Some say that cinema is dead. That with the invasion of massive home entertainment systems and a thing called the "interweb", audiences don't need to leave their humble abodes to be entertained. And let's not get started on the quality of films that seem to be abundantly accessible via the bigger commercial cinema complexes…
These days, there's a sure-fire way of ensuring a good night out at the cinema… you just have to remember this: it's about what you see and about where you see it.
The very diverse Palace Cinemas group is the mother of Australia’s collection of original and culturally accommodating cinemas. Two of their best in Sydney are undoubtedly the Academy Twin and Verona Cinema – both acclaimed and both very different in what they offer.
Verona, the younger of the two, is the chic and modern sister. It hails itself as offering the best in international cinema with a breadth that spans art-house, quality commercial, documentary and independent films.
The Verona Cinema is a fairly recent addition to Sydney's social landscape. It was given a facelift by architectural firm Tonkin Zulaikha Greer in 1996 when they converted what was a vacant two story industrial building into the four-screen cinema it is today. Their efforts ensured a stylish and modern establishment and landed them a Certificate of Merit for the 1999 Metal Building Award.
The Academy Twin on the other hand is the much older and familiar face of Paddington. It opened officially as the Academy Twin in 1974 with screenings of Roman Polanski's Macbeth and Fritz the Cat. As well as playing regular host to an array of foreign language films, it is also the home of the loved and renowned annual French, Italian, Spanish and Mardi Gras film festivals. It has also played host to the Reportage Festival – a showcase of photojournalism.
Unlike the Verona, the building that houses the Twin has a long architectural and cultural history that began back in 1911 - when it was known as the 2,500 seat Olympia. It had its first facelift in the 1930s and again in 1953, when it was re-named Odeon Darlinghurst. In 1960 it was re-named the Mandala Cinema, home of cult and rock films until it was finally converted into Sydney's first twin cinema as it is today. It is also claimed to be the first Sydney cinema to screen "talkies" – films with a soundtrack.
With so much history and cultural diversity that these two cinemas offer, it's hard to put them wrong. And despite the differences the Verona and Twin have regarding film repertoire and architecture, they offer the same two things to any punter looking for a chilled night out on the town: quality and atmosphere. To those that say the traditional cinema experience is dead; that the calibre of filmmaking has fallen by the wayside; that it doesn't offer anything better than what you can get in the comfort of your own home. I say that it is not dead. It's still alive and kicking… you just need to know where to look for it.
Photos by Lillian Zrim
