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.
We hold screenings at The Australian Centre for the Moving image every Wednesday night for most of the year.
Admission is by membership, which can be obtained on a monthly or yearly basis.
6:30pm – THE SPIDER’S STRATAGEM
Bernardo Bertolucci (1970) 100 mins – Unclassified 15 +
The son of a martyred anti-fascist hero travels to a small Italian village searching for the truth behind his father’s death, only to unravel a web of myths, mysteries and lies. In this intimate, mesmeric film based on a short story by Jorge Luis Borges and exquisitely shot in vibrant shades by Franco Di Giacomo and Vittorio Storaro, Bertolucci’s delicately elusive and deftly non-linear style grapples with themes of historical legacy, cultural inheritance and the intersection of sex, violence and ideology. With Alida Valli. 35mm print courtesy of Cinecittà Luce.
8:25pm – LA RELIGIEUSE
Jacques Rivette (1966) 140 mins – Unclassified 15 +
Rivette’s bold second feature is a controversial adaptation of Denis Diderot’s late 18th-century novel detailing the virtual incarceration of a young woman forced to enter a convent. Initially condemned by the Catholic church, partly for its critical and honest portrayal of various high officials, Rivette’s characteristically precise, formally adventurous, devastatingly affective and physically palpable portrait of the sad fate of Suzanne Simonin (in an extraordinary incarnation by Anna Karina) is also “one of the greatest prison movies ever made” (Justin Chang).
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 with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
Curated by the Melbourne Cinémathèque.
Curatorial Committee: Michael Koller, Adrian Danks, Eloise Ross and Cerise Howard, with Associate Curator Michelle Carey
Supported by Film Victoria, RMIT University & The City of Melbourne
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© The Melbourne Cinémathèque
ABN 59 987 473 440
Supported by Film Victoria, RMIT University & City of Melbourne.