Words by Yana Papaya

Edit by Rina Patel

What feelings occupy your soul when you think of the word Carnival? What words spring into your mind? Is it just me or do you also have in mind the hot picture of a half-naked dancing crowd wearing feather headdresses, strutting about in their bikinis down the streets of Rio De Janeiro? Right…As we are here to break stereotypes of yours, our team went down to the South Island (NZ) to break some ice, rules and stereotypes.

We were happy, lucky and warm-equipped enough (you can’t even imagine how many layers we came up with) to face the cold weather of Dunedin, a unique City that has become a hub of great entertainment, creativity, beautiful people and fine human joy. Since 1997, Dunedin with its total population of 127,500 people has been going through a fascinating transformation. Taking place closest to the Winter Solstice this grand city becomes host to the Midwinter Carnival, celebrating the longest night on Earth.

Our team volunteered to go down to witness that fairy-tale event so we could capture those creative moments of the “Winter Garden” Procession, where talented artists convert objects into designs of magic lantern costumes presented in various shapes and theme-based works.

Thanks to the organisers we had backstage access and were able to observe carnival preparations from the inside-out. After  locating the best and safe areas for public access so we could kick off our Drone equipment, we ended up in a whole new adventure. As a result we showed our best team-effort and did some awesome filming. We shared positive vibes, drunk mulled wine, danced to bluesy beats, watched the magic unfold from various angles and tried to capture it with our own eyes and cameras. We also remembered the feeling of a cold winter night, the type that makes you snuggle up close to someone special. We even stumbled across that someone special who was overwhelmed with that fluffy joyful feeling of love, jumped on a stage and proposed to his girl. Isn’t it lovely?

Our Papaya Stories Team has carefully put together our very own visual magic story on the Midwinter Carnival 2015. Check out our short movie designed to celebrate unity, creativity, dance, collaboration and love. ENJOY!

Did you like it? Let us know what you think.

We’d love this video to be seen to as many cool individuals as possible all around the world,We belive that we can create other miracles together, so please help us to spread the word about this video! Share the link with your friends and family!

Special thanks to Paul Smith and Darryl Baser from the organisational team for hosting us at the event! Hope more great collaborations to come…