Harry Potter hype, famous choc-tops and director visits: Memories shared from decades of screenings at Nambucca Cinema

It was Boxing Day 2002. Kieren Dell had taken over the Nambucca Cinema a little over a month ago. Screenings of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers were selling out fast and filling seats.

On this special summer day, the cinema’s freezer failed. The result: 1,000 melted handmade choc tops.

After more than 23 years at the reins, Kieren Dell has many memorable moments running the town’s big screen. The CEO of Regional Cinemas Australia shared some standouts with the Mid North Coaster days after the Nambucca Cinema closed its doors after more than 40 years in operation.

🎞️Opened for a big year in film: On November 14, 2002, Dell – alongside partners and investors – bought the Nambucca Cinema Centre.

• “We were absolute novices in the cinema business, but we learnt fast,” Dell told the Mid North Coaster.

That was the month the second instalment in the Harry Potter movies premiered, and so they hit the ground running.

The Potter fandom was overshadowed six weeks later, on Boxing Day, when the second Lord of the Rings movie aired. It was raining that day, but Dell recalls people lined out the door by 8am – some dressed at hobbits.

• “Every ticket for three days was sold out in advance with lots of tears from people missing out,” Dell said.

• This first year in the cinema business also saw the release of Die Another Day in the James Bond series, starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.

  🥇Famous choc-tops: Nambucca cinema’s hand-made choc tops were named “the best in Australia” on the John Laws show in the early 2000s.

• “Many locals would drop in on the way home from dinner to grab some choc tops for dessert, without seeing a movie,” Dell said.

Moments over the decades: Dell fondly remembers multiple memories from his time at the helm of the cinema, like sitting down for dinner in Nambucca with Barry Crocker after showing The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie.

Then there was the stress-induced moment of the cinema’s very first 3D screening with a re-release of Avatar. Promoted by the local radio station, the event drew a crowd of 200 people.

• “All we had was a green screen due to a technical issue, despite extensive testing,” Dell said, who recalls the “intense relief” felt when the movie got going just in time. 

And of course, visits from directors and movie producers to present their films, like Chris Kennedy presenting his Australian comedy A Man’s Gotta Do to a full house in 2004.

• “I had watched the movie on a VHS tape (remember them) at home and thought it was pretty average, only to see it transformed to a great comedy in front of an audience all laughing in unison. And with a talk from the director, whose day job was a dentist and who never made another movie to my knowledge,” Dell said.

Shane Jacobsen, the star of the 2006 mockumentary Kenny, performed a comedy routine ahead of his fully-booked screening. 

• “When I went to greet him as Shane in the foyer he said ‘It’s Kenny’ as he was already in character and stayed in character the whole time,” Dell said.

• “Then he wrote a very funny quote over the men’s urinals: ‘Our aim is to keep these toilets clean, your aim will help’ and signed it Kenny Smyth.” 

In 2010, author of Tomorrow, When the War Began, the late John Marsden, was present at the Nambucca cinema for the national opening night of the film with the same name.

Marsden was both a bestselling Australian author and a high school teacher. 

• “I’ve never seen a 60-year-old maths teacher mobbed by teenagers asking him to sign their books – the line went out the door and into the carpark,” Dell remembers.

A local employer: The cinema was a first part-time job for many young Nambucca locals, and for others, a career.

• Susanne Young worked with the cinema for a couple of decades, making her way up to management. Young will stay with the company, moving to the Sawtell site – taking over from retiring Judi Quinn who has been with the company for over 20 years.

• One of the original partners, Jeanette Bailey, Chief Financial Officer, and her husband Ian have been with Dell from the beginning, more than 23 years ago. 

• Andy Schmidtke, chief projectionist, was at the Nambucca cinema in 2002 when Dell took over. Schmidtke went on to open the Port Macquarie cinema a few years later and became the Head of Facilities and Technical across the Regional Cinemas Australia group.

The cause of closure: Dell said the closure of the cinema was “a very sad day” for him as not only a business man, but a past Nambucca Valley resident.

But the impacts of COVID-19 and the Hollywood strikes were still being felt at the Nambucca cinema more so than other venues.

Dell said the aging population of the Nambucca Valley and the age of the cinema building were part of the decision to finish the lease early.

• “It was not an easy decision, but the presence of our two newer cinemas to the north and south was an important consideration, making sure we can still serve the people of the Nambucca Valley,” Dell said.

• “Cinema will continue to recover and thrive on the Mid North Coast and around Australia and the world – there is nothing like gathering with others in the dark with the big screen and surround sound, and immersing yourself in a great story.”

Regional Cinemas sites in Kempsey and Sawtell remain open for business.