RMIT Capitol Theatre

Sue Maslin, Film Maker, Producer of the Dressmaker, RMIT Capitol Theatre Ambassador:

My very first documentary film was screened here in 1987 as part of the Melbourne International film festival. I think there are about 600 seats in this cinema and an audience of that scale watching your very very first film in this beautiful beautiful setting, which just celebrates the nostalgia and the romance of cinema, there could not have been a better place really for a first time film maker to have their film screened. 

Marc Morel, Venue Manager, RMIT:

It is the most beautiful cinema in the world, an extraordinary space, but it’s also amazing that it’s just sitting here in Swanston Street behind these closed doors. Most other cinemas are fairly traditional, this is unique. You know the original brief was a crystalline palace of wonder and it really is that. RMIT is looking to reactivate the Capitol Theatre which is a great thing because it has sat sort of unused for several years now. 

Martin Bean CBE, RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President, RMIT Capitol Theatre Ambassador:

We want to revitalise the Capitol and open it up to students, industry and the community. 

The new Capitol will be a thriving centre of education, research and innovation. More than 1000 students across 10 disciplines will be able to gain hands on experience and exposure to industry best practice. The Capitol will be a hub for collaboration and an incubator of new enterprises. Best of all it will quickly become a magnet for creative entrepreneurs right in the heart of Melbourne. 

Bradley Dixon, Bachelor of Communications (Media) student, RMIT University:

It’s obviously a very big space and it could be much more than just a theatre, in addition to being used by students during the day as a lecture theatre or screening facility, by night it could be used to facilitate those connections between industry and students, that’s a space that would really be quite valuable to a student.

Adam Elliot, Film Maker and Oscar winner for Harvie Krumpet, RMIT Capitol Theatre Ambassador:

The Capitol could once again become this sort of hotbed of creativity with ideas sparking of each other and become a really inspirational space. 

Sue Maslin, Film Maker, Producer of the Dressmaker, RMIT Capitol Theatre Ambassador:

I really really encourage others to get behind the vision of bringing back this beautiful beautiful icon, not only for its former glory but for its future potential, to really engage Melbournians and people from around the world with this jewel that’s in the heart of our city.