Mecca welcomes digital

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
WARBURTON was overcome with excitement last week after a packed house at the Mecca welcomed a special film preview and the official start of digital cinema in the Yarra Valley.
Actor Spencer McLaren said he was pleased to release the film Surviving Georgia in Warburton and said it was “one of the best places to see it because it’s in digital”.
Regional arts co-ordinator for the Shire of Yarra Ranges Jenny Davies said it was “really quite extraordinary to be able to bring this film here”.
“Digital cinema is the future and we’re going into the future with it,” she told the audience.
Cinema has been delivered in Warburton for a century, beginning in the Mechanics Hall. The Mecca was built in the 1930s and since then films have been shown in 35mm print.
Ms Davies told the Mail that parts were expensive for the old equipment and the Mecca ran a DVD program for the best part of last year.
“Digital was a huge investment,” she said, noting that it was the Yarra Ranges councillors who agreed the small regional venue was worth $130,000, the cost of the digital system that will soon be duplicated in Healesville’s Memorial Hall.
“Cinema is very much part of the culture of the town, that’s why it’s so important to maintain it and go down this road.
“The thought of taking it out was unthinkable and you can’t just stop something that’s been happening for 100 years.”
Ms Davies said digital cinema meant the multi-use venue could present one new, different film each week with a mix of mainstream, blockbuster and arthouse films as well as the school holiday program and special events screenings.
She encouraged everyone to “come and experience the difference” with better sound, better vision, and improved sight lines and comfort after a refurbishment earlier in the year. Yarra Valley Film Society treasurer Laurie Hastings agreed.
“With the quality of image and sound we had problems over time but the set up is now equal to anywhere in Melbourne or anywhere else in the world,” he said.
“Digital cinema gives us much more opportunity to show recent films in the manner they’re meant to be viewed.”