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 A TOUCH OF ZEN
King Hu (1971) 200 mins – PG
Although a relative failure on its initial release, Hu’s epic wuxia masterpiece has come to be regarded as one of the most influential works of modern Asian cinema. Based on a short story by Pu Songling first published in 1679, Hu’s often balletic, mythic and visually audacious orchestration of the widescreen frame, and the film’s phantasmagorical staging of specific scenes such as the mesmerising bamboo forest fight sequence, have become a touchstone of martial arts cinema. A hugely ambitious film, drawing together the various traditions of Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese cinemas, it “marks the apex of Hu’s work in the [wuxia] genre” (Stephen Teo).
4K DCP courtesy of Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
CTEQ ANNOTATION
A Touch of Zen
by Tony Williams
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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