The Speakeasy Cinema is a small performance space in inner-city Melbourne. The last show they presented was by the brilliant but tortured musician Daniel Johnson. Previous to that was The Heavy Metal Gangs of Wadeye, a Vice Magazine expose of Aboriginal gangs in Northern Territory townships.

Judging by those two acts the Speakeasy's lineup is lovingly eclectic.

Their next act, coming up on Sunday 28th, is a screening of Last Hope, the collection of short films put together by Andrew Kidman and Aaron Curnow. Kidman's band, the Windy Hills, will be contributing a live score to the movie.

Curious with the Speakeasy's choice of artist I asked Ghita from the Speakeasy and Andrew a few questions about odd pairings:

How do you think Last Hope will go down with a non-surf audience? Andrew Kidman: It should go down alright, we played Glass Love in a small theatre in Melbourne a few years back and people seemed really happy about it. The Windy Hills are playing live with Last Hope, so hopefully there's no Collingwood supporters in the audience throwing tomatoes.

How did the show come about? Ghita Loebenstein: I set up Speakeasy last year with the idea of catching films that fall through the cracks - that don't ordinarily make it to a bigger screen - and also as a way of trying to expand the movie-going experience into something a bit more event based. Whether it's the excitement of seeing something a bit off the beaten track, or because it's paired with an art exhibition, a Q+A from the director, or like this - with a live score.

I emailed Aaron Curnow from Spunk last year. I was a music writer for a while and have always loved what Aaron does so I basically asked him if he had any interesting film or video based things coming out. Then Marty Jones got in contact with me as he thought the Last Hope project was a good fit for the space.

Would you like your work to appeal to a non-surfing audience? Is that a new challenge? AK: Of course. Getting work to appeal to anyone is a challenge, it's been going okay though. We had 800 people turn out in Perth for the Last Hope show we did at the Astor Theatre. So maybe people are starting to understand what we're trying to do. There was a really good energy to the whole event, with the film and the live music. It was like we were finally achieving the complete vision of the project.

In that regard, do you find working within the parameters of 'surfing' a bit restricting? AK: No, it's endless. Every day is different, every wave is different, every board is different, there's infinite ways to go with whatever you want to do in the ocean.

Do you find it easy to convey surfing ideas to non-surfers? Is relying on 'the beauty of the sea' enough these days? AK: I like the fact that there's a bit of mystery there for non-surfers. The sea is a complete mystery, I mean, I think it's a mystery to surfers as well, it's still a mystery to me. Every day it throws something new at me. It's more about emotions; if you can make your audience feel something, but they're not sure why, then maybe it's working.

So there are still aspects of surfing that you would like to immerse yourself in and discover. AK: I'm completely immersed in it. I'm virtually drowning....

Last Hope with The Windy Hills playing live. 7:30pm Sunday 28th March Speakeasy Cinema at 1000 £ Bend 361 Lt Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Tickets $20 (pre-sale) / $25 (door)

Wanna read about the Speakeasy? Click here. 

Last Hope review