HOW’S the serenity?
It is a famous quote from The Castle, and it rang true at the 8th Quambatook Silo Cinema event last Saturday night.
About 320 people viewed the screening of the Australian comedy classic on the town’s towering wheat silos.
And while other Mallee and Wimmera towns are busy painting their silos, locals on the outskirts of the Mallee wheat belt told the crowd, “tell him he’s dreamin, they are not touching ours’.”
The Quambatook Silo Cinema evolved from an artist in residence program run a few years ago in Quambatook which culminated in a short film being projected onto the silos.
Organiser Laura O’Dwyer said it was surprisingly undistorted if watching from directly in front near the projector.
Through a grant, the development group was able to purchase a 5500 lumin projector that would allow them to project movies onto the silo’s themselves, and the Quambatook Silo Cinema was born.
The Men’s Shed provided a barbecue dinner, the development group served baked potatoes, coffee and sweets from the popular Quamby Quoffee.
The pub and caravan park were a hive of activity following the movie, giving the town’s economy a much-needed boost.
It’s an initiative that is going straight to the pool room, according to Melbourne visitor Belinda Parker.
“My husband and I enjoy coming up for the Quambatook Silo Cinema. A year ago we attended for the first time to see Priscilla,” Mrs Parker said.
“We stayed at Swan Hill and enjoyed looking around the area. We had a great night supporting the local organisations by buying our dinner — lovely burgers and sausages cooked wonderfully by the Men’s Shed.”
Mrs Parker said when The Castle was advertised on social media, she contacted friends who own a holiday house in Kangaroo Lake to see if they wanted to join.
“Sitting there watching the movie on such a clear night with wonderful friends and full belly — who could ask for more,” she said.
Ms O’Dwyer said the furthest moviegoer came from Longreach, Queensland.
“We even had a couple of return visitors who were touring in Western Australia and actually cut the trip a fortnight to make sure they were back for the cinema,” she said.
“We love return visitors as it means we are doing something right and they bring new people. So we find the growth is mainly through social media and our clever posters and videos that get people to share it.”
Ms O’Dwyer said it wasn’t as easy as just choosing any film to project.
“You have to apply for the movie rights through the distributors who take a percentage of your takings, they then get permission off the movie owners,” she explained.
“Working Dog, who made The Castle, are very selective about who they give permission to and Village asked us for a backup movie in case, but thankfully they said yes.”
Ms O’Dwyer said it had taken organisers a lot of trial and error to learn how to succeed with the unique event.
The first film, Labyrinth, was screened in April 2016 before Rocky Horror in October with 15 people decked on their chairs.
Mrs O’Dwyer said third time lucky, in February 2017, The Dressmaker saw the organisers make a profit thanks to a 250 strong crowd, opening the curtain on an Australian movie formula.
“Our second one had only 15 people show up. We gave it one more try and luckily it was a hit, so don’t give up if you think you have a good idea,” she said.
Since then, the cinema has screened Water Diviner, Priscilla, Muriel’s Wedding and Last Cab to Darwin.
