There’s nothing worse than the feeling you get on a Sunday night. The weekend is officially over and tomorrow is the unthinkable: Monday. Many Melburnians can relate to this, but for Bonnie Overman, Monday is a day she looks forward to. 

That’s because Monday nights bring generously buttered popcorn, Maltesers, and maybe a glass of wine if the mood calls for it. And the most important part: watching a brand-new film at one of Melbourne’s cinematic institutions, Carlton’s Cinema Nova’s discount Monday night sessions.  

Overman is an avid cinemagoer. She goes at least once week, a “staple activity”, usually with her sister or some friends. She says she exclusively attends independent cinemas for the atmosphere they provide. 

Fortunately, Melbourne has no shortage of independent cinemas. Along with Cinema Nova, familiar favourites include Kino Cinema in the CBD and the Astor Theatre in St. Kilda, which first opened its doors in 1936, and is known for its iconic double billings of classic films. Meanwhile, Eclipse Cinema in Collingwood, yet another boutique cinema joining the ranks of Thornbury Picture House and Henkel Street Cinema, debuted its first screening last year in its single, 64-seat cinema. 

There’s no question why independent cinemas are growing in popularity. They screen a diverse range of international and low-budget indie films that are often excluded from multiplex cinema’s programs. Palace Cinemas are known for annually holding several international film festivals, like the Italian, Greek and Japanese film festivals that are coming up this year.  

Melbourne’s growing independent cinema offerings also offer smaller, more intimate screening spaces with less seats. Some even feature bars and dining areas in their foyers for people to gather before heading into the theatre. At the entrance to Brunswick Picture House, there are tables and chairs surrounding a small bar area, as well as some table space on the footpath outside. Before every session, there will usually be a crowd congregating, some with a couple drinks, waiting for their film to start.  

The small size of these newer spaces is one thing Overman loves. 

“You’ll end up in a room with less than twenty seats, so the setting feels really intimate and you’re surrounded by like-minded people who appreciate the experience of watching film,” she tells upstart. 

Affordability also influences her top picks. As a young person living out of home, while also juggling both a full-time job and a TAFE course, she knows every independent cinema and their respective discounted ticket nights. Some of the cheapest options in Melbourne include the Brunswick and Thornbury Picture House  with $14.50 tickets all day on Wednesday, the Sun Theatre in Yarraville has $14 tickets Mondays and Tuesdays, and Palace Cinemas have $12 tickets on Monday, or $10 for members. 

Although Overman has been to all these and more, her favourite is Cinema Nova for the $11 Monday ticket special after 4pm. Though the price is a significant drawcard, she credits the cinema for having the best ambience and selection of movies that the city has to offer. 

“Cinema Nova has forever been my go-to,” she says. “I love that it’s unique, they screen the widest variety of new films as well as anniversary showings of classic films, and I think the location is great too. It’s central, and there are so many places to eat or grab a drink before carrying on at the cinema.” 

Like Overman, freelance film reviewer Dylan Rowan is another passionate patron of independent cinema. For Rowan, good programming is essential to a good cinema. 

“To stay relevant, cinemas need to program new, fresh, and revolutionary cinema,” they tell upstart. “We need accessibility to films that provide new modes of seeing and being in a world that is increasingly divided. To see across that divide, to encounter one another and to understand through film is one step toward solidarity.” 

Rowan illustrates the difference between attending an independent cinema and a major cinema chain. They recently went to Hoyts IMAX to see The Odyssey and said it seemed like “a whole different world,” due to the number of trailers for those “superhero-Marvel-adjacent films,” as an example. They prefer other cinemas for the wide variety of films that are screened, as well as to engage and be surrounded by a community of like-minded people.  

“It is critical to support singular art the way it was meant to be consumed,” they say. 

“People go to independent cinemas for different experiences. I often go to the Melbourne Cinémathèque, an independent membership-based film society that screens under-represented films, often in their original formats.” 

Overman also describes the palpable sense of community at independent cinemas. One of her favourite memories at Cinema Nova dates back to when she was a teenager, when she and a friend watched their first psychological horror film, Hereditary, and fell completely speechless as the credits were rolling, only to look around and notice other people feeling the exact same way.  

“You could see that people were trying to digest what they had just seen, sharing looks and shaking heads like “what did we just watch?” she says. 

“It becomes a shared experience that you can’t get at just any cinema.” 

Article: Monique Giordano is a second-year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Journalism major) student at La Trobe University. You can follow her on X @moniquegiord.

Photo: by author.