Dedicated to screening rare & significant films in their original format.
Dedicated to screening rare & significant films in their original format.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run film society.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a membership-based film society based in Melbourne, Australia.
We hold screenings at ACMI, Fed Square every Wednesday night for most of the year.
Admission is by membership, which can be obtained on a short-term or yearly basis.
We are a volunteer-run, not-for-profit organisation.
7:00pm SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
Roy Andersson (2000) 98 mins – Unclassified 15+
Andersson’s mordantly hilarious third feature came 25 years after his second and announced the full maturation of his signature style. Adopting a colour palette as jaundiced as his sardonic appraisal of the Western urban human condition, the director draws on quotations from Peruvian poet César Vallejo as he delivers a series of 46 meticulously crafted, unflinchingly deadpan, comically absurdist vignettes. Co-winner of the Jury Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Preceded by World of Glory Roy Andersson (1991) 16 mins – Unclassified 15+. Andersson’s sardonically titled, breathtakingly audacious short plays like a dress rehearsal for Songs from the Second Floor.
35mm print of Songs from the Second Floor courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive, Australia.
9:15pm A SWEDISH LOVE STORY
Roy Andersson (1970) 114 mins – Unclassified 15+
Andersson’s clear eyed, tender, profoundly balanced and deeply affecting debut feature about the trials and tribulations of first love, the restrictions of bourgeois society and the bittersweet nature of being young is a fascinating aesthetic and thematic outlier in his filmography. Made when Andersson was just 27, the film won multiple awards after its premiere at the 1970 Berlinale. Selected as Sweden’s entry into the 43rd Academy Awards, it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest Swedish films ever made.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque started out as the Melbourne University Film Society (MUFS) in 1948 and changed its name to Cinémathèque in 1984.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque aims to present films in the medium they were created and as closely as possible to screen films the way they would have originally screened (i.e. big screen, celluloid prints, not video or DVD).
Programmes include a diverse selection of classic and contemporary films showcasing director retrospectives, special guest appearances and thematic series including archival material and new or restored prints.
We have on occasion hosted numerous seminars featuring renowned film scholars such as David Bordwell, Adrian Martin and Ian Christie. We are also dedicated to providing new annotations on the films we screen via the CTEQ annotations, hosted as a part of the quarterly online film journal Senses of Cinema.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered and membership-driven relying on support from individuals, foundations, corporations and government funding to maintain its high standard of excellence. If you would like to be involved, or to offer donations or sponsorship, please contact us.
Presented by The Melbourne Cinémathèque and ACMI
Curated by Michael Koller, Adrian Danks, Eloise Ross, Cerise Howard and Andréas Giannopoulos for the Melbourne Cinémathèque
Music Synchronisation: Michael Koller
State Government support by VicScreen.
Supported by the City of Melbourne Annual Arts Grants Program.
The Melbourne Cinémathèque receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.
For all the latest news including program changes follow us via Twitter & Facebook.
© The Melbourne Cinémathèque
ABN 59 987 473 440
The Melbourne Cinémathèque receives support from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.