Blow Up Cinema takes films to environments appropriate to their subject matter. “I came up with the idea for Blow Up Cinema as I love the idea of using great spaces in ways they were not necessarily designed for,” says Berger. “Back in the 1990s, through my record shop, Rising Sounds, I would put on parties in places like the old power station on Lonsdale Street and in mills in North Melbourne, so putting on films in these sorts of places is kind of an extension of that – except we’re showing great films, not raving ’til dawn!”
While many of us are accustomed to sitting in a pretty neutral (unless you count popcorn rustling), dark space to take in a flick, Berger says your surrounds certainly count, and not just in terms of sound. “The environment has a huge impact on your experience when watching a film. I mean, sometimes it’s great to be immersed in the darkness of a traditional cinema but when we were given the opportunity to launch the DVD of Banky’s Exit Through The Gift Shop, it seemed ideal to put the film on not only in a warehouse/gallery space such as 1000Pound Bend, but there particularly as it was exhibiting awesome Melbourne street art at the same time. The same with our screening of Chopper, which was held in the Old City Watch House on Russell St. It was hard getting people out of the cells to watch the film.”
Berger’s latest series is a little less criminal-focused. “My background is in documentary film, so I have wanted to put on a series of some of the most classic music docos of all time for awhile now. I’m mates with Wally from Even, who works at the Espy and so it seemed like a plan to ask him about putting on these films in the lovely surrounds of The Gershwin Room. He was up for it, so starting this week and running every Thursday in May, we’re showing some brilliant music documentaries.”
This Thursday May 5 sees DIG! hit the screen. The film was shot over seven years and documents the journey of the lead singers of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s a tale of drugs, drinking, friendship, fights, artistic integrity and combustion with plenty of gig footage, binge footage and on-the-road interviews.
Next Thursday May 12 is a screening of Gimme Shelter. The film trails the Rolling Stones on their 1969 US tour and features the Altamont Speedway (San Franscisco) free concert that saw 300,000 punters turn up to see Rolling Stones headline over little support acts like Ike & Tina Turner, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Santana. They don’t make them like that no more. The Hell’s Angels were asked to help out with security.
The following Thursday May 19, Blow Up Cinema presents Soundtrack For A Revolution (part of the Human Rights & Arts Film Festival) and shares songs of the American civil rights movement – freedom songs sung on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells. Featured artists include John Legend, Wyclef Jean, The Roots, Blind Boys Of Alabama and Tv On The Radio.
The final Thursday May 26 brings another ’70s tale – the story of the making and being of Joy Division in Joy Division.
“We’ve got a big inflatable screen, a really bright projector and loud PA,” Berger says. “Saying that, we wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to use the Espy’s sound system, so we’ll be plugging into that for this series of films,” says Berger. Worth plugging into, we’d say.
