MOUNT Vic Flicks reopens on Saturday with a state-of-the-art digital projector showing an old classic to kick off a new era.
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‘Singin’ in the Rain’ will be the feature but new owner Adam Cousins, who has bought the business with his partner Kirsten Mulholland, said most of the movies planned for the first few months were new releases.
They include ‘Diana’ with Naomi Watts, ‘Mood Indigo’ and ‘The Rocket’, the acclaimed Australian film made in Laos.
The popular ‘old world’ cinema at Mt Victoria had been closed for several weeks following the retirement of the previous long term operators, drawing expressions of concern from regular patrons.
Now, once again, it’s ‘on with the show’.
Mr Cousins, who gave up his job as a costs accountant in Penrith to run the cinema, said his career change had been liberating.
“I don’t miss being on Katoomba station at 6.30 every morning,” he said, as he waited for former owners Ron and Diane Bayley to arrive to give him lessons in the vital art of choc-top making.
The digital equipment shows just how far the film industry has moved away from old-fashioned projectors.
Movie trailers now arrive on USB sticks.
The machine will eventually be able to control the lights and the curtains.
And Mr Cousins will not be tied to the small room upstairs but will be able to operate films from the candy bar or the box office.
Mount Vic will run sessions from Friday afternoons through to Sunday evenings.
It will also show films as part of the Festival of Walking in early October and the Sandfly Film Festival in November.
The new Flicks is part of a mini-revival at Mount Victoria.
The old Bay Tree cafe has been completely gutted and refitted with an elegant wooden verandah and bright pink doors.
Now called Petalura Eatery, after the giant dragon fly that lives in the Upper Mountains, Petalura’s new owners, Peter and Vanessa Gray, are planning a mid-October opening.
