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The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a not-for-profit film volunteer-run society. We hold screenings at The Australia 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.
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NEXT SCREENING
May 16 - THE POLITICS OF CORRUPTION: FRANCESCO ROSI’S ENGAGED CINEMA
7:00 – MANY WARS AGO
Francesco Rosi (1970) 97 mins
Self funded, this is Rosi’s angriest work. A gritty, realist World War I drama, based on Emilio Lussu’s memoir of the Italian army’s disastrous battles culminating in Caporetto, it is imbued with a vehement, in-the-trenches anti-militarism. Alain Cuny stars as an upper class general who orders troops into a massacre against the Austro-Hungarians. Gian Maria Volonté & Mark Frechette are subordinates who must reconcile the necessity of obeying commands with the dictates of conscience. The film, like many others by Rosi, is an examination of class conflicts. Featuring an insightful script co-written by Tonino Guerra & superb cinematography by Pasquale De Santis.
35mm print courtesy of Cinecitta Luce.
8:50 – CARMEN
Francesco Rosi (1984) 152 min G
From the foreshadowing in its bloody opening scenes of a bull brought low by a torero’s blades to its inevitable conclusion, Rosi’s film of Bizet’s opera presents a magnificently choreographed, stylised & ritualised depiction of sexual attraction & violence. The great tenor Plácido Domingo plays the role of Don José while Julia Migenes-Johnson presents a refreshingly wanton, outrageously flirtatious Carmen. Shot entirely in stunning Andalusian locations by Pasqualino De Santis, the film successfully marries cinematic realism with opera’s inherent artificiality.
LATEST NEWS/BLOG ENTRY
01/01/12: Melbourne Cinémathèque 2012
Welcome back! The Melbourne Cinémathèque will resume screenings on February 8 at ACMI Cinemas with Martin Scorcese and Kent Jones film ‘A Letter To Elia’ to usher in our 3 week Elia Kazan retrospective.
Our programme this year also includes retrospectives of auteurs Robert Bresson, Francesco Rosi, Josef Von Sternberg, Claire Denis, Lee Chang-Dong, Boris Barnet, Raul Ruiz, Andrzej Munk & Wojciech Has and Patricio Guzman, as well as a selection of films from Nikkatsu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the studio.
We also have nights dedicated to works by Wim Wenders, Michelangelo Antonioni, actor Tony Leung, Helen Levitt & Sidney Meyers, Manoel De Oliviera and the seminal Australian director Solruun Hoaas, who passed away in 2009. In March we pay tribute to the work of three major experimental filmmakers who sadly passed away last year, George Kuchar, Jordan Belson and Robert Breer. See the relevant pages accessible from the screening section of our website for all the details.
2012 Calendars are currently available from ACMI and the usual distribution outlets. They can also be downloaded from our site via the screenings page.
We hope you enjoy our programme this year!