40 years on, the tumultuous year of 1968 is still a watershed for 20th century history, and a beacon of the possibilities of social, political and cultural change that have largely foundered over subsequent decades. The films in this season encounter both directly and metaphorically the social upheavals, cultural criticism and winds of revolutionary change that swept across both Europe and the United States, their extraordinary mix of styles and forms equally demonstrating a growing dynamism in cinematic practice. Complimenting other celebrations of the near-revolution in France in May '68, this season presents films which reflect a growing anger and concern with the political system, the Vietnam War, the violence of contemporary society, stirrings of democracy and political crackdowns in Eastern Europe, staid cultural institutions and conventional gender roles.

Focusing on the United States, Britain & Czechoslovakia, this expansive season profiles films released, made and produced in immediate response to these dynamic events, including: Haskell Wexlers extraordinarily immediate docu-drama exploring contemporary media and the meltdown of the Chicago Democratic Convention (Medium Cool); a series of films that respond to the quagmire of Vietnam & its racist underpinnings (No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger, Interviews with My Lai Veterans; 2 seminal works of the Czech cinema dealing metaphorically with the suppression of the Prague Spring (The Joke, The Witches' Hammer; & a series of horror films that reflect the unsettling and disorientating effects of social change and violence (The Witchfinder General, Targets). This season also features several films which directly capture the Zietgiest of the late 60's and which have gone on to become iconic works of the decade (Petulia, If...

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September 17 - 7:00pm

If...

Lindsay Anderson (1968) 111 mins M

A highly original modern classic, 1st conceived in 1958 & openly resembling Jean Vigo’s Zero de conduite, it nevertheless captured the late ‘60s radical Zeitgeist. A cause célèbre on its initial release for its delirious images of brutality, including scenes of students machine-gunning teachers, this vivid satire constructs a metaphor for society from the organisation & rituals of an English public school. Anderson’s ‘60s landmark, with its structural use of colour was influenced by Brecht’s epic theatre. With Malcolm McDowell.

Imported 35mm print.

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September 17 - 9:00pm

The Witchfinder General R

Michael Reeves (1968) 98 mins

Vincent Price gives a chilling & brilliantly understated performance as Matthew Hopkins, a real-life witch-hunter during the era of Cromwell. This savage, stylish low budget cult horror melodrama was the last & most significant work by Reeves, one of the truly promising British directors of the era who died at the age of 23. This key work of British horror reflects the unsettledness of the late ‘60s & shows extraordinary imagination & feeling for its gruesome subject.

Imported 35mm print.

Preceded by Lichtenstein in London Bruce Beresford (1968) 20 mins.

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September 24 - 7:00pm

Experiments in Time & Place

Valentin de las Sierras Bruce Baillie (1968) 10 mins.San Franciscan Baillie’s lyrical mediation on time & place explores Chapala, Mexico through the colour, songs & weathered countenances of its indigenous inhabitants. T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G. Paul Sharits (1968) 12 mins. Continues Sharits’ visionary exploration of the single frame & the cinema’s underlying violence, sexuality & materiality. Chinese Firedrill Will Hindle (1968) 24 mins. Hindle’s claustrophobic & intense award-winner is “an overwhelming, disturbing unique emotional experience” (Richard Corliss).

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September 24 - 8:00pm

Greetings

Brian De Palma (1968) 88 mins M

De Palma's most significant film of the '60s is often considered the 1st film to deal explicityl with the Vietnam draft. Melding satirical leftist views of American values, an unconventional narrative, and innovative style (sped up footage, rapid cutting, and alienating characters) the film grossed over $1 million and cemented De Palma's position as a bankable filmmakers, spawning a sequel Hi Mom! Top billing goes to a then little known actor: Robert De Niro.

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September 24 - 9.40pm

Targets

Peter Bogdanovich (1968) 90 mins MA

Bogdanovich's directorial debut is an unconventional horror film, starring Boris Karloff as an ageing actor tired of playing ghoulish roles. The film is loosely based on the 1966 Charles Whitman murder spree & cleverly explores questions of violence by counterpoising Karloff’s screen monster against the young sociopath. Bogdanovich also makes an appearance as a young director working for a hack producer (paralleling his relationship with Roger Corman), who at one point watches Hawks’ The Criminal Code - featuring a psychopathic Karloff - on TV. This moody critique of American society is brilliantly shot by László Kovács.

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October 1 - 7:00pm

Medium Cool

Haskell Wexler (1969) 110 mins

Fascinating & groundbreaking docu-drama centring on a TV newsreel cameraman (Robert Forster) & his attempts to capture events leading up to & including the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Director-writer-cameraman Wexler stages his drama amidst the actual traumatic events of the era, providing a brilliant McLuhan-esque meditation on race, war, politics, gender & the mass media’s role in the violent conflicts surging through American society. Vincent Canby called it “a kind of cinematic Guernica, a picture of America in the process of exploding into fragmented bits of hostility, suspicion, fear & violence”. Music by Mike Bloomfield.

Imported 35mm print.

Preceded by An American Time Capsule Charles Braverman (1968) 3 mins. Condenses 200 years of American history into 3 volatile minutes.

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October 1 - 9:05pm

Petulia

Richard Lester (1968) 105 mins M

Petulia

One of the best films of the ‘60s is a tragi-comedy about human isolation, set against the trippy San Francisco scene, & centred upon the relationship between a divorced surgeon (George C. Scott) & a self-styled oddball (Julie Christie) married to the beautiful but psychotic Richard Chamberlain. Luminously shot by Nicolas Roeg, Lester’s almost futuristic & Resnais-influenced take on the ennui accompanying the era’s freedoms is an extraordinary combination of European American modernity. Also featuring Joseph Cotten, The Grateful Dead & Big Brother & the Holding Company.

Preceded by Chiefs Richard Leacock (1969) 20 mins. A seemingly matter-of-fact report on a police chiefs’ Honolulu convention in 1968 seethes with an underlying tension & violence.

Imported 35mm print.

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October 8 - 7:00pm

'NAM '68

Interviews with My Lai Veterans Joseph Strick (1970) 22 mins. The recollections of 5 American soldiers present at the infamous massacre of Vietnamese villagers on 16 March 1968. Co-photograped by Haskell Wexler.

Hearts & Minds Bruce Petty (1968) 22 mins. Petty’s 1st film, made with Phillip Adams, combines footage of Vietnam with some of his newspaper cartoons, building to a strong anti-war statement.

The Lottery Larry Yust (1969) 18 mins. Adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s chilling Gothic story about a small American town & its annual lottery ritual draws strong parallels with the Draft.

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October 8 - 8:15pm

No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger

Loeb Wiess (1968) 68 mins

This highly effective documentary draws thick-lined parallels between the peace & civil rights movements of the 1960s (& beyond). Weiss takes his 16mm camera into the thick of the Harlem Fall Mobilization March, an anti-Vietnam War procession held in New York. This action is anchored by the stories of 3 very angry black Vietnam veterans, articulately conveying their disillusionment with a system that simultaneously asks for their lives while denying their civil liberties.

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October 8 - 9:30pm

America is Hard to See

Emile de Antonio (1970) 98 mins

One of a series of De Antonio’s radical films that document the seismic & cataclysmic events of post-war America & its political system. Following his dissection of JFK’s assassination in Rush to Judgement, De Antonio charts the ultimate failure of the liberal left to effectively counter the divisive politics of the conservative right. Following Eugene McCarthy’s failed campaign for the US presidency, & documenting the epochal Chicago Democratic Convention, it provides one of the most politically engaged, enraged & complex portraits of the tumultuous year of 1968.

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October 15 - 7:00pm

Švankmajer

3 shorts made in 1968, a critical period of artistic development for the Czech master-animator as he turned from Mannerism to Surrealism. The Garden (1968) 16 mins. A man must take his place in a living fence of human beings designed to discourage trespassers. The Flat (1968) 13 mins. Sadism & black humour reign as animated objects in a room conspire with malice against an unfortunate man. Picnic With Weissmann (1968) 13 mins. Animated objects take a man’s dead body for a picnic, partying on with no respect for the deceased.

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October 15 - 8:00pm

The Joke

Jaromil Jires (1969) 80 mins

Combining political ideas with existential investigation, Jires’ film is an adaptation of Milan Kundera’s novel of the same name. Although the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia resulted in an artistic environment stifled by hard-line communism, Jires, just finding his wings artistically in ’68, chose to stay as his peers (Forman, Passer) began to escape to more tolerant lands. Filming had just finished when the tanks arrived & the film, deeply critical of the Stalinist era, remained largely unseen for almost 2 decades.

Imported 35mm print courtesy of Národní filmový archive.

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October 15 - 9:30pm

Witches' Hammer

Otakar Vávra (1969) 103 mins

Mass hysteria takes over a 17th century Czech village in the grip of a witch-hunting inquisition. This anti-Stalinist parable, made just after Russian tanks rolled in & put down the Prague Spring, was banned until after the Velvet Revolution of late 1989. Shot in effectively stark black-&-white, the film’s exploration of torture, avarice & the abuse of power make it comparable with Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc – especially in its use of intense close-ups – & Arthur Miller’s comparable political parable, The Crucible.

Imported 35mm print courtesy of Národní filmový archive.