Cirrus@Austlit

'His name plagues me. Everywhere I go I can hear it. Whenever I ask somebody for information pertaining to the Melbourne Cinémathèque, it’s not long before his name pops up again. Although a dentist by trade, Michael Koller has been central to keeping one of the longest running film societies in Australia alive for 50 years. Since the start of his involvement in 1974, Koller has seen the organisation transition: from its celebrated status as the Melbourne University Film Society (MUFS) to the Melbourne Cinémathèque in 1984. He has also witnessed its shift from the Union Theatre and various other smaller spaces at the University of Melbourne to the Glasshouse Theatre (now known as the Kaleide Theatre) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT; 1984-1992), from the Treasury Theatre (State Film Theatre; 1993-2002) run by the State Film Centre and Cinemedia to its current home at ACMI in Federation Square (from late 2002 onwards, with a couple of years at the Capitol Theatre during ACMI’s renovation and the COVID pandemic). This article explores the period immediately before the foundation of the Cinémathèque as well its formative decade spent at RMIT. Focusing on the rich film culture of the 1980s and early 1990s, and drawing on a small selection ephemeral archive material, it contextualises the Cinémathèque’s program and considers its importance to Melbournians then and now. It draws on discussions with three key figures in the organisation: Adrian Danks (co-curator and president), Michael Koller (co-curator and executive programmer) and Marg Irwin (one-time committee member, treasurer and public officer).' (Introduction)