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In My Double Life, Kiwis – and some international guests - share the side hustles, hobbies, dual careers or career pivots that keep them busy. Here, David Mulholland, a former Wellington civil servant, talks about moving to Thames and opening the Left Bank Cinema.
“I grew up in Gisborne, in the country, and there was a cinema there, but I don’t think it had any influence on what I’m doing now because we didn’t go very often. My appreciation for film developed when I went to university.
I didn’t go until I was 32. Before then, I was doing all sorts of things, from working in a tree nursery to a bank. Immediately before university, I was living in an intentional community in Golden Bay in a house bus. An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork.
The experiences I had there stimulated me to go to university because I was sitting around the communal table, hearing all these discussions and decided I’d like to have an informed opinion in order to take part.
I started at the University of Otago but moved to Wellington and Victoria University. I did a true arts degree – a lot of political philosophy – and because it was Wellington, you graduate and end up working for the government. I was a senior policy adviser for various government departments, including the Department of Labour, for 20 years.
Although I fell into that work by accident, I enjoyed it because it felt good working in something where you could make a positive difference, especially in the health and safety sphere. You know, helping workers to get home safely by reducing the accident and death toll in workplaces.
There was exposure to film festivals in Wellington, and I saw some wonderful films. I recall one about a family travelling around Kazakhstan in their house truck; another – fiction, not documentary – was set in a doll-making factory in Siberia where these babushkas (grandmothers) made the dolls out of what they call chewies. They baked the bread, chewed it and made the dolls’ heads. I love movies that transport you into worlds that you might never connect with.
When I moved to Whanganui, I joined the local film society. It was a way to meet people, but also continue seeing some great films. Eventually, I became the president, and, before Covid, we’d get an average of 65 people every Monday night, and more than 100 for public screenings. We offered 33 movies a year – some really interesting material.
I moved with my partner to Thames about two years ago and quit my job. I wasn’t old enough to get the pension, I needed something to occupy myself and I missed the film society. Thames didn’t have a cinema [the Embassy Cinema closed in 2021], so I thought, why not?
I bought a building – next to the Karaka Stream on Pollen St – and got the work under way to transform it. It took longer, and cost more, than I anticipated to do the soundproofing, construct the seating, install the ventilation and air conditioning and then get all the signoffs and consents.
I wanted it to have a community livingroom feel, to be informal and a little bit alternative. All the seats are second-hand and deliberately mismatched; I’ve cleaned out a few hospice shops and other second-hand places for cushions and things.
It works beautifully, and it’s down the Grahamstown end of Thames where things are very eclectic, so I think the cinema fits right in. People have really embraced it, and I’ve had lots and lots and lots of repeat customers.”
