Dedicated to discovering charming cinemas all over Australia and the world . Seek them out and Go!
We have great ambitions for Cinematourista.
We want to plant the idea that it's fun when travelling, to make a goal of seeking out the most charming, the most unusual, the strangest cinemas still operating in this plastic world of ours.
If people find it interesting to visit churches, castles and stately homes, why not cinemas?
So, here we make it easy by listing the most interesting cinemas across Australia, and bit by bit, we'll add other special picture palaces from around the world.
You'll find unexpected treasures here. Many of our cinemas are old and beautiful, characteristics which have helped them beat off developers and the wreckers ball.
Most are on the small size, often with just a classic single screen, though two screens cinemas make it to our list as well.
You'll find no mutiplexes here. This is because our aim is to boost intimate cinemas which hark back to the glory days of picture going, to help these cinemas survive and thrive as very special, very precious, venues.
You find few city cinemas here since development pressures have spared so few Picture palaces in our cities, land being so valuable and the classic venues too large to be viable.
Indeed, the further a town is from the city, the more chance a country charming cinema survives like the Amusu at Manildra for example, or Mount Vic. Flicks at Mount Victoria
Our cinemas are exceptionally friendly places. Many are hosted by their owners who not only greet you when you arrive, but quiz you on what you thought of the movie as you leave. Often, it's almost like being welcomed into someone's home, something no multiplex can match.
Because they are warm and charming, we think these cinemas have a future and will actually multiply. The Regal at Newcastle, a tiny single screen in a converted community hall, re opened (Few. 2014) after 6 years. Mount Vic Flicks recently re opened (august 2013)
This new lease of life is because the most loyal cinema patrons these days are the grey haired, the boomers. As this group gets better and better home viewing systems, and faster and faster downloads, the reason to go actually out to a movie, to spend biggish bucks, becomes more and more the social one, that is to patronize a venue you love because its a nice place to be and meet friends.
On Cinematourista, we also bring together practical stuff, locations, screening times, contact numbers, etc. Via, Find a Cinema, at the top of the page, you can click through to the cinema's own web site with the latest program details, what they are showing and when.
Some of the theatres on our list run full time like Avoca, like Glenbrook , like Huskisson. Some run a few days a week or on week ends. Others are held back by not yet having digital projectors
Down the track we hope to act as a clearing house for advice, both for existing cinemas and towns presently without a silver screen who'd like to start one up. Places which might be thinking of converting that unused School of Arts, that boarded up church hall, into a great little picfure palace. As District Nurse, Sue Denison found out in the town of Nundle, starting a cinema can have a positive impact on public health (see movie section)
We'll show such towns how. Suggest the projector to buy, the best type of seating, whether to link to a coffee shop or not. etc. For establised cinemas, we'll feature news stories on attractions which work, whether event cinema , like French Fridays or an Italian night, are a good idea.
One of our cinemas, Avoca, regularly sells out with such events, usually combining a foreign comedy film, say from Spain, with Spanish delicacies and a flamenco guitar, all setting the mood before the movie. It's a winning combination for that theatre.
Perhaps cinemas can help each other via this site. Those well equipped might hold fund raisers for others which have yet to go digital. Helping one helps us all since each success, promotes the small cinema experience and business model
So, get going everyone. Become a cinema toutista. And if you find a cinema treasure we've missed, here or overseas, let us know and if it meets our criteria, we'll create a home page for it, free of charge.
IF YOU DO VISIT ONE OF THE CINEMAS ON THIS SITE, PLEASE SAY HI FROM CINEMA TOURISTA AND LET US KNOW OF ANY NEWS WE CAN POST HERE
Lastly, if you've never seen the 1988 classic, Cinema Paradiso, hunt down a DVD. It's what we are all about.
