Ulladulla, home to the largest commercial fishing fleet in New South Wales, was first settled in the early 19th century for its hardwood forests. Now the area has a booming tourist trade, a growing wine industry and cultural calendar that is rich in everything from NAIDOC week to festivals of music, theatre and of course film.

Big Screen has played for two years now at the Arcadia Twin Cinemas in the heart of town. Owned and operated by John and Sue Kasoulis, the Arcadia is a brilliant site. John and Sue have a true love of cinema. They stuff their two screens with as much as they possibly can, bringing to town a wide selection of everything from the big blockbusters to the best in quality English and non-English language cinema. The Arcadia is a perfect site for Big Screen. John and Sue have built a loyal local audience and it's also an easy hop for city-dwellers looking for a weekend away from the hustle and bustle. John and Sue also put a lot of time and energy into ensuring the success of the festival. They love exhibition, work hard to make sure that they can bring their audience as much as possible of the film experience, and are one of the first regional sites to move into high-quality digital presentation. They have made a serious investment in the future, not only of the business, but also the screen culture life of the region.

The opening night of Big Screen this year was something special. At John's request, we opened with The Sentimental Bloke and, rather than using the wonderful Jen Anderson to play her live score, a local trio of violin, flute and keyboards was commissioned to devise their own score. The talented Savoy Ensemble - Catherine and Marie Le Brun and Dan Efraemson - are a weddings parties anything group. I sent them down a copy of the film two months before the screening and they researched it to within an inch of its life, finding an original score and a version of the song. Over their two months of preparation they composed and delivered the cream on top of a wonderful evening.

The Sentimental Bloke, in its beautifully restored presentation, is one of the best cinema experiences you can have. An exquisite film, based on CJ Dennis' verse story of the same name and using text as intertitles, it's a wonderful, transporting experience. And the live music really caps it off.

I've seen the film three times now with Jen Anderson and the Larrikins. They deliver a fantastic interpretation of the score. But having local musicians in a hall presenting their well-worked variation on the theme is without doubt the best way to see the film - as it would have been when the it first played in 1918. It's a bit like experiencing live theatre where the performance relies on the moment, where chance and happenstance sit in the wings, where anything could happen. And The Bloke is a wonderful story of love and redemption, played out around the streets, pubs and homes of early 20th century Sydney, so the experience is further enlivened by a feeling that you are actually living history.

There are moments when you feel yourself transported back to a sense of how it would have been; a quite remarkable sense of timelessness. It reminds you of the durability of story and how the wonderful characters of the Bloke and his great love Doreen affirm the image we have of ourselves, the one our screens confirm for us, but that we see so little of. When you watch the Bloke, with the music flowing live, it unites you with everyone else in the cinema in a strong, shared sense of unique experience, a shared celebration of 'us', that spans almost a full century. I hope this sentimental bloke is around in 2018 for the centenary screenings of The Sentimental Bloke.

Ulladulla Big Screen was the perfect country winter weekend film festival, warm and welcoming with a perfect buzz of chat and charm, a great way to while away a wet weekend.

Next stop Bathurst and Orange, where we'll open with Craig Monahan's great second feature Peaches (after The Interview) and also give Di Drew's children's film Hildegarde its first run up on the Big Screen.

Peter Castaldi
p.castaldi@afc.gov.au