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 FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER
Robert Bresson (1971) 83 mins – Unclassified 15+
In his rarely screened second colour film – evocatively shot by Pierre Lhomme (Melville’s L’armée des ombres) – Bresson reinterprets Dostoevsky’s short story “White Nights” by “focusing solely on the momentum provided by the reading” (Bresson), replacing the source’s neurotic interior monologue with pure gesture and a playful use of sound. As a result, the master director’s retelling of the strange ritual between arts graduate Jacques (Guillaume des Forêts) and the disillusioned Marthe (Isabelle Weingarten) over four nights by the Pont Neuf emerges as one of his most musical, surprisingly tender and slyly humorous films.
4K DCP.
8:45pm A COUCH IN NEW YORK
Chantal Akerman (1996) 108 mins – M
Akerman’s blithe deconstruction of the romantic comedy is one of her most deceptive and least widely seen films. Negotiating the fine line between her often incisive and razor-sharp approach to filmmaking and her love of genre, as well as her shifting allegiances between Europe and New York, this playful “fish out of water” comedy stars Juliette Binoche and William Hurt in a tale revolving around the exchange of apartments between an American psychoanalyst and a Parisienne dancer. Featuring a wonderful score by Akerman’s long-term partner, Sonia Wieder-Atherton.
35mm print courtesy of La Cinémathèque Suisse.
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.