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 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 short-term or yearly basis.
We are a volunteer-run, not-for-profit organisation.
7:00pm THE RIVER
Tsai Ming-Liang (1997) 115 mins – Unclassified 15+
Featuring Tsai regulars Lee Kang-Sheng, Miao Tien and Lu Yi-Ching as a deconstructed nuclear family living in one of the leakiest apartments in cinema history, this bleak portrayal of urban alienation and loneliness won the Silver Bear at the 1997 Berlinale. Standing in contrast to the frenetic style of much 1990s cinema, the long takes, mostly static camera and minimal dialogue would become signature elements of the director’s style. In his review, The New York Times critic A. O. Scott described Tsai as “a rare director who seems, even at this late date, to be reinventing the medium and rediscovering the world”.
Courtesy of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
CTEQ ANNOTATION
Afflictions of Pain and Desire: The River (Tsai Ming-liang, 1997)
by Alex Williams
9:10pm DAYS
Tsai Ming-Liang (2020) 127 mins – Unclassified 15+
Shot over five years and across three countries, Tsai’s latest, largely unscripted feature provides a characteristic, if surprisingly warm portrait of contemporary ennui and the problems of ageing and connecting in modern society. Following his long-time muse – Lee Kang-Cheng – as he seeks treatment in Hong Kong for the back ailment that first emerged (for actor and character) in 1997’s The River, Tsai becomes equally fascinated by a Laotian migrant working in Bangkok. When these solitary figures finally come together in a moment of true tenderness it speaks to the inherent soulfulness and even nostalgia of the filmmaker’s oeuvre.
CTEQ ANNOTATION
Days (Tsai Ming-liang, 2020)
by Jacob Agius
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 Michael Koller, Adrian Danks, Eloise Ross, Cerise Howard and Andréas Giannopoulos for the Melbourne Cinémathèque
Subtitling Logistics: Lorenzo Rosa
Music Synchronisation: Michael Koller
Supported by VicScreen & RMIT University.
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© The Melbourne Cinémathèque
ABN 59 987 473 440
Supported by VicScreen, RMIT University & The City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program.