October 5

UNSETTLING WORLDS: TWO FILMS BY LYNNE RAMSAY

Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (1969–) has realised only a slim body of work, making three feature films since her 1999 debut, yet she has been justly celebrated as one of the most original and powerful voices working in contemporary British cinema. This program explores the “immersive and at times almost overwhelming” (Harvard Film Archive) world of Ramsay’s films, screening two of her intensely personal explorations of youth and grief.


7:00PM – RATCATCHER
Lynne Ramsay
 (1999) 94 mins
Unclassified 15+ Unless accompanied by an adult

Set amongst decrepit Glasgow tenements, Ramsay films this story of a troubled childhood with a transcendental attention to textures and sensations. Assisted by Alwin H. Küchler’s sensitive cinematography, the director ruminates on the fragility of life and desires against the backdrop of a garbage strike. Amidst the earthy colour palette and gloomy realism of Ramsay’s feature debut as writer and director lies a mesmerising glow that reveals a heartbreaking affection for the film’s subjects. With William Eadie and Leanne Mullen, and a powerful musical score by Rachel Portman.


8:45PM – MORVERN CALLAR

Lynne Ramsay
 (2002) 97 mins M

Assuming the literary identity of a recently suicided boyfriend, “Morvern Callar” sets off from small-town Scotland to the sun and parties of southern Spain with her best friend. Lauded at Cannes for its dreamy cinematography, edgy soundtrack (Can, Broadcast, Aphex Twin, Lee Hazlewood) and career-defining performance by Samantha Morton in the title role, Ramsay’s second, much-celebrated feature film is the perfect distillation of her impressionistic cinema of unsettlement. “Pure punk existentialism” (Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times).

35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive, Australia.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4204396825

Wednesday 5 February
OPENING NIGHT 2025

12–26 February
BALLETIC SWORDFIGHTS, FLYING HEROINES AND BAMBOO FORESTS: KING HU, MASTER OF WUXIA

5–19 March
THE PAST IS ALWAYS PRESENT: THE EVOLUTIONARY CAREER OF ROBERTO ROSSELLINI

26 March – 9 April
OUT OF THE PAST AND INTO FLARES: NEO-NOIR IN 1970s AMERICA

16–30 April
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: THE UNFLINCHING VISION OF MICHAEL HANEKE

7–21 May
BARBARA STEELE: THE QUEEN OF SCREAM

28 May – 11 June
VÍCTOR ERICE: COME TOWARDS THE LIGHT

18 June – 2 July
REBELLIOUS MUSE: DELPHINE SEYRIG AS ACTOR, DIRECTOR AND ACTIVIST

Wednesday 9 July
DEEP DIVE: THE RESTLESSLY INVENTIVE WORK OF DIRK DE BRUYN

16–30 July
APPETITE FOR DECONSTRUCTION: SEIJUN SUZUKI

3–17 September
CINE DE ORO: TREASURES OF MEXICAN CINEMA’S GOLDEN AGE

24 September – 8 October
ONE FOR THE AGES: THE BALLADIC, PAINTERLY CINEMA OF FRANTIŠEK VLÁČIL

15–22 October
“ON THE EDGE OF FICTION”: ELIA SULEIMAN’S CINEMA OF BELONGING

29 October – 5 November
MARX, MELODRAMA AND MARCOS: LINO BROCKA FROM THE MID-1970s TO THE EARLY 1980s

12–19 November
IT’S TIME: AUSTRALIAN CINEMA IN 1975

Wednesday 26 November
MOTHER TONGUE: AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN ANIMATION

3–17 December
THE COURAGE TO TAKE THINGS SERIOUSLY: JOHN M. STAHL’S UNIRONIC MELODRAMAS