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 BLACK SABBATH
Mario Bava (1963) 92 mins – M
Allegedly the source of a certain well-known heavy metal band’s name, Bava’s first colour horror film is a vivid anthology of three distinct stories: “The Drop of Water”, “The Telephone” and “The Wurdulak”. Boris Karloff appears intermittently as a kind of genial host introducing each supernatural shocker, one of which stars Jacqueline Pierreux (the mother of Jean-Pierre Leaud), while another features Karloff himself in a grisly lead role. More a mixed bag of Halloween candy than a holy trinity, these are nonetheless a delightful set of genre shorts that display the audacious design and playfulness of Bava’s best work.
8:50pm KILL, BABY… KILL!
Mario Bava (1966) 85 mins – M
In the early 1900s, an evil curse grips a medieval-era Carpathian village as the murderous ghost of a young girl seeks revenge. Her mother (played by Giovanna Galletti) stalks the corridors of a dark and spooky castle, whose mirrors, cobwebs and miasmic mists suggest a poetic and hallucinogenic dreamscape worthy of Jean Cocteau or Georges Franju. Bava’s low budget, inventive and hugely atmospheric Gothic shocker is often considered the last great entry in the “golden era” of Italian horror (Martin Scorsese called it Bava’s best film) and benefitted significantly from a lack of interference by international co-producers.
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.
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© The Melbourne Cinémathèque
ABN 59 987 473 440
The Melbourne Cinémathèque receives support from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.