Decades of population decline, prolonged drought and the loss of important local services have significantly eroded the quality of life in many Australian rural towns, resulting in increasing levels of social dislocation. Against this backdrop rural cinemas operate as sites of popular entertainment and enjoyment, but are also highly valued as positive spaces around which isolated communities can gather and interact. They provide opportunities for engagement with film culture, but can also help promote important local community connections. This article explores the challenges of accounting for the cultural and social multiplicities of the rural cinema experience, and reflects how some of the prevailing film as text/film as event delineations might be productively be reconsidered within critical studies.