The Baby Boomer generation is synonymous with memorable events such as the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr, the Vietnam War, social experimentation as well as sexual freedom and the civil rights, environmental and women's movements. But how did that play out on TV screens and in cinemas around New Zealand?

Next week the Film Archive takes a 70-minute romp through pivotal Baby Boomer moments to Hamilton. Big Moments from the Past, 1953 - 1985 will screen at the Victoria Cinema on 19 and 20 July 2008.

Drawn from the Film Archive's collection of films, television, home movies and commercials, this is 70 minutes of seriously entertaining New Zealand history. The cars we drove, the bands we went crazy about, the slacks we wore and more, this footage is sure to tug at the nostalgic heartstrings.

The programme features various well-known faces and reminds us how times have changed. Fred Dagg demonstrates how to get television reception with an aerial while screaming packs of teenagers welcome the Beatles at Christchurch airport and Aunt Daisy whips up a pav.

Film Archive National Programmes Manager Jane Paul has been bringing special screenings to the Waikato for the past six years and says it's a great way for local audiences to regularly see their heritage on screen.

"The Film Archive's collection is enormous and these programmes enable local kiwis to view themselves on screen all around the country. In this case I've compiled films and extracts around the social goings-on, including music, fashion and politics from 1953 - 1985. They're 'Big Moments' - both in national and international terms but also in a charming personal sense with the inclusion of a clip like a 1960 Newsreel that follows a 5-year-old's first day of school."

"The Film Archive showed this programme in Wellington last year and people really enjoyed it - in fact one woman was so impressed she returned the next day with 12 friends to re-watch it. She explained she had been living overseas during the 70s and 80s so it filled in a chunk of New Zealand life she had been absent for and she was overjoyed to be able to reclaim that time."

Audience members are invited, both young and old, to delight in the snapshots stories of our unique past from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Read the Big Moments programme