VILLAGE TWIN SCREWup!

It is the 21st Century and you would think that a movie theatre would be across the issue of projecting a movie. For some reason the March 31st LFS showing of "The Boat That Rocked" at Launceston's Village Twin Cinema the screen blacked out! Why? Well it was all rather reminiscent of the days when delinquent, inept or 'dysfunctional' projectionists serially – sometimes surreally – forgot to change the reels or got them in the wrong order or something of the like.

But hey, this is a decade into the 21st Century! You have to wonder. One might argue that this is a minor misdemeanor. By itself it might be but it doesn't stop there. For some curious reason that night there are reports of cinema staff "doing laps of the theatre" asserting their presence. Presumably this was because some members of the audience were getting a little rowdy as they laughed and remembered their youth – shame on them! Perhaps that's the reason for the black out. Perhaps it was intended to provide a 'nostalgic moment' of dysfunctionalism? But it doesn't stop there.

At the end of the film while the credits were showing the curtains closed and the lights came on to shoo the audience out. Like this was an audience of cinema buffs being treated like mildly delinquent school kids. You have to ask who is in charge of marketing at this joint?! When a loyal audience is treated with disdain this sort of question needs to be asked.

When an audience spills out into the foyer after a showing to see it empty the note that one writes to oneself is that "this theatre owes us something." But no, it seems they have a different world view.

While one waits in a LFS cue to enter a theatre to see half a dozen patrons empty out of the previous showing you know that "this theatre owes us something." But it is a monopoly and because it is it can massage the delusion that "they'll put up with what we offer."

Well maybe, just maybe it is time for the LFS to look at its alternatives – and to its membership for guidance. When is enough actually enough?

DISCLAIMER: The post is the opinion of a small group of members and it does not purport to be representative of 'the committee's' view. It just aims to engage them – the committee & the theatre management – in a critical discourse towards better outcomes!