Keep on the Sunny Side

In this half-hour documentary the National Banjo Pickers' Convention is lovingly showcased — as are the flared pants, unruly beards and smoking pipes of 1970. The convention's fourth and final year featured international acts such as Bill Clifton and Frank Sillay, plus local favourites like The Hamilton Bluegrass County Band. Keep on the Sunny Side was one of the 2,400 titles selected to be preserved by Saving Frames — a government-funded project lead by the Film Archive (now Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision) and Park Road Post, to preserve culturally significant films in danger of being lost.   

That was the first one that got well beyond being a banjo convention. The music was becoming more pop-folk oriented. There were some bluegrass bands ... but there was also jug music and soloists and it was much more of a folk festival.

– Musician Paul Trenwith on the 1970 National Banjo Pickers' Convention, Audioculture, August 2018

Key Cast & Crew

Warwick Brock

Director, Writer

John Longworth

Camera

Alan Smythe

Writer

Bob Harvey

Producer

Kel Peach

Camera

David Tossman

Editor