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 THE MAGIC CITY
Nikos Koundouros (1954) 80 mins – Unclassified 15+
Koundouros’ first feature is a powerful, neorealism-influenced study of poverty in the slums of post-war Athens. In 1953, after being released from the prison island of Makronisos, where he was held for being a member of the National Liberation Front, Koundouros visited the Drogouti refugee camp and was inspired to make this film, drawing on many of his fellow inmates, including Thanasis Vengos (in his first screen appearance) and Manos Katrakis, to furnish the film’s cast and crew. Written by avant-garde playwright Margarita Lymberaki.
4K DCP.
CTEQ ANNOTATION
“A voice that shouts”: Nikos Koundouros’ The Magic City
by Andréas Giannopoulos
8:35pm 1922
Nikos Koundouros (1978) 135 mins – Unclassified 15+
Banned by successive Greek governments, ostensibly because its release would ruin diplomatic relations with Turkey, Koundouros’ adaptation of Ilias Venezis’ autobiographical novel Number 31328 is a passionate plea against the political and military establishment that was complacent during the ethnic cleansing of Greeks in Anatolia. Told through the imaginative eyes of a boy who escapes Turkish imprisonment, the film is arguably the first time the true magnitude of the genocide was depicted onscreen “without evasions, phobias, or pretexts” (Vrasidas Karalis).
4K DCP.
CTEQ ANNOTATION
On Nikos Koudouros’ 1922
by Vrasidas Karalis
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.