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 QUAI DES ORFÈVRES
Henri-Georges Clouzot (1947) 106 mins – Unclassified 15+
A worldly detective (the wonderfully gruff and quizzical Louis Jouvet) investigates the murder of a sleazy film financier. Filled with the seedy and teeming atmosphere of the postwar Parisian music hall, Clouzot’s return to filmmaking after four years is a characteristically earthy, forensically detailed and noir-inflected mixture of social realism, dark humour and cynical psychological study. Widely regarded as one of the key postwar crime films, it won best director for Clouzot at the Venice Film Festival. Co-starring the director’s then-lover, Suzy Delair.
9:05pm RAZZIA SUR LA CHNOUF
Henri Decoin (1955) 105 mins – Unclassified 15+
The year after his iconic performance as the world-weary gangster in Touchez pas au grisbi, Jean Gabin returned to the Parisian criminal underworld milieu in this wonderfully hardboiled adaptation of the novel by Auguste Le Breton (also a source for Melville’s Bob le flambeur and Dassin’s Rififi). Examining the illicit hard drug trade, the underrated Decoin’s brilliantly appointed noir is an important precursor to the more nihilistic and existential works that would follow in its wake. A particular favourite of Bertrand Tavernier, it also features Marcel Dalio and Lino Ventura.
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.