To quote the town’s website: “The Bendigo and Eaglehawk Heritage Study, released in July 1993, suggests that Bendigo is one of the most important Australian towns for both its place in the economy of the nation and for the richness of its buildings and landscapes.”

We screen at the Star Theatre in Eaglehawk, another beautiful old hall. The seating is lush - big old lounges - and the cinema is run by a devoted bunch of volunteers who love their movies. If you’re ever in the area it’s worth a look-see, just for the venue, or to catch up on some great film. They put together a wonderful monthly calendar that ensures the locals get to see everything, particularly all the latest Australian films. During this year’s Big Screen, our second, we all decided that the festival no longer needs to travel to Eaglehawk; instead we will work together to program more Australian archive classics to support the contemporary releases they already run. This is a perfect outcome for us, to know that Big Screen can enrich a full program even further with the classics.

For now though, our program is multicultural-themed to support a local council-run My New Place Festival and our guest is Alex Dimitriades, who sets more than a few hearts aflutter.

We open with Rowan Woods’ gritty new drama Little Fish, a Victorian regional premiere supported by the beautiful short Birthday Boy, and play to a full house. Rowan’s film is on everyone’s lips at the moment and we’ve been able to get it into Bendigo weeks ahead of its normal run, while it's still playing in Melbourne. We also run Silver City and They’re a Weird Mob (up against the AFL Grand Final), and Dennis O’Rourke’s Good Woman of Bangkok and Cannibal Tours.

But it’s the Saturday night double bill of La Spagnola and Head On which is the treat and the reason Alex is here. Two more different films you couldn’t find, and two more different characters for Alex you’d be hard pressed to dig up as well.

La Spagnola is a light-hearted tale of a gorgeous hot-headed single mum bringing up her daughter in the suburbs, and almost entirely subtitled (Alex plays a rather well-endowed suitor) while Head On, Ana Kokkinos’ groundbreaking story of a young Greek man, pushes the notions of rebellion and alienation to the outer limits. Again we have a great house and most of the audience has never seen either film, which is both sad and fantastic. Sad that they didn’t see it when it was first released seven years ago – perhaps because it never made it to Bendigo - but fantastic that Alex drew this audience of first-timers to what is easily one of the high points of Australian film of the last decade, Head On. The Q & A after the film was lively, but it was quite funny to stand in front of the audience as the house lights came up, and see their quite shellshocked expressions!

It was great to have Alex in Bendigo. He’s a Big Screen patron, passionate about his craft and very, very generous with his time. One of the things I loved about being a journalist was meeting and spending time with Australia’s screen industry professionals; meeting the people behind the names. Now touring with the likes of Alex Dimitriades, I am again reminded of the great talent and drive of this industry.

Next stop Launceston for a very special Sentimental Bloke screening.

Peter Castaldi