Sydney’s Arthouse Cinemas & The Return Of The Love Seat (Naked City)

When compact discs first appeared in the early 1980s, the marketing of recorded music entered a new era. Over the next decade vinyl pressings still survived but many predicted the format was all but dead and CDs would reign supreme. Few would have thought that in another three decades the old technology would come storming back amongst both fervent record collectors and a whole new generation. Admittedly the streaming of music online is preferred by the great majority but vinyl is once again popular, albeit by a dedicated minority.

Many old vinyl albums and 45s have become highly collectable and there’s been a rush of reissues as well as a surge in turntable sales. In the last few years the renaissance appears to have gone from strength to strength. Record shops are full of vinyl, collector fairs abound and many DJs have gone back to spinning the old vinyl grooves. Why?

It’s hard to say exactly, but many have suggested that the tactile nature of vinyl albums and 45s with their large cover artwork is far more exciting and sociable than a rather austere plastic coated metal disc, even though the latter might sound superior. What vinyl junkie doesn’t love to hit a record fair or shop and flip through endless racks and crates of platters, searching for that rare and much sought after item? If you host a party at home, playing DJ with your own record collection, is a lot more engaging than throwing on a CD or a Spotify play list.

It may be wishful thinking but cinemas around the world seem to be undergoing a similar revival, driven very much by the social experience of being in a live audience. Whilst the streaming of movies and an abundance of other viewable entertainment online is at times overwhelming, cinemas have by no means disappeared and the corporate multiplexes have regrouped with all the latest blockbusters.

What have sadly deserted the urban landscape, in cities like Sydney, are the once cherished small and independent cinemas that flourished in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

They screened first releases and numerous cult classics, as well as staging unique special events. The Valhalla in Glebe and the Mandolin Cinema in the CBD were synonymous with indie counter culture programming, including movie marathons, mini film festivals and even nights that combined film with live music and performance. Elsewhere in the CBD and inner city, Walker Street in North Sydney, the Chauvel in Paddington and the somewhat notorious Roma in George Street offered a feast of arthouse and cult movie screenings.

Whilst it’s strictly a one off phenomenon, the success of the IMAX screening of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ in Melbourne, using the classic 70mm IMAX film format, shows that given something special punters will flock to a cinema – enjoying not only the movie, but the atmosphere created by a full house. Such is the demand for tickets, that there’s even a 6.15am session for the nearly three hour long epic and scalpers have even arrived on the scene.

On a much more modest scale there was a recent hint of an arthouse cinema revival when plans where announced for the redevelopment of the old Palace Verona site in Paddington, A seven storey apartment block is going to shoot up but a cinema will be included in the basement, bringing back a much loved movie theatre that sadly closed a few years ago. It’s something the various councils in Sydney could encourage and look favourably upon, if developers chose to include a cinema in any new buildings.

Whether a return to arthouse and independent cinemas might parallel the nostalgia for old vinyl remains to be seen. There’s a whole new breed of indie filmmakers out there looking for big screen exposure and the various film festivals around the country amply demonstrate that. Film festivals such as the long running Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF), scheduled for the Factory Theatre from the 10th to the 13th September, are a great exposure for new and established filmmakers.
The social experience of being in a likeminded audience at a movie screening can also be found at pub screenings like ‘Terror On Tape’ at the Duke Of Enmore Hotel in Enmore.

Hosted by the legendary Jay Katz and Miss Death their fortnightly screenings of rare occult, horror and vintage silent films regularly draw a dedicated audience. As Katz explained:

“There’s a contagious virus of emotion and laughter that seems to spread throughout the audience which makes these kind of screenings a real communal affair. It sure beats sitting at home by yourself glued to a computer screen”.

You can check out any future screenings at The Duke here. And if punters do rally around the idea of some new indie cinemas springing up, and rejoice in the group gathering, it would be great to see the inclusion of the once popular ‘love seats’ – designed for the canoodling couple with no arm rest down the middle. Yes, sure beats a solitary night at home watching Netflix or an old DVD!