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

8 February – 22 February
“THE ART IS VERY JEALOUS”: TONINO GUERRA, WRITING IMAGES

1 March – 15 March
MODEL AND SOUL: THE UNCOMPROMISING CINEMA OF ROBERT BRESSON

22 March – 5 April
CRYING ON THE INSIDE: THE EMPATHETIC STARDOM OF TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI

12 April – 26 April
RETURN FIRE: MARILYN MONROE, ACTOR AND ICON

3 May – 17 May
SOFT AND HARD: THE HIGH-WIRE CAREER OF BURT LANCASTER

24 May
“THE STUFF OF CINEMA”: THE PROLIFIC INDEPENDENCE OF BILL MOUSOULIS

31 May – 14 June
ONE DAY AT A TIME: THE CINEMA OF TSAI MING-LIANG

21 June – 5 July
EVERYONE HAS THEIR REASONS: THE FILMS OF PETER BOGDANOVICH

12 July – 19 July
MAGIC, WHIMSY AND LIGHTBULB MOMENTS: ILDIKÓ ENYEDI’S TRANSPORTIVE CINEMA

26 July
POWER IN THE COLLECTIVE: THE KEY WORKS OF MERATA MITA

30 August – 13 September
GANGSTERS, GUNS AND GAULOISES: FRENCH CRIME CINEMA, 1945–60

20 September
LOTTIE LYELL, AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FILM STAR

27 September – 11 October
“ALL THE WORLD’S BEDLAM”: SCREWBALL, CZECHOSLOVAK STYLE

18 October – 1 November
NOW! CRIME, POLITICS AND REVOLUTION IN 1960s BRAZILIAN CINEMA

8 November
TEMENOS: THE SHARED VISIONS OF GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS AND ROBERT BEAVERS

15–22 November
BEHIND THE SCREEN: KINUYO TANAKA, TRAILBLAZING FILMMAKER

29 November
COMING TO AUSTRALIA: WOMEN FILMMAKERS AND THE MIGRANT EXPERIENCE

6–20 December
OSTERN POWERS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EASTERN EUROPEAN WESTERN