THE Star Cinema has been a fixture on Portland's Julia Street for decades.
Its stately curves hark back to an era when going to the pictures was a special occasion; the bright film posters that have filled its windows in recent times look somehow out of place against the building's ornate plasterwork and sweeping staircase.
This week marks an end of an era for the 240-seat cinema. On Sunday the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher was the last film to be shown to the public, while tonight a local radio station is holding a private screening there for clients.
After that, owner Mike Noske has decided to close the doors.
The well-known Portland resident sold the building to a local couple about eight years ago and has retained control of the business, but told The Standard he could no longer persist.
"It's been an OK business, but never a really big profiter (sic) and never a big loser," Mr Noske said.
"It was a very difficult 12 months and there's no sign of it getting any better ? sooner or later you have to say to yourself, 'What are you doing with your life if it's just propping up a business?'"
The chance to see films on a big screen in Portland might not be lost for long, however. Mr Noske remains hopeful a new operator will pick up where he leaves off.
"I think the landlord's seriously looking at continuing to run it as a cinema; we've reached an agreement where we're going to leave the cinema equipment in there, and if he can find someone to run it then we'll be very gracious," he said.
"I would like to think that it will continue to operate as a cinema in the immediate future and probably in the long future."
The Star Cinema opened in the mid-1930s and accommodated up to 1000 people across its two levels before closing in 1975.
Mr Noske's father Lou bought the building in 1977 and set about transforming it, undeterred by the rise and rise of colour television.
"He'd been to Europe and seen all these little boutique cinemas with shopping malls built into them, and he had this vision of a downstairs shopping mall and upstairs cinema," Mr Noske said.
A floor was added to the building and the change realised, though the arcade would not prove particularly successful.
Later uses for the space included offices, a gymnasium, art gallery and print shop; it last housed a video shop but has been empty for about a year.
One full-time employee has worked at the cinema of late, along with up to seven part-time staff members.
Mr Noske said the re-opening of Warrnambool's Capitol Cinema with digital 3D capability and the shift of Mount Gambier's cinema to the same technology had made it tough to fill seats in Portland.
While school holiday screenings were reliably popular, sessions outside these periods were often attended by just a handful of people.
"It's been an interesting exercise; we have run it as a very personable, almost quirky cinema for a long time," Mr Noske said.
"There's always a lot of satisfaction in seeing people walk out of a place having enjoyed what they've seen."
Mr Noske began running the business in 1985 and said those he had spoken to since news emerged of the cinema's closure had thanked him for persisting as long as he did.
"(They) recognise that it's been difficult," he said.
"You really need multiple screens to survive in a city like Portland, because society's become very immediate ? people want to see the film that's got all the advertising within a week or two of it being released."
The Star Cinema has traditionally shared film prints with the Hamilton Cinema, which is owned and run by Southern Grampians Shire.
Glenelg Shire chief executive Sharon Kelsey said the theatre had played an important role in the lives of Portland and district residents.
"Council is hopeful that a commercial interest will see the value in its continuation," she said.
Mr Noske will not attend tonight's final screening -instead he'll be playing social basketball across town. He remains confident cinemas in general will live on.
"I think people always like a night out or a day out, whatever the excuse," he said.
"There will always be cycles of the latest home entertainment things in the short term, but in the end cinema continues to grow as a box office in Australia. You can't spend your life at home."
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