said.
The organisation is applying to Guinness World Records to be recognised as the''longest continuous running cinema on the same location in the world''.
''Should we succeed with this application, it will bring much notoriety, not only to Roxburgh, but for the whole of Central Otago,'' Mrs Crabbe told the board.
However, new movie releases can only be screened using digital equipment and to upgrade its projector and convert to digital will cost the group about $100,000, so it has launched a fundraising campaign and is applying to various trusts for support.
Mrs Crabbe said being able to screen movies in the town was important to the community, especially the younger generation. Up to 100 children could attend a ''blockbuster'' animated film, several times a year, she said.
The activity was run by volunteers and it was a vital service, giving ''rural kids'' somewhere to go with their friends on Saturday and Sunday nights.
The board decided yesterday to give $5000 towards the fund for new equipment.
''They want to be able to keep things ticking over in the meantime, with a few movies, even if they're older ones, so they're still in the running for the world record,'' board chairman Raymond Gunn said.
The entertainment centre, which included the movie theatre, was a real asset - ''our asset'', he said.
Central Otago District Council Teviot valley representative Stephen Jeffery suggested the sum of $5000.
''It's a good start for a great project,'' Cr Jeffery said.
