Friends of The Astor

Over the 27 years that The Astor has been running in its current format we have developed a very large and loyal audience base that appreciates and recognises the significance of The Astor.

It is one of the few single–screen, large–scale movie palaces left in the world that hasn't been split up into multiple auditoriums and that has been running movies continuously since being built in 1936.

Not only that, the site that The Astor stands on was previously occupied by an earlier movie theatre called the Diamond (later the Rex) that started showing movies around 1908 (the very beginnings of the movie industry itself) — one of the first suburban “hard–top” cinemas in Melbourne's St Kilda — the hub of this city's entertainment from its formation.

Furthermore, we are committed to film. While there is a rush towards digital projection in cinemas, and we may install that type of equipment, we believe that the Astor must remain a working film cinema museum and be capable of presenting real film projection.

With our own library of more than 600 film prints (35mm, 16mm and 70mm) we are well positioned to ensure that the Astor can continue to present the cinema experience it was built for — to recognise the importance of such edifices as the prime source of public entertainment, and a social focal point, before the days of TV and the myriad other forms of entertainment. These are some of the reasons The Astor was classified by the National Trust and Heritage Victoria.

Preservation

With thousands of e–mails, letters and good wishes received over many years, we felt it was about time that we formalised a society of like–minded individuals committed to the ideals pointed out above and to help guide The Astor into the future.

The idea is to form a general Friends of The Astor society. Members would then receive special offers, invitations to meetings and information in support of The Astor. From this group we will form an inner committee and to this end we are looking for honorary positions of those with legal, marketing/advertising, finance, sponsorship, or lobbying skills and those who are as passionate about the long–term preservation and operation of The Astor as we are.

There will be some changes necessary to accommodate some enhanced usage of The Astor, so now is the time to start formatting what happens in the future — we want to give our fans a say too.

Simply send an e–mail using this form. If you have skills that can assist in a committee process please include a few words about that, and feel free to comment about any aspect of this idea.

Your name: * required
Your e-mail address: * required
Subject: * required

Please enter your message below ...

Select submit to send your e–mail or reset to clear the form and start again.