Brisbane Might Be Getting a Free Permanent Outdoor Cinema

Brisbane's movie buffs have had quite the eventful few years — festivals have come, gone and been resurrected; cinemas have opened up in New Farm, Elizabeth Street in the CBD, Coorparoo and Newmarket; the Schonell stopped running screenings; and more new theatres have been announced for Red Hill and Woolloongabba. Plus, just last month, the city welcomed its newest seasonal outdoor cinema in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens — and if you like seeing flicks under the stars, there's more news where that came from.

Brisbane City Council is spearheading a plan to build Brisbane's first permanent outdoor cinema, which would form part of the existing McCaskie Park in Kelvin Grove. Unlike Moonlight Cinema in New Farm Park, Openair Cinemas at South Bank and the aforementioned Sunset Cinema in Mt Coot-tha, it'll be a fixed rather than a seasonal pop-up facility.

A development application has been lodged, which outlines a proposed space between Kelvin Grove Road and QUT's Creative Industries precinct, featuring a permanent shelter with a drop-down 2.7-metre by 5.4-metre screen, a stage and a speaker set-up. According to the documents submitted, BCC intends for an external party to manage the cinema, which will be operational on weeknights and weekends. Even better — given that it is located in a Council-owned public park, which dates back to 1891 and is freely accessible to everyone, the application notes that the cinema will be free to attend as well.

The cinema forms part of BCC's very Leslie Knope-like aim to "enhance Brisbane's public open spaces and encourage and improve user experience", as stated in the submission — that is, to get us all out in the city's parks more often. Speaking with Brisbane Times, the Council's field services chairman Peter Matic advised that it could be used for "family movie events, short film screenings, or as part of twilight community festivals", as well as "for emerging theatre and musical artists, providing a low-cost venue for public performances".

As the development application has just been lodged, we can assume that the cinema is still a little way off. But we'll keep you updated on an opening date or any new details.