Statement from Bille Brown
February 27, 2008
"The Taleban are at work again. Now in Brisbane. The Regent may not have the antiquity of those giant statues in the hillside that were viciously destroyed but the threatened Regent recalls Cloudland, or, The Bellevue Hotel, Her Majesty's theatre. The Regent is a palace for works of imagination, a unique part of our cultural heritage and our identity.
"Being there it helps us remember and inspires us. And what will replace it! A Car Park, more shops. Just another building that looks like any other building in you name it city. A lethal lack of imagination and a ruthless self righteousness gave those thugs, the Taleban the impetus to wipe out years of memory hewn in stone, so too earnest and ambitious developers will knock down, wipe out something special to Brisbane.
"A Movie Theatre, the kind of which are becoming increasingly rare round the world. One of the last remaining Picture Houses on the main street of our town. Remnant of another time but with clever use of new technology and inventive use will live longer.
"Look! It is not the antiquity or even the aesthetic beauty of our old house, it is the meaning and the worth of that building.
"Let us cherish what we have and make it work. When the Venice Opera House burnt down it was rebuilt with pride and determination. At the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the heart of the action is a beautiful restored and functioning movie palace like the Regent. And when it is not showing movies, it has live shows from all over the world, or just down the road.
"Look again! Let us keep this grand old lady going. Don't knock her down. Give her something to do!"
