Pop Out Cinema
After several months of tweaking the design, our first PopOut Cinema vehicle is ready!
One of the barriers to travelling cinema is the equipment and set up of inflatable screens, with issues around wind and suitable ground fixings not always easy, plus hours of set up time late at night, both tiring, but also potentially a security concern in certain regions. Thanks to the generous support of Western Nissan and RECAR, the first of the new travelling cinema vehicles is here. While we had hoped to have the vehicle ready by late November, it’ll be ready to go on the road in January and we are going on a road trip! After some impromptu test screenings around Melbourne, we’ll be driving up through the NT towards Darwin from where a ship awaits a crossing to Timor.
See below for details of unveiling, and in the next newsletter we’ll have some video of it in action.
Bob and Steve of RECAR, where the Nissan Navara was turned into a mobile cinema... a tricky first build as the ideas and sketches in Michael’s mind came to life! We are indebted to Bob for RECAR’s help in bring this all together in such a robust and professional format.
Just a taste of the transformer style of the vehicle, the speaker standing proud, with the full unveiling next week.
Timor-Leste
The eighth year of Cinema Loro sa’e screenings across Timor have completed with the arrival of the rainy season. Popular films were Paper Planes, Oddball, Red Dog and the venerable Balibo. This year we worked with Ba Futuru in a very focused educational program with the support of the New Zealand government to have a discussion around violence eradication from the smallest to the largest of villages. We are thankful to all of our sponsors in Timor, especially the Australian Embassy for their continued support.
Cinema Loro sa’e also now has a permanent home in Dili, previously operating from Angelo's (our manager) garage, SWB founder and chairman Michael Smith and board member, Anne Smith, purchased the popular Beachside Hotel in Dili this year, which can now locally assist to support and underwrite the program along with their cinemas in Australia. It also means Michael and Anne are able to spend more time in Timor, and they are developing a program to encourage cultural tourism to the country, which has been identified as a key initiative for the future of Timor.
Power Meri Fundraising Screening
2019 will see SWB arrive in Papua New Guinea, and what better way to raise some funds to assist than a screening of the fabulous Power Meri. Michael Smith will introduce the screening and discuss the plans for PNG next year, and after the film the new SWB PopOut Cinema truck will be unveiled in the park in front of the Sun Theatre.
Power Meri follows Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia. These trailblazers must beat not only the sporting competition, but also intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.
Human rights organisations describe Australia’s nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, as one of the worst places in the world to be a woman. But where international observers see despair, the pioneering players of the country’s new national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, see opportunity.
Proud, strong and hopeful, these women have overcome more challenges than most to take the field in their much-loved national sport. But after years playing at grassroots level with no coaches, funding or support, they have just three months to transform themselves into a competitive national team to take up an invitation to compete on the world stage.
Northern Territory
Now that the vehicle is ready we are finalising the schedule for travelling through the NT en route to Darwin. This will be a pilot of what we hope will be at least one if not two vehicles permanently based in the Territory. We’ll email as soon as the schedule is finalised, but Alice Springs, Pipalyatjara, Tennant Creek and Borroloola are definitely planned and we are open to any suggestions of towns and communities to visit. admin@suntheatre.com.au
Have a Merry Xmas, we have an exciting New Year ahead and look forward to screening to many more communities and sharing it all with you.
