“Firstly, I think everyone wants to get that taste of summer. Especially in a place like Melbourne where our weather can be pretty questionable, so this is a great opportunity. But I think pop up cinema really allows films that haven’t been screened in ages, small documentaries, Australian films, all those that tend to get swallowed in general release to get another go. We give people the opportunity to see it in beautiful surrounds. It’s a phenomenon that’s happening all over Australia.”
As for selecting which films to show at the convent, it isn’t a case of demographic box-ticking. “I wish it was as easy as making a formula. We do have directors we look at, we have things that are important for us to show in the program. But it comes down to time of year and what people are going to be more open to. We’re starting six weeks earlier than we have previously. People are open to different types of films at that time of year, their lives are full with what’s going on around Christmas – so you’re not going to show a hard-hitting documentary. You’re not going to show a hard-hitting film on the second of January, you’re going to show Machete Kills. That’s what people want to see at that time of year. I’m really about films that are grabbing people’s attention, or films that encapsulate what we’re about as a cinema. As soon as I saw Frances Ha I knew I wanted to open with that film. Something about the spirit of that film is what we’re about, and that’s a general release film that has just came out. There’s always such good content that comes out in terms of documentaries and Australian films, so we’re glad to be able to shine a spotlight on those films as well.”
Though the program for this season is wonderfully disparate, there is a palpable sense of ‘cult’ running a thread through the selections – including a few $10 Monday cult sessions. “It’s a term fraught with different interpretations. For instance, a film like The Big Lebowski is very much a cult film. But it’s a big-budget, beautifully made film that did nothing at the box office, but found a new life afterwards. Now people have become obsessed with that film way after the film’s release. That’s one way you can look at cult. Then there is true cult, they are films that defy all sorts of things about filmmaking convention. They capture a certain spirit of filmmaking. There are two sort of interpretations I suppose, and what we wanted to do was give true cult films – babes in bikinis with machine guns, that kind of thing – a showing. Those films never get to be screened, so we have Zak Hepburn, who does a lot of cult programming around town, to do a program within our program to show those really crazy cult films.”
No longer is outdoor cinema a fairly rough-edged affair in terms of technical presentation, with Shadow Electric embracing high-end projection and sound technology in a beautifully conducive environment. “I’ve worked in art house cinema, and I wouldn’t have come onboard with Shadow Electric if there wasn’t that quality with the projection,” Jean reasons. “It’s very much providing a high-end viewing experience. It’s a new digital projector, we have Funktion-One 5.1 speakers around the convent. It is a really beautiful viewing experience. There have been times when I’ve been irritated with outdoor cinema in the past, things like wind and chatter. But those are minimised in the way Shadow Electric is set up, it’s essentially a room without a roof in a way. In terms of actual projection, it’s a great viewing experience. The screen was imported from Los Angeles, and we have taken a lot of time to make that a priority in terms of viewing experience.”
Complementing the Shadow Electric’s live music program, a number of music-themed documentaries and biopics have found their place on this year’s program. “We’re so lucky that we have things like MIFF where we are exposed to so many great music films. Over the last couple of seasons we’ve had great success with our music program within the program. We’ve shown things like Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, then the LCD Soundsystem film Shut Up And Play The Hits last year. We were always really open to showing music films. There are so many films that fit into that music category. There are the biopics like Behind The Candelabra which I chose because I thought it was a luscious, exciting and engaging story of Liberace’s relationship. Then we have things like Cosmic Psychos, and who doesn’t want to see a film about farmers who essentially influenced grunge music?” Jean says, referencing the excellent doco Blokes You Can Trust.
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
