Among the Victorian-era shopfronts lining Sydney Road in Brunswick, one stands out by the smell of popcorn the moment its doors open. 

Inside, the newly opened Brunswick Picture House marks the return of a cinema to the Sydney Road precinct for the first time in 43 years.

On a weekend afternoon, co-founder Gus Berger moves between the bar and foyer of the venue. Known for his Netflix documentary The Lost City of Melbourne, Berger remains a constant presence, pouring drinks and attending to customers.

As a Brunswick local, Berger always felt that a cinema in the area would work, despite more independent cinemas emerging in Victoria. According to Independent Cinemas Australia, there are 31 cinema members in the state. 

In the pockets of moments between talking to guests and serving drinks, Berger says, “But I kept coming back to thinking this can still work, because it's still different from all of those locations.”

“Sydney Road has such a rich history of cinemas and some of the first cinemas in Australia popped up on Sydney Road in 1909, I think. So there was also part of me that would have loved to bring that tradition back to Sydney Road.” 

However, Berger says that converting a Victorian-era building into a cinema came with significant structural and financial challenges. 

The Sydney Road Precinct is recognised for its heritage significance under the Victorian Heritage Database, where it is listed as a “Heritage Overlay”, adding further planning constraints to the project. According to Yarra City Council, Heritage Overlay is a protection scheme for lands with heritage significance. 

Managing director at planning and design consultancy Hanson Partnership, Damien Iles, helped guide the Brunswick Picture House project through the planning approvals process with the council.

Iles says when dealing with Victorian buildings, heritage advisors prioritise conservation rather than its new proposed uses, sometimes routinely suggesting they be returned to shopfront use.

“There's no economic benefit if you're looking just to put another kebab shop or whatever the next use of that space is. Whereas a cinema is a very specific use and a very clear benefit.”

Iles says the team had to remind the planning officer that heritage feedback should be considered separately and not override the broader assessment of a project's overall merits. 

Berger says the renovation process was also challenging. After demolishing an old section of the roof and discovering a large boulder beneath a wall, the team also encountered two separate cases of asbestos. He adds that these issues were not covered by insurance claims and had to be paid out of pocket.

“It was a lot. And it was a lot of cash flow stress, bank stress, all of that stuff,” Berger says.

Yet the financial and structural challenges of establishing an independent cinema point to a larger question – the importance. 

For aspiring filmmakers such as Aidan McGrath, the answer lies partly in what independent cinemas can offer that major multiplexes cannot.

McGrath, a second-year film and television student at Swinburne University, hopes to write and direct films in Australia. He says independent cinemas can provide emerging filmmakers with an opportunity to reach audiences.

“It gives an avenue for young and aspiring filmmakers to have their art and film distributed in a way that's actually viable. Because [with] other cinemaplexes like Hoyts and Village and IMAX and all that stuff, there's just no viable way to get your work shown, ” he says.

For filmmakers whose work is unlikely to secure a commercial screening at major cinema chains, independent venues can therefore become an important link between production and audiences.

McGrath believes that the Australian audience's appetite for independent film “is not in a bad state”, but he hopes for it to keep growing. 

“Show support for homegrown talent because at the end of the day it's the Australian life and Australian experience which is trying to be told through film–there's no audience better than an Australian audience because they can relate to it,” he says.

The importance of showcasing diversity, and localism through film extends beyond Australia.

In Singapore, Dawn Lim chose to work at an independent cinema, Filmhouse, due to her connectivity to being in the creative field. She felt that it was a way to support the arts and a service to “bring arts to people”. 

Lim also stated that independent cinemas are more vital than ever in Singapore due to an overwhelming lack of cinemas and film programming. In 2025, Singapore lost important cinematic third-spaces–Filmgarde Cineplexes and The Projector. 

Filmhouse does not receive financial support from the Singaporean government, and chooses different types of films for audiences. 

She says “bringing films [to the screen] that are not the big blockbusters so that people to get to experience very different kinds of cinema–art house-kinds to home films, in a cinema setting, it is a very communal experience.” 

“There are not a lot of spaces in Singapore that are completely independent, and I think people are looking for these kinds of spaces to spend their time, to learn and be around people. So I think there needs to be diversity in our cinema industry and creative industry and that's why we do the work that we do as an independent cinema,” Lim says.