What to do in Auckland this weekend: Diwali Festival, Show Me Shorts, live music and more

The Diwali Festival is the most vibrant event of the year for Auckland City.

Auckland is brimming with arts, culture and events this weekend. If you’re looking for ways to be entertained, this is the curated list you need. There are big things such as the Diwali Festival, smaller things like Show Me Shorts, spooky things like Auckland Phil’s Fantastique, and practical things such as Samsung’s e-waste collection days. Here are our picks for the nine best things to do in Auckland this weekend.

1) Diwali festival brings joy to Aotea Square

Diwali events have been ramping up all week before this weekend’s free, two-day festival in Aotea Square. It’s the most vibrant event of the year for Auckland City with live music, Bollywood dance competitions, contemporary and traditional Indian performances, exhibitions, food, theatre, art installations, light projections, yoga classes, retail stalls, a chill-out zone and Bollywood movie screenings. Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness and good over evil, which makes for a truly joyful festival. Take public transport if you can. This year, there will be free BNZ rickshaw rides up Queen St from the Waitematā transport hub – a truly festive way to travel. As always, the festival closes with a large fireworks display on Sunday evening.

When: Today and tomorrow, noon-9pm.

Where: Aotea Square, Auckland Central.

Price: aucklandnz.com, free.

2) Give me the short version

One of this year’s sessions is a retrospective, screening a selection of the best New Zealand short films of the past 20 years. Photo / Help Me Tom, 2024

Aotearoa’s premier short film festival – Show Me Shorts – opened in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this week. It’s the 20th anniversary for the festival, which started out as a niche event at the Academy Cinemas and has grown to an Academy Award and Bafta-qualifying festival with more than 100 screenings nationwide. To celebrate the anniversary, one of this year’s sessions is a retrospective, screening a selection of the best New Zealand short films of the past 20 years. Films are grouped by theme, such as Whānau Friendly, Aotearoa, Love at All Costs, Our Planet and Place, and popular highlights session The Sampler. This weekend in Tāmaki Makaurau, there are sessions at Academy Cinemas, The Capitol and Lopdell House, with screenings at a selection of other cinemas throughout the city and country next week and beyond.

When: Auckland: October 7-26.

Where: Nationwide, various dates throughout October and November.

Price: Visit showmeshorts.co.nz for the full schedule and tickets.

3) 50 years on from 1975 Māori Land March

The exhibition Te Matakite o Aotearoa celebrates 50 years since Dame Whina Cooper led the 1975 Māori Land March to Wellington. Photo / Te Matakite o Aotearoa

Head north to Waitangi before October 19 and you’ll get to see the exhibition Te Matakite o Aotearoa, celebrating 50 years since Dame Whina Cooper led the 1975 Māori Land March to Wellington. If you can’t make it up there, you can see the documentary film, which is a centrepiece of the exhibition, screening tomorrow at Waiheke Cinema and on Monday at the University of Auckland General Library. Each of the Auckland screenings of Te Matakite o Aotearoa is followed by a Q and A with film-maker Geoff Steven, who will reflect on his experience as the leader of the only film crew permitted to travel with the protesters for the entirety of the hīkoi. Monday’s screening, at noon, approximates the time the march arrived at Parliament 50 years ago.

When: Tomorrow, 4.30pm.

Where: Waiheke Cinema, 127-129 Ocean View Rd, Oneroa, Waiheke Island.

Price: Tickets from waihekecinema.co.nz.

When: Monday, noon.

Where: University of Auckland Library, 5 Alfred St, Level M, Cultural Collection Auckland, Auckland.

Price: Free tickets from eventbrite.co.nz.

4) Jackie Clarke is a nobody

Clarke plays five ordinary women, each encountering a world-famous singer who teaches them something about themselves. Photo / Kurt Langer

Songstress and performer extraordinaire Jackie Clarke is hardly a nobody but in Tadpole Theatre Production’s Songs for Nobodies, she plays five of them. The show is a combination play and musical revue in which Clarke plays five ordinary women, each encountering a world-famous singer who teaches them something about themselves and the unexpected consequences of fame. Clarke channels Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Maria Callas, and proves what an exceptional chameleon she is on stage. Songs for Nobodies opened its 12-show run on Wednesday at the Pumphouse Theatre in Takapuna, and if you’re a fan of phenomenal female vocalists, it’s a must-see.

When: October 8-19.

Where: Pumphouse Theatre, Manurere Ave, Takapuna.

Price: Tickets start at $25 + booking fees from pumphouse.co.nz.

5) Hidden honey at Clevedon market

Hidden Honey’s James Green is hitting the road this weekend, travelling from Auckland to Wellington with a van-load of bees to educate New Zealanders.

When choosing the ideal travel companions, not many would pick 120,000 stingers, but Hidden Honey’s James Green has done just that. He’s hitting the road this weekend, travelling from Auckland to Wellington with a van-load of bees to educate New Zealanders on the importance of these prolific pollinators to keep our country blooming. Tomorrow, his first stop will be Clevedon Farmers Market. He’ll be pulling up in his electric Volkswagen ID. Buzz van carrying a live colony of bees. He’ll introduce market-goers to the hive, share stories of his beekeeping adventures and hand out seed packets of bee-friendly plants. Then, on October 18, he’ll do the same at Whanganui River Market before ending his road trip at the Wellington Harbourside Market on October 26.

When: Tomorrow, 8am-1pm.

Where: Clevedon Farmers Market, Monument Rd, Clevedon. See @volkswagen_nz to follow James’ journey.

6) Book lovers and lover books

Auckland’s first romance bookshop is celebrating with a wide range of events in store.

It’s Bookshop Day today, a chance for bibliophiles to give some love and hopefully some money to their favourite local bookshop. Auckland’s first romance bookshop, Enamoured Books, is celebrating with a wide range of events in store including goodie bags for the first 30 customers, Magnolia & Soul tea tasting (10am), live music by Abbey Busch (10am-12.30pm), a tattoo pop-up with Alex Heart from The Fox’s Mark and Kitty Stabler from Styx and Stones Tattoo, and more. If ever there was a day to commune with your fellow readers and spoil yourself with a new book, it’s today.

When: Today, 10am-5pm.

Where: Enamoured Books, 346 Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland.

Price: Free.

7) Dump your e-waste here

Take your old devices and cables along to Samsung’s e-waste collection drives this weekend. Photo / Connor Crawford

If you’ve got a pile of old devices, a drawer of decommissioned cables, or a broken laptop gathering dust, then take them along to Samsung’s e-waste collection drives this weekend or next and get them out of your hair responsibly. Today’s event is at Trusts Arena, where you can drop off any e-waste, including whiteware and heat pumps, without even getting out of your car. It’s incredibly easy and much better for the environment than throwing them into your bin. E-waste disposal company Echo ensures all e-waste received is processed in the most environmentally sound way. Next weekend’s collection point is at Eden Park.

When: Today, 9am-3pm.

Where: Trusts Arena Lower Carpark, Gate 3, 65-67 Central Park Drive, Henderson.

When: October 18, 9am-3pm.

Where: Eden Park, Gate M, entry via Sandringham Rd, Kingsland.

Price: Free.

8) Plan ahead: Tell me a love story

Trent Dalton's Love Stories has now been adapted into a stage show.

Journalist and author Trent Dalton crowd-sourced the material for Love Stories by sitting on a street corner in Brisbane with a typewriter, asking passersby to tell him a love story. He later turned that material into a book, which has now been adapted into a stage show opening at The Civic on Thursday. Created with director Sam Strong and writer Tim McGarry, who also worked with Dalton on the stage version of Boy Swallows Universe, the show combines music, movement and storytelling to create a joyous and uplifting theatre experience that makes for a pretty great night out.

When: October 16-19.

Where: The Civic, Queen St, Auckland Central.

Price: Tickets start at $69 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz.

9) Plan ahead: Fantastically spooky music

French conductor Pierre Bleuse is making his Australasian debut. Photo / Julia Severinsen

Auckland Phil is kicking off the spooky season a wee bit early this year with Fantastique on Thursday night. The evening’s repertoire features dark compositions exploring nightmares, witchcraft and death, appropriate for the impending Halloween. Making his Australasian debut is French conductor Pierre Bleuse, leading the orchestra in Louise Webster’s Proof Against Burning, Liszt’s Totentanz and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

When: October 16, 7.30pm.

Where: Auckland Town Hall, Queen St, Auckland Central.

Price: Tickets start at $27 + booking fees from aucklandphil.nz or ticketmaster.co.nz.

Coming up

• Faulty Towers The Dining Experience: October 8-26, Christchurch, Wellington, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Rotorua, Tauranga, Auckland.
• Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones: October 9–18, Artworks Theatre, Waiheke.
• The NZ Highwaymen tour: October 15-19, Tauranga, Putaruru, Auckland, Whangarei, Orewa.
• Raybonanza Comedy Tour: October 17, Vic Cinema, Auckland.
• Autistic Flair by James Keating: October 18, The Classic Studio, Auckland.
• Captain Morrow and the Sands of Time: October 21-November 8, Q Theatre, Auckland.
• Nelson Arts Festival: October 23-November 2, Nelson.
• NZSO’s Affirmation: Dvořák & Brahms: October 23, Wellington. October 24, Auckland.
• Titirangi Festival of Music: October 25-26, Titirangi, Auckland.
• Bill Bailey – Vaudevillean: nationwide tour from October 29-November 23.
• Dungeon of the Damned: October 31-November 2, Birkenhead, Auckland.
• Auckland Festival of Quilts: October 31-November 2, Auckland Netball Centre.
• Analogue Aotearoa: November 1-2, Te Aroha.
• Tofiga Fepulea’i, Shuuush Your Mouf: November 1-8, Hamilton, Auckland, Tauranga.
• The Dry House: November 4-15, Basement Theatre, Auckland.
• Kowhai Art & Craft Club Sale and Exhibition: November 7-9, Matakana Hall.
• NZ Sculpture OnShore: November 7-23, Devonport, Auckland.
• All Together Now Choir, Mixtape for the Mission: November 9, Auckland Town Hall.
• An Evening with Priscilla Presley, Life after Elvis: November 20, Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland.
• Eddie Izzard – The Remix Tour Live: November 21-26, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland.
• H.R. The Musical #2: November 25-December 6, Q Theatre, Auckland.
• Kirk Franklin, The World Tour: December 10-13, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland.
• Dynamotion & Q Theatre present A Christmas Crisis: December 10-20, Q Theatre, Auckland.
• Oprah In Conversation: December 14, Spark Arena, Auckland.
• The ASB Classic: January 5-17, Auckland.
• Jimmy Carr – Laughs Funny Tour: January 7–28, nationwide.