Page 22 - 2015-03

The Death of Film?

Roger Seccombe
If you’re a regular reader of “Reel Deals” Today only a few still screen film prints.
I have no doubt you’ve already made up One is out in Melbourne’s eastern sub-
your mind that FILM is, at the best, on the urbs at Mitcham where the Plaza Cinema
way out or, at worst, in its death throes! Group has been operating now for more
Yet, (as my mother used to say) “While than 25 years!
there’s life there’s hope!”
Yes, there are now few film distributors
The recent release of Quentin Tarantino’s left (like Amalgamated movies in Char-
latest film “The Hateful Eight” on 70mm ters Towers, Potential Films in North
prints for special pre-release seasons was Melbourne and the National Library in
heartening. Of course, with so few cine- Canberra and a handful of others) but his
mas retaining any film capability (let doesn’t stop the Plaza Cinema screening
alone 70mm) we only had three cinemas a wide range of classic movies both older
screening the 70mm prints in Melbourne: and relatively modern.
the Rivoli in Camberwell, Astor in St
Kilda and Sun in Yarraville. The group screens both standard (Acade-
my) and widescreen formats, with a high
Where else can you still see FILM releas- quality sound system, in a proper raked
es in Melbourne? A few titles at Palace auditorium of cinema seats from a dedi-
Cinema’s Astor Theatre… but little else. cated biobox. As it’s not a large audito-
Yet you can still find FILM amongst a rium 16mm suffices which is fortunate as
dwindling number of film societies! it’s just a lot harder to access many of the

22 REEL DEALS March 2016