New Book: “Greek Cinema Across Australia” by Peter Yiannoudes

Films gave Greek immigrants arriving in Melbourne a reel link to the homeland they had left and missed, says cinema entrepreneur Peter Yiannoudes.
The Richmond resident has owned 12 Melbourne cinemas during the 50 years in which he has been bringing Greek films to Australia.  He still owns Northcote’s Westgarth Theatre which he bought in 1965.
“For Greek migrants of the late ‘50s and ‘60s, watching Greek movies was not just a way of amusing themselves, but was a way of staying in touch with their homeland, its language and culture,” he said.

Yiannoudes has just completed a book: “Greek Cinema Across Australia”, documenting his involvement with cinema.  He began working in the film industry in his native Cyprus, where he started working as an usher at the age of 12. He arrived in Australia in 1956 at the same time TV arrived and people were deserting the cinema in favour of staying home to watch the box.
Yiannoudes and his business partners in his company Cosmopolitan Motion Pictures, snapped up Melbourne cinemas as they came on to the market; sold by owners anticipating a continued decline.

The first of these theatres was the National in Richmond. Yiannoudes’ book details his battle to rid the theatre of rats.
“We hired pest exterminators, but it seems that the rats were fanatical film lovers and they were not shifting,” he wrote.
Yiannoudes borrowed a cat which initially seemed to get rid of the rats; at least until the screening of the Oscar winning classic “Ben Hur” (with Greek subtitles).

“Suddenly there was turmoil in the theatre, shouts and shrieks were heard and many patrons were standing,” he said. “I thought it was in response to the events on the screen … but then a patron came into the projection room to explain the upheaval was due to a black cat chasing a large rat.”
Yiannoudes eventually got rid of the rats and his company went on to buy cinemas in Northcote, Brunswick, Sunshine, Yarraville and Oakleigh.

He said “Golfo”, a Greek romance similar to Romeo and Juliet, was the most popular film he’d shown, with an estimated 80% viewership by Greek-Australians. He still shows Greek films at the Westgarth Theatre on the second Friday each month at 10.30am and has a collection of more than 1000 Greek movies.
For more details on his book “Greek Cinema Across Australia” please email: pyiannoudes@bigpond.com or call: 0408 738 180.
(source: melbourne-leader)