Miss World Contest disrupted by protesters in Misbehaviour

Six60 band members Marlon Gerbes, Ji Fraser, Matiu Walters, Eli Paewai and Chris Mac.

Currently screening at the Regent Pahiatua, the British drama Misbehaviour is based on the controversial true events that took place during the Miss World Contest in 1970 in London.

At that time the Miss World Contest was the most-watched TV show in the world with more than 100 million viewers.

Arguing that beauty competitions demean and objectify women, seeing them as nothing more than a set of measurements, the newly formed Women's Liberation Movement achieved overnight fame by invading the stage and disrupting the live TV broadcast.

Keira Knightly in a scene from Misbehaviour.

On top of that, when the show resumed the result caused an uproar: the winner was not the blonde, blue-eyed Swedish favourite as expected but Miss Grenada, the first black woman to be crowned Miss World.

Within hours a global TV audience had seen the Miss World patriarchy driven from the stage and the western ideal of beauty subverted.

It stars Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear as Bob Hope, who hosted the show, and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville as Dolores, his wife of 69 years. Also starring Oscar nominee Keira Knightly and BAFTA winner Jessie Buckley.

Continuing its season at the Regent this week is the Christmas-themed, feel-good, true-life drama A Christmas Gift From Bob.

A must-see for cat and animal lovers in general, it tells the story of recovering addict and street musician James Bowen who had his life transformed when he met a stray ginger cat whom he named Bob in this sequel to the hit movie A Street Cat Named Bob,

James finds himself the target of an animal welfare investigation that threatens to take away his beloved cat at Christmas time.

Concluding its season at the Regent this week is the music documentary Six60 Till The Lights Go Out.

Featuring all the greatest hits of one of NZ's most popular bands, (the band's drummer Eli Paewai was raised by his grandparents on a farm near Dannevirke), the story of Six60 is one that is inextricably linked to New Zealand and Kiwi culture, but it's also a story of love, compassion and never giving up.

Six60 Till The Lights Go Out will screen finally at the Regent on Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm.

The Regent will close for a break from December 24 and will re-open on Thursday, January 14, with two great British movies: the Noel Coward comedy Blithe Spirit and the WWII spy-drama A Call To Spy followed by the new Australian crime-thriller The Dry, the animated family adventure Dragon Rider and the fantasy action-adventure Wonder Woman 1984.

For more information visit: www.regentupstairs.co.nz