April 06

THE BITTER TEARS OF RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER: A COLLABORATION WITH THE MELBOURNE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL

7:00PM – QUERELLE

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
 (1982) 108 mins R18+

Fassbinder’s final film—a multinational production released posthumously just months after his tragic death—is an adaptation of one of Jean Genet’s most lurid and scandalous novels depicting the murderous, criminal and sexual exploits of a young psychopathic sailor (Brad Davis) in the port of Brest. Eschewing the characteristically blunt and direct naturalistic style that defined his filmmaking throughout the 1970s, Fassbinder further develops his experiments with colourful, Anger-esque expressionism initiated in Lola. With Jeanne Moreau and Franco Nero.

CTEQ ANNOTATION
The Betrayals of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s ‘Querelle’ by Claire Henry.


9:00PM – THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
 (1972) 122 mins M

Fassbinder adapts his own play about an emotionally sadistic fashion designer and the handful of women who visit her in the garish bedroom in which she holds court. The film’s long takes, deep focus cinematography and dispassionate, faux-theatrical style work against the melodrama of the material, creating a dissonance that allows Fassbinder’s searingly critical self-portrait to show up in sharp relief. The all-female ensemble of Fassbinder regulars (Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla and Irm Hermann) creates a memorable gallery of desperate grotesques.

Whose are the Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant? by Cerise Howard.


The Melbourne Cinémathèque is pleased to continue its collaboration, inaugurated in 2015, with the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Australia’s preeminent queer film event and Melbourne’s second biggest film festival. This partnership presents a chance to explore the rich historical roots of the queer cinematic canon through the festival’s first ‘Pioneers’ program.

mqff

7 February
OPENING NIGHT 2024

7 February – 21 February
FROM THE BOULEVARDS OF PARIS TO THE DOCKS OF CHERBOURG: LANDMARKS OF THE FRENCH FILM MUSICAL

28 February – 13 March
'LIVING MAY BE TRAGIC, BUT LIFE ISN'T': THE FILMS OF THE TAVIANI BROTHERS

20 March – 3 April
IN THE AFTERGLOW: THE MERCURIAL STARDOM OF GLORIA GRAHAME

Wednesday 10 April
MAN OF THE CINEMA: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN FLAUS AT 90

17 April – 1 May
KEEP ROLLING: ANN HUI'S COUNTER-CINEMA

8 May – 22 May
'ALL ART IS ONE': THE VISIONARY CINEMA OF MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER

29 May – 12 June
WRITING WITH HER EYES: SUSO CECCHI D'AMICO, SCREENWRITER AS OBSERVER

19 June – 3 July
THE HOUSE THAT MOHSEN BUILT: THE FILMS OF SAMIRA MAKHMALBAF, MARZIEH MESHKINI AND MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF

10 July – 24 July
THE PAIN OF LIVING: JEAN EUSTACHE, BEING CINEMA

Wednesday 31 July
BETWEEN THE WAVE AND REVOLUTION: THE RETURN OF RIVETTE’S LEGENDARY L’AMOUR FOU

4–18 September
BLIND BEASTS, RED ANGELS AND HOODLUM SOLDIERS: THE IRRESISTIBLE CINEMA OF YASUZO MASUMURA

25 September – 9 October
JIŘÍ MENZEL: MAKING COMEDIES IS NO FUN

16–23 October
OF MEN AND MONSTERS: THE CINEMA OF NIKOS KOUNDOUROS

Wednesday 30 October
CONTESTED HISTORIES: THE DOCUMENTARIES OF JENI THORNLEY

6–20 November
THE FIRST AND LAST OF ENGLAND: THE QUEER LEGACIES OF DEREK JARMAN

Wednesday 27 November
PARADING THE PAST: RECENT ERNST LUBITSCH RESTORATIONS

4–11 December
THE SEEDS OF CHANGE: THE DOCUMENTARIES OF TOM ZUBRYCKI

Wednesday 18 December
CARLTON AND BEYOND: THE MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY FILM SOCIETY IN THE 1960s