A passionate love letter to the cinema-going experience
Filmmaker Robert Murphy is one of a vanishing breed of people: he is a cinema projectionist. Until digital format took over cinemas, someone specially trained always had to be lurking in the bio-box, feeding reels of film through a projector. Even the name “bio box” comes from the biograph, which was an early film projector.
Sensing that digital format would kill cinema projection as a trade, Murphy decided in 2012, to start filming the decline. Along the way he captures interviews with fellow cinema-buffs, collectors, archivists, and projectionists, both in Australia and overseas. He explores the wonders of such phenomena as three-strip Cinerama. He also visits some fascinating gatherings such as the conference in America where old, unidentified bits of film are shown, and the audience shout out any identifying features/actors they can see!
A major turning point in the film is when Quentin Tarantino announced in 2015 that The H8ful Eight would be released in 70 mm. As a projectionist at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville, Melbourne, Murphy joined a dedicated team who worked tirelessly to find the equipment that could show this film to its best effect. Tarantino himself found out about this mission and was so impressed, he attended the screening himself.
Splice Here is a warm, personal, quirky, and engaging exploration of the cinema-going experience. In parts it is quite repetitive, in others it is overly technical, and the whole thing is 30 minutes too long. But other than crying out for a tougher editor, this is a very enjoyable and satisfying feature documentary.
Screenings are taking place sporadically around the country, with Murphy attending many Q & A sessions.
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