“We have Ladro pizzas, so they’ll be cooked on-site and we have salads as well – they’re really good! On Sundays we have unlimited Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and afternoon activities [called Sundae Sessions], so you can come down and get some food, bring your friends, have a drink, have a picnic if you want, or hire a beanbag or you can sit on a rug with your friends. It’s not just about seeing the film,” says Chin, who explains that Openair is about creating a warm, engaging and up-beat festival vibe, and allowing movie audiences to connect in a way they can’t in a cinema.
“It’s quite an isolated experience,” confesses the film-buff, describing the contrasts between Openair and attending your local cineplex. “You know, [at] the cinema, you are in a room and sharing that experience with people you don’t know, for sure, but I think with Openair there’s definitely an environment cultivated for people communicating, engaging and interacting.” Whether these nurturing elements exist in a mutual connection over cult classics like Dirty Dancing, John Hughes’ well-loved The Breakfast Club, or admiring David Bowie’s hair in Labyrinth – all titles on this year’s program, by the way – or re-enacting scenes during a Grease sing-a-longwhile dressed as Danny, Sandy, Rizzo or Kenickie. “As a rule across the board, we always have a really good mix of new releases and cult classics [on the program]. We encourage people to get on the website and sign up [for email subscription] so they get to know about our upcoming program events [for] the sort of stuff we’ll announce online, like: ‘Come in your best-dressed on Grease sing-a-long and we’ll have prizes on the night’. Through that [email subscriptions] we have a lot of VIP giveaways and competitions…we’ve [even] got a Frozen sing-a-long, which we’re doing for the first time [in Melbourne] and it’s been doing really well for us across the other cities.”
Apart from welcoming a new generation of Elsa wannabes, Openair has always been a strong advocate for environmental conscientiousness. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that all proceeds from this year’s opening night, which will be screening of critically-lauded UK film Pride and a performance from Husky, will be donated to the WWF and their attempt to help conserve Australian marine turtles. Earlier this year, Federal MP Greg Hunt, the Australian Environment Minster, approved the development of Carmichael, the largest coal mine in Australia off the coast of central Queensland, whose establishment could mean great peril for the Great Barrier Reef’s fragile ecosystem and the turtles that live there, whose greatest threat is habitat loss and degradation. “Yeah, I think it’s extremely important,” says Chin vehemently, explaining how WWF will be screening an award-winning film about their efforts on the night. The film will depict the turtles’ plights from habitat destruction and pollution, and how people’s donations help protect the Great Barrier Reef, and hence, the turtles. “I think we should really get behind any organisation protecting animals or the environment.”
In the past, Openair has been supportive of many environment-orientated causes, including Sea Shepherd, a non-profit conservation organisation that conserves marine habitat and prevents wildlife slaughter; Take 3, an ’09 initiative that encourages people to take at least three pieces of rubbish away with them if they’re near or at waterways or beaches to help reduce marine debris, and hence, habitat loss and marine death; and OzHarvest, a charity founded in November 2004 that takes surplus food from food providers and redistributes the food to men, women, and children in need. All these initiatives have one thing in common: minimising environmental damage and pollution.
“It’s [really] about how we are minimising the damage we do to the environment by resourcing. A really big part of Openair is getting behind and supporting these organisations, particularly the smaller ones that are growing and emerging, and help nurture those relationships between our audiences and their work – so basically engaging the community and getting people aware and able to do something, and giving them an avenue to do something for the animals and environment. Whenever we’re approached by anyone who’s working in that area, we’re all ears.”
Despite all the seriousness, because wildlife and environment conservation is serious stuff, Chin assures us that Openair is about “uniting together and having fun together. It’s not like sitting in a closed environment watching a film. It’s fun, summery, and upbeat.”
BY AVRILLE BYLOK-COLLARD
