A single-screen Edwardian picture palace expanded over the decades into a seven-screen art-house complex, the State remains in Tasmanian hands and remains the best cinema in Australia outside the capital cities. The programming is exemplary: art-house releases, foreign films, documentaries, special seasons, Q&A screenings with directors, and the occasional vintage 35mm print. The original 1913 main auditorium has been beautifully restored.
Above the foyer is the State Cinema Rooftop Bar, with views over North Hobart's red-tile roofs to the mountain, an excellent local wine list, and pizza from the kitchen below. The street-level State Cinema Bookstore sells film books, fiction, and Tasmanian writing and is open until the last screening starts.