Broadsheet Film Club x QT Sydney

Many of you may not know, but beneath our beloved heritage hotel lies an historic gem – a 1930s theatrette which was once the original newsreel for next door’s State Theatre that has been revamped as the QT Sydney Screening Room.

To bring the theatrette back to its former glory, we have let in-the-know publication Broadsheet take over for one night a month to screen cult films, handpicked and curated by Film Club’s Ben Kenny. Kicking off on Thursday, September 28, the Broadsheet Film Club will take overlooked cult classics and give them another chance on the big screen.

Film Club is a Darlinghurst DVD store adored by cinephiles all over the city. Kenny has customers who regularly travel across several suburbs to pay the shop a visit. He puts it down to simple, solid service with a dash of discerning curation.

“What I think is missing from the Sydney film landscape is an appreciation of our past, both Australian and international film history. In a world of limitless content to divert ourselves with, I believe it’s more important than ever to focus your attention sometimes and lose yourself within a single work of art,” Kenny says.

For Broadsheet Film Club’s first screening, Ben has a selected Hot Rod, a modern cult classic with an endlessly quotable script, an ’80s soundtrack that includes John Farnham and a full cast of game supporting players including Bill Hader, Ian McShane and Will Arnett.

On October 26, be tempted by The New World. “Seven years after returning from exile with The Thin Red Line, legendary filmmaker Terence Malick followed up with his gauzy and poetic The New World. Colin Farrell and Christian Bale play the colonists vying for Pocahontas’s love among a period-accurate Jamestown as the founding of America gets stripped back to its gnarly roots,” says Ben.

In November, it’s a ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ ’80s horror flick, Sleepaway Camp. “There’s nothing else out there like Sleepaway Camp,” Kenny says. “Made well outside the studio system, the cult horror classic is still hilarious and genuinely terrifying today, not least for its insane and unforgettable ending.”

The 56-seat Screening Room is steeped in history. Opened on December 24, 1931, as the State News Reel Theatrette, it was Australia’s first newsreel theatre and the city’s only source of visual news through the 1930s, running a continuous reel until 11pm which drew punters from all over to get updates on the war.

The film club will be a fantastic night out – tickets are $30 and include a cocktail themed to the film and the choice of either popcorn or a choc top. The bar will be open for additional food and drinks too.

Purchase your tickets to The New World HERE

*This story was adapted from an article that first appeared on Broadsheet