Published: 11 February 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
IN THIS AGE OF STREAMING recent release blockbuster movies straight to your large, 50-inch, 4K TV from the comfort of your lounge room, what is the case for instead jumping in the car, heading to the cinema, finding a park, spending up to $25 for a ticket and more for a choc-top to watch the same movie on the big screen?
It is the issue that Eddie and Lindy Tamir, proprietors of the Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas in Melbourne and the Ritz Cinema in Sydney, grapple with all the time.
The Melbourne couple, who also own and stage the Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) across Australia each year, hope it is the same as it has always been, to be part of the shared experience and conversations that follow seeing a great film at the cinema.
They told Ashley Browne in the latest Lap of Caulfield Park podcast that JIFF is an example of their faith that the cinema remains the place to enjoy moves at their best, saying they could have staged a virtual film festival last November in its usual time slot, but they instead waited until now to get back to the cinema.
“We are cinema people and that means a shared experience. That means in the moment, in the space, and it adds that dimension, that alchemy and that’s what people have wanted since campfire conversations,” Eddie Tamir said.
Cinemas have successfully stared down threats before. TV and then VHS machines were supposed to cast doubt on the future of the big screen experience and the streaming now presents another major challenge.
But they feel TV – free to air and pay – might be in more trouble because in just about every case there remains a theatrical window following the release of a major film, that keeps it exclusive to cinemas.
That window is getting smaller – it is often less than a month – but the expectation is that the major studios still believe they can make money from theatrical releases. Disney recently indicated that while it is now making a ton of TV content, its billion-dollar films will always appear first at the cinema.
“I sincerely believe people want to come to the movies,” Lindy Tamir said. “They’re consuming a lot at home but it doesn’t mean they won’t want to come out to the movies. A lot of the films out now aren’t available on streaming.”
No JIFF in 2020 because of COVID means two festivals in 2021. The event that starts later this month across Australia – Canberra and Brisbane are now on board, together with Melbourne, Sydney and Perth – will feature the movies held over from last November, while plans are afoot for JIFF to return once again back in its usual late-year calendar spot.
With 50,000 tickets sold each year, JIFF is the largest of its type in the world and unlike similar festivals it doesn’t distinguish between films made in Israel and Jewish films produced elsewhere. “We like them all under one voice,” Eddie said.
And in the podcast he explains how they whittle down the the 300 movies they consider each year into the 50 or so that make the cut, and what are their boundaries.
“The only places we won’t go, the only lines we draw are (when they are) hateful, deceptive and deceitful. If it’s not crossing those lines we’re happy to represent all voices in the Jewish community,” Eddie said.
JIFF opens nationally on February 17. Visit JIFF.com.au for further details.
SEE DEBORAH STONE'S PREVIEW OF JIFF 2021
