Lights, camera, action! Violet Town steals the show with community hall upgrades

From romance to sci-fi to thriller, the Violet Town Film Society can now watch any film in HD, thanks to upgrades to the audio-visual equipment in the Violet Town Community Hall.

A full-sized motorised theatre screen, a ceiling mounted projector and new speaker cabling has reinvigorated the hall, which draws in the small northeast town’s many clubs and societies.

The film society meets monthly to watch and rate films from all over the globe with ever-changing settings, ratings and languages.

Karen Russo was cast as the society’s president five years ago, when the group used to meet in a church hall.

She said the recent upgrades to the town hall, which the society secured through the Tiny Towns Fund, have allowed them to move into the bigger and better space and attract significantly more people to their monthly events.

‘We’re so grateful for the grant, because it’s put our Film Society on the map, and it’s also put Violet Town on the map,’ Karen said.

‘It feels like you’re in a real cinema, even though it’s a big community hall. You’re not aware that there’s so much space behind you because we’re up the front and we’ve got these beautiful seats.’

The new upgrades also benefit other members of the Violet Town community, including the local kindergarten which recently celebrated their students graduating to primary school.

Ultimately, the upgrades have put the Violet Town Film Society up in lights and its future is full of promise. Just as the Society rates each film, they rate the upgrades to the Violet Town Community Hall five out of five stars.

‘I hope that because of this, Violet Town becomes known as a film-showing area,’ Karen said. ‘I would like to think when we’re more well known because of our new facility, people will come from all over to view the films at Violet Town.’

The community hall’s growing popularity is another example of how we’re delivering projects to make Victoria’s regional and rural towns even better places to live, work, stay and play, including through the Tiny Towns Fund.

In northeast Victoria, we’re also supporting upgrades to the Tolmie Tennis Court and restoration of the Baddaginnie Jubilee Hall.

To find out more visit the Tiny Towns Fund.