Single-Screen Cinemas are History!
The counter-trend resuscitation of historic picture theatres in regional NSW
by Karen Crowe
Abstract
Since the 1980s, cinema industry trends have undergone major transformations in response to and in favour of the multiplex style of exhibition. In Australia, as elsewhere, a growing number of screens have become increasingly concentrated in terms of both ownership and location. Related distribution practices present challenges for single-screen and independent cinemas, and consequently many have closed or converted to multi-screen complexes. In areas of regional NSW which commercial exhibitors no longer consider it viable to operate, local people are creating their own screening initiatives. In a number of towns this has resulted in the restoration and resumed operation of long-closed historic cinemas. Since 1998, this activity has been recognised and supported by the NSW state government through its Regional Cinema Program. In this paper an overview of these developments will be followed by an analysis of rhetorical claims made by policymakers and conservationists for the material and ideological functions of cinema in relation to “community.”
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Biography
Karen is a PhD Candidate in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications. Working across disciplines of cultural studies, cinema studies and social geography, her thesis research seeks to investigate the social and economic significance of ‘cinema-going' to concepts of community in regional New South Wales.
Karen can be contacted at klc912@uow.edu.au
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