Lido Cinemas Unveils Its Exquisitely Restored Retro-Nuevo Interior

The retro-nuevo Lido Cinemas, which has the grooviest font in Melbourne, opened last month. Come 23 July, it'll host a gala premiere of the exclusive 8K Radius Film Series. This week cinepreneur Eddie Tamir invited media-types to a preview, also touring them around the artiplex and community hub. 

 

The Hawthorn movie house originated as the Glenferrie Theatre in the late Edwardian era, only to be "mothballed" after various reincarnations (one as the Lido Cabaret Restaurant). It's now been exquisitely, and sensitively, restored, Tamir overlaying heritage aspects with a "futuristic '60s-mode" aesthetic. Lido has eight cinemas, each with a distinct colour scheme. Additionally, there's a seasonal rooftop cinema, launching in November with the latest Bond flick, Spectre. We were shown, too, the "hidden" (and super-intimate) Lido Jazz Room. 

 

The guests took their seats in Cinema No 1 – which, being Lido's largest, has an old Hollywood-red décor – to watch four of the eight 8K Radius films. Indeed, Tamir has teamed with Kenny director Clayton Jacobson to produce mini-documentaries on local identities, who narrate their own tales. The first introduces poetic luthier Benedict Puglisi. Especially moving is that on Pekx Nanai – blind champion powerlifter and remedial therapist. (Another instalment, as-yet-unseen, is about the DJs running the Alley Tunes record store/café.) The shorts will screen individually ahead of all Lido features, going online in August.