The Mini-Regent Cinema Experience

Before there were choc tops...

6.30pm February 27, 28 & March 1
Buses depart from Palace Cinema, Rundle Street, Adelaide
Hosted by Coco Loco
All tickets $25 – strictly limited seats available
Book online at www.adelaidefilmfestival.org or phone 1300 399 849

The Adelaide Film Festival invite you on a magic bus ride to the days when red velvet and luxurious fittings were as much a part of the cinema experience as Betty Grable and Clark Gable. For three nights only a lucky few can experience a program of film classics at The Mini Regent Cinema. This exquisite jewellery box is a 24 seat cinema (housed in a suburban corrugated iron back shed) recreating in miniature the Regent Cinemas from the 20’s.

The Regent Theatres in Australia were unique, and very special. While there were other chains of theatres having common names that spanned a nation, particularly in America, no other chain of theatres in the world shared such a consistent ‘house style’ of architecture throughout all of its major cinemas. In the opening programme for the Regent Theatre in Adelaide, Hoyts stated that their ideal was to have an Australian- wide circuit of Regent Theatres, ‘dedicated to the service of the public, and to the uplift of the Motion Picture and Its Allied Arts.” These were to become the ‘flagship’ theatres for Hoyts in almost every other capital city across Australia – distinctive theatres that were much loved by millions of moviegoers.

Film lover, John Thiele was a regular at Adelaide Regent Cinema in the 50s and 60s where the 2000 seater was always overflowing, the staircases were marble and the organist performed at each session. The first film he saw was Snow White and The Three Stooges. And he remembers fondly the James Bond and Pink Panther films.

When the Adelaide Regent was demolished in the sixties to make way for a shopping centre Thiele collected many of the discarded fittings, while a friend did the same in Melbourne collecting materials from various suburbs when the Regent Theatres were demolished. They pooled their collection, and worked hard to realise their dream and the Mini Regent was born.

Although it’s impossible to step back in time, the Mini Regent is a little Madeleine opening up a wonderful series of memories for many who experience it. For those of a younger generation, it’s an opportunity to glimpse into our history. “That’s all folks!”

For more information visit: www.adelaidefilmfestival.org