2024 marks Mercury Cinema’s half-century, so CityMag asked how they’re celebrating the past and looking to the future.
The Mercury was established in 1974 as the Media Resource Centre (MRC), with a legacy of running art-house cinema programs, industry support for filmmakers and a culturally rich and diverse film offering for audiences.
Located on Morphett Street, the institution is a fixture of the West End art scene, neighbouring Nexus Arts and JamFactory.
The Mercury’s story is one of resilience after it faced the prospect of shutting down in 2022 due to the state government knocking back its funding request.
After a funding submission for an ongoing operating budget of between $700,000 to $1.2 million was rejected, it secured a $50,000 funding lifeline from the Malinauskas government and went on to introduce a subscription model to keep afloat.
General Manager Sarah Lancaster says they’ve seen a real uptake in their $25-a-month subscriptions from people who use the production facilities and apply for funding to make films, as well as those who attend screenings.
The subscription allows members to see curated films and use any of the production facilities, including edit suites, colour-grade studios, Sound Lab, and production offices, at a fraction of what it would cost to hire those facilities elsewhere.
“The subscription-based model really works because it allows people to really be a part of the fabric of the organisation,” Sarah says.
“It does help with that kind of core funding, with that operational funding, and it’s a really solid funding base, and it allows people to use the Mercury in any and every way that they need to.”
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The Mercury is the only organisation in Australia that is both a cinema and industry development organisation with their primary 186-seat Mercury cinema, 36-seat Iris cinema and production studios and facilities.
A strength of the unique institution is the community that rallied around it.
“I think one of the strengths of the Mercury and why we’ve lasted 50 years is the community,” Sarah says.
“That’s the community of the screen industry, that’s the community of filmmakers who come through but kind of stay part of the family.
“The community of the audience, who are obviously a really key part in the fact that we have a cinema and also our industry development, actually makes us unique in the country.”
Sarah says since working at the Mercury she’s gotten to know all the ways it has a place in people’s hearts.
“One of the honest, true joys in this last year of working here is everyone I mentioned the Mercury or the Media Resource Centre to has a story,” she says.
“Either they saw an incredible film that’s touching that they remember, they had a birthday party here, or they made their first film here, or they’ve got some connection.”
Before joining the Mercury team, Sarah worked in film festivals for 15 years, presenting travelling festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, the Adelaide Film Festival and the SA Film Corporation.
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So, it’s no surprise that she thinks the power of cinema is a special ingredient.
“I’m an old 35 mm projectionist and for me, it is about the big screen,” she says.
“It is about deliberately stopping and being contained, turning off your phone, your distraction, and just being consumed by the film.
“But also watching it collectively; having that experience of watching it in a group, feeling other people feel the tension or laugh together or be excited, there really is nothing like that.”
The Mercury has a range of archival images that were on show at their 50 year party.
The Mercury has been in its Morphett Street building since 1992 but opened in the Sym Choon fireworks warehouse building in Union Street in 1974 before moving to a Pirie Street location with a 50-seat small cinema.
“We’ve got some really great old photos of those 1970s artists collective parties,” Sarah says.
“It was really this sort of time of great experimentation and party and activism and politics and performance and so lots of old photos to reminisce over.”
To celebrate 50 years, they held a birthday party at the Mercury on Tuesday, with former and current directors, programmers, filmmakers and fans from the community.
Co-chair of the board of the Mercury, Kirsty Stark told the party that she owes the institution her career.
“I shot several Mercury-funded short films as an emerging cinematographer, and then when I decided to transition into producing, it was the mercury that helped me find my feet there,” she says.
“I think it’s fair to say that my career would not exist without the Mercury and the constant thread that it has been in supporting me and people I have worked with throughout my career.”
Sarah says although they heard lots of stories from the past, the party also marked a nod to the future.
“We have got such an exciting future ahead, we’re expanding our screen program, our industry development program,” she says.
“We are continuing to support emerging filmmakers here in South Australia, and the fact that we’re the only one in the country that still exists is extraordinary and something we’re very, very proud of.”