WEEKEND WITH KATE: REVIVING SYDNEY'S CINEMA CULTURE

For three decades, the all-consuming tide of multiplex-cinema expansion has consigned Sydney’s arthouse auditoriums of yesteryear to movie buff memory. But the Golden Age Cinema, located in the fully-restored Paramount Pictures Building, is bringing back the days of retro-cinema glory. Charged with re-introducing a modern metropolis to the big-screen thrills of such diverse classics as Badlands and Caddyshack is film programmer, Kate Jinx (pictured, below).

“I grew up with the Valhalla posters in my family house, thanks to my older sister who wallpapered her room with them, and until I was old enough to get there myself in the 90s, I’d memorise the sessions - Meet the Feebles, Bliss, Koyaanisqatsi, Betty Blue,” Jinx reminisces of the iconic, long-gone Glebe fleapit as an abiding influence on her love of cinema. “I think that independent cinemas are hugely vital to a city’s culture. I miss the Valhalla! I miss the Mandolin! I miss what the Chauvel was like when Palace also had the Academy Twin. I think it’s the right time for a new, independent cinema such as Golden Age that has both new and repertory programming to open up and to be offering a new kind of experience.”

Her obsession has led to a varied career, including a popular review show on radio station FBi and film-themed performance pieces at venues such as The Museum of Contremporary Art. However, getting the film programming duties at Sydney’s first new inner-city venue in many years was particularly daunting. “I experienced the full four stages of shock, I think,” she laughs, admitting, “no one has never entrusted me with a whole cinema, let alone a brand new one.” Putting his faith in Jinx is Barrie Barton and his projects-based collective Right Angle Studios whose mission is to ‘understand and improve life in our cities’; among many of the group’s initiatives was the launch Melbourne’s Rooftoop Cinema in 2005, now an integral part of the southern capital’s movie culture.

The refurbished 60-person cinema is steeped in Sydney film history; its Surry Hills venue (pictured, right) has been a cherished site for the industry since it opened in 1940, when it screened newsreels for service personnel. “The design of both the cinema and the bar are very much in-keeping with its history, but with a modern sense of drama and a flash of futurism,” says Jinx, pointing out that those who have attended the first few weeks of screenings have been a wonderfully eclectic cross-section of new and old buffs. “It’s been fantastic to see who turns up for our Sunday classics - it’s always a total mix of people who have seen the film dozens of times and people who are seeing it for their first.”

Frankly, it is a dream job for any lover of film and Kate Jinx is fully aware of the privilege that programming for The Golden Age Cinema affords her. “I’ve got a bit of a lengthy, completely ridiculous list I’m working on. Jacques Rivette’s Celine & Julie Go Boating tops it,” she confides, citing the 1974 head-trip classic. “I’m as excited to be able to play a fully restored 2k version of The Battle of Algiers or Badlands as I am about playing a rock documentary like Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me or Poltergeist on a Friday night. I just want the space to be able to show a good variety of films we like and believe in and think deserve an audience. [And] to bring some of the charm and romance of ‘going to the movies’ back.”

Session times and venue details are available here.