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 – TOOMELAH
Ivan Sen (2011) 106 mins MA15+
A raw and textured portrait of ten-year-old Daniel, a wannabe gangster living in Toomelah. Shot without a crew and using a cast of first-timers (except for one experienced actor), the film is a deeply personal project for Sen who based the script on his own experiences and memories of visiting the remote Aboriginal community in the far north of inland NSW. A masterful balance of sharp social commentary addressing issues such as Aboriginal deaths to custody, long-term unemployment and substance abuse, underscored by a dark, irreverent sense of humour.
CTEQ ANNOTATION:
The Past, Present and Future of Toomelah by Nicholas Bugeja.
8:25pm – INDIGENOUS LEGACIES: THE DOCUMENTARIES OF IVAN SEN
Ivan Sen (2005-2008) 105 mins Unclassified 15+*
This collection of shorts shows Sen’s skills as a documentarian and mines his far-reaching empathy for the lives and histories of Indigenous individuals and communities that need wider recognition. Embassy Days (2008) is a two-part investigation of four activists involved in the establishing of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972. Yellow Fella (2005) chronicles the life of Tom E. Lewis, the actor who portrayed Jimmie Blacksmith in Fred Schepisi’s 1978 film. Aunty Connie (2006) traces the life of a woman born in the Kimberley with a debilitating bone disease, featuring archival material and narration by Deborah Mailman taken from the memoir by Connie Nungulla McDonald, When You Grow Up.
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.