Eaglehawk's Star Cinema lays out its strategy for the next three years

The cinema's three-year strategic plan was approved by its board last week and lays out four strategies to see the community venue continue to grow and thrive.

Chief among these is the plan to see the Star Cinema listed as one of the must-do things in the Bendigo region.

Star Cinema business manager Martin Myles said the experience of the boutique cinema would appeal to people looking for something to do at night.

"We know for fact from discussions with Bendigo Tourism, that there is plenty to do during the day, but not much to do at night," he said.

"When recommending things to do for people who come to the Bendigo area there's (things like) the art gallery and the Central Deborah mine, we want to be included in that handful of must-dos.

"We're very fortunate in that we provide a unique experience. Five years down the track people might forget film they saw but they remember the experience, that's part of our success.

After facing closure in 2017, the cinema was saved after its Bums On Seats campaign rallied the community proving enough funds to see it remain open.

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Mr Myles said the cinema was bucking the trend when it came to consistent audience numbers.

"It's enormously exciting. Just looking at last week's attendance numbers, it was possibly the biggest week we had," he said.

"To think about where we were - facing the point of closure - to 15 months down the track and having an ambitious plan and (averaging) 73 people per session. It's pretty unheard of."

Helping boost numbers was the decision for the cinema to screen films seven days a week.

Mr Myles said Star Cinema was the only not-for-profit cinema in Victoria to screen films seven days a week.

"It's interesting and a far cry from when I started here four years ago and it was Friday to Monday screenings," he said.

"Now we have been seven days a week for two years, it's clearly what people wanted and we have gone from strength to strength.

"We started that in September, 2017, just prior to the campaign. It wasn't by design but it played into our hands when we had a campaign calling for more people to visit us."

With audience numbers on the up, Star Cinema hopes to continue to broaden its audiences over the next three years.

"We definitely know from staff and volunteers that we are getting more first timers here," Mr Myles said.

"We have had a luxury, in a sense, of a loyal, dedicated patronage, our patrons are largely retired females.

"But we know we can't sustain long-term success on one demographic, so have been and will be, over the next three years, tapping into demographics that are unaware of us or unsure what we're about."

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A growth in patrons will also help Star Cinema in its aspiration to develop its own film festival by 2021.

"Part of plan for the next three years, is to become known as festival hub," Mr Myles said.

"We have been doing the MIFF Travelling Roadshow for the past several years and puts us on the travelling film festival map.

"This year partnered with the French Film Festival for first time. It was the first time in 30 years in Australia, the festival had partnered with regional a cinema. They approached us and it turned out to be an enormous success.

"We hope to capitalise on that and be destination for film lovers, establish our own festival and tap into that market in Melbourne."

The strategic plan also intends Star Cinema to look at the potential in its volunteer base.

Star Cinema has more than 40 volunteers with Mr Myles hoping to offer development opportunities and offer more training to the staff that help run the cinema.

"We have over 40 volunteers that have had interesting and great life experiences in their professional lives that they can bring to us," he said.

"As opportunities arise we always want to give back to volunteers and we feel skill enhancement is a way of doing that."

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