at the end of the No.96 Tram diametrically opposite RRR
This season of screenings is a response to numerous requests to renew Timecapsules. This season is a return to some perennial areas of interest, Political film, Japanese post-war, experimental, black comedy, noir and horror. The screenings are free and food and mocktails will be available for purchase.
February 2nd
Emperors Naked Army Marches On (ゆきゆきて、神 Yuki Yukite Shingun) 1987. 122 mins; ColourDir: Kazuo Hara
A documentary that portrays one man’s “solitary war” against the entire edifice of Imperial Japan armed with a slingshot, photocopier and his fists. Hara follows Kenzo Okuzaki, a military veteran, revenge killer, and attempted assassin of Emperor Hirohito, as he brutally harangues his own guilt stricken military superiors. A hierarchy that he claims executed and ate low ranking soldiers in those ugly final days of the Pacific War. Kenzo’s grip on his own humanity slides as he seeks retribution on these so-called war-heroes. A mirroring between Kenzo and his quarry emerges; a confusion between victim and victimiser, vengeance and self -mortification and a common refusal to accept defeat.
The Face of Another(他人の顔 Tanin no kao)1966. 122mins ; B&WHiroshi TeshigaharaTokyo 58 1958. 24mins; B&WHiroshi Teshigahara
Two wildly different works from Hiroshi Teshigahara the allegorical cine-poet responsible for “Woman of the Dunes”. “The Face of Another ” marks the last of three collaborations between writer Kobo Abe and experimental composer Toru Takemitsu. A bitter and twisted man, a disfigured victim of his own crimes, purchases the rights to share another mans face, but uses his new found beauty to indulge in psychological games with his unwitting loved ones. Analogous to Georges Franju’s “Eyes without a Face”, Teshigahara simultaneously explores the social persona embodied in the face, and the “face” of the nation in its trauma after the H-Bomb and its shameful miltary adventure.
Preceded by “Tokyo 58”, a whimsical and often surreal newsreel portrait of Tokyo during that year; a film that Teshigahara made with the help of a score of other directors.
February 16
Post Revolutionary Cuban Cinema
Now(1965, 5 mins)LBJ(1968, 18 mins)El Sueno del Pongo(1970, 11 mins.),El Tigre Salto y Mato, Pero Morira… Morira… (1973, 16 mins.)Dir: Santiago Alvarez
Santiago Alvarez was a polemicist, avowed Communist, and experimental film essayist who made searing agitprop, combining photography, newsreel and music. Each of these works combines Eisentsteinian montage, expressionist film effects, as well as a powerful use of sound and text to rail against injustice and to support his beleaguered nation. Alvarez’s work can be appreciated as political commentary, or as dazzling visual art.
Death of a Bureaucrat.1966; 84mins B&WDir: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
A hilarious farce that anybody subjected to absurd bureaucracy can appreciate. An inventor and sculpture manufacturer is killed by his own machinery, and buried ceremoniously with his worker I.D. card. Rather than being able to grieve the death of her former husband, the widow and her son are caught in a double bind in the attempt to retrieve the I.D. card. Thus they fall into a series of bureaucratic chasms and the ensuing chaos is both surreal and slapstick in equal measure. Like Bunuel directing Buster Keaton, Gutiérrez Alea’s farce is serious, sympathetic, hilarious, and critical of tendencies within the regime without missing a beat.
February 23rd
In the Year of the Pig1968; 103 mins B&WDir:Emile de Antonio
If there was ever a documentary to watch about the Vietnam War and ever a film statement from the student radicalism of the 1960’s this is the one. Painstakingly constructed without commentary from an exhaustive collection of newsreels. “Year of the Pig” makes it grimly clear regarding the criminal and deceptive nature of the US invasion of Indochina and its glaring racism. The film was simultaneously nominated for an Academy Award and subject to bomb threats and pickets from American patriots.
March 2nd
Murder My Sweet1944. 96 min; B&WDir: Edward Dmytryk
First of two nights of Film Noir directed by left leaning directors who’s careers were screwed by McCarthy’s H.U.A.C. “Murder My Sweet” is a reworking of the Raymond Chandler novel “Farewell My Lovely”. Starring Dick Powell, the schmaltzy crooner in Busby Berkely musicals, completely reinvented as Philip Marlowe, private eye, a charachter mostly associated with Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon”. Dmytryk and Powell construct a unique departure from the hyper-masculine and invulnerable Marlowe, to a man often bearing the brunt and taking a fall. Sumptuous cinematography and crackling dialogue abound in this remorseless vision of America the “cynical”. Marlowe is hired by a dangerously stupid brute to search for his missing sweetheart. In true genre style, nothing is what it seems, and we are never any wiser than our protagonist. Of special note is the hallucinatory and subjective rendition of head injury and forced drugging that utilises the techniques of Expressionist and experimental film.
March 9th
Force of Evil1948. 80 mins; B&WDir: Abraham Polonsky
A subversive and labyrinthine tale of a “numbers racket” in Greenwich Village at the onset of the Great Depression, and of a lawyer and gangster that work to fix and merge their rivals into a great syndicate. “Force of Evil” unlike any other film of the genre puts the entire capitalist system on trial, its protagonists merely cogs in a machine that cultivates their crimes. Stark realism and moral complexities are prioritised over emotional identification with charachters, in a rather Brechtian parable strewn with a fair few biblical references made in the process. Cited by Scorcese as the main influence for his early New York films, the script is poetic and the vision is highly artistic… what more can you ask for?
New Location for the final 3 screenings… Patersons Building : Level 2 – 181 Smith Street Fitzroy.LOOK FOR THE TIMECAPSULES POSTER IN THE DOOR
Press the door buzzer for the second floor
Its a BYO event and its a non-smoking venue (though there is a great verandah)
8.30pm start…..
1st April : Giants and Toys
Yasuzo Masumura : 1958 (95 min)
Acerbic satire of the culture of consumerism, advertising, and the tyranny of little girls in Japan’s post-war marketing landscape. Three top Candy companies are pitched in mortal combat via their respective advertising companies to ensure their prime position in the toffee marketplace. A typical assessment of this film is that it decries the effect of 50’s American corporate culture on Japanese society, with the dearth of traditional honour and hierarchy etc etc. Conversely, I cant help but see something of the feudal tradition , with its court intrigues, assassins and hari-kiri being merely converted to three-piece suits, industrial espionage and stomach ulcers.
Preceded by
Memory – Osamu Tezuka : 1964 (5 min)
Funny and bent treatment of the mind, memory and history by the beloved Inventor of Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion…
8th April : Colour of Pomegranates
Sergei Parajanov : 1968 (79 min)
One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov’s “Colour of Pomegranates”, a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet’s life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova’s life. We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but from the actions of Sergei Parajanov’s visual imagination and Sayat Nova’s poems. Sofiko Chiaureli plays 6 roles, both male and female, and Sergei Parajanov writes, directs, edits, choreographs, works on costumes, design and decor and virtually every aspect of this revolutionary work void of any dialog or camera movement.
15th April : Three Penny Opera
Georg Wilhelm Pabst : 1931 (110 min)
One of the last “great” films of the Weimar era, and an adaptation of Berthold Brecht’s most famous musical stage-work. The music is less copious, and the overt Marxist critique somewhat downplayed; but the film still portrays endemic police and official corruption. Set in London at thebeginning of the 20th century. The story follows Mack the “knife”‘ a criminal kingpin and his collaboration with the chief of police, in the traffic of stolen goods. The Nazi’s sincerely attempted to eradicate every print of the film when they came to power two years later, which caused it to become very obscure in the post-war period. This is the recently restored “Criterion” release.
Cormans’ only “serious” film and William Shatners’ screen debut gives a rare glimpse into the artistic heights that both could have continued on if this film hadn’t been a box office flop. Shatner is electrifying as a White Supremacist provocateur stirring a Pro-Segregationist Southern township into violence against a state enforced, integrated education system. A tense and ugly vision of mob psychology, as well as the demagogues who put it to effect.. What makes this film completely unique is the usage of an actual small town community in minor roles and as Extras. Whilst keeping the actual storyline secret its’ clandestine intentions were eventually discovered, which nearly got the film crew lynched as well.
………..Preceded by
“Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves” – Bob Clampett 1941
One of 11 forbidden cartoons produced by the “A-List” animation studios in America, all banned for racist stereotyping. “Coal Black” is the most hotly debated animation of the lot because of the conflicting forces at work upon it, and its perceived artistic merit. A parody of Disneys’ “Snow White”, Clampett intended the film to affectionately showcase the vitality of the black Jazz scene, even employing band members to write the lyrical content. Ultimately on the drawing board he resorted to typically mocking portrayals of Black men and saucy portrayals of Black women. Its a guilty laugh for black and white people at best, offensive at worst. What the film does do is give a clear picture of what were typical White perceptions of Black people during the 40’s. Enough said.
11th March: Weird Science
Inhaling the Spore – Leonard Feinstein (2004)
A journey into the “Museum of Jurassic Technology” in Los Angeles which specialises in the shaky edges of natural history and poetically plays with the belief mechanisms of the Museum goers…
The Way Things Go – Fischli and Weiss (1987)
50% Art / 50% High School Chemistry lab, 30 minutes of perpetual chain reaction. Improvised and cobbled together with household materials and formulated during a year of painful trial and error.
Experiments in the Revival of Organisms (1940)
Shocking experiments in the resuscitation of a dogs head as performed by the Soviet inventor of the iron lung. Its a testimony to scientific perversity as well as a bizarre example of technological success being employed as propaganda. Ineptly whitewashing its morbidity with a fictitious happy ending simply doesn’t wash. (Warning this film may be extremely disturbing)
Le Vampire & Secret Love Life of the Octopus – Jean Painleve 1945 / 1967
Two films by the first great (and little known) Oceanographic artist / film-maker. The strength of these two films is in the highly excited and poetic manner in which he treats the subject of these two subjects; Octopus sex and Vampire Bats.
18th March : Heart of a Dog
Vladimir Bortko 1988
To follow on from last weeks portrayal of resuscitating dogs heads. The film is a great adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novella (of the same title) but less confined to the Dog’s perspective. Set in Moscow shortly after the revolution, our story follows Sharik, a stray dog adopted by surgeon laureate Filip Filippovich Preobrazhensky for no other reason than to be the unwitting recipient of a dead man’s pituitary and testes. Things go terribly wrong when Sharik becomes not only human but is extolled by the Bolshevik’s as an example of the “New Soviet Man”. A biting satire on the Proletariat and his dictatorship, the novella was a true underground hit, existing only in xerox editions until 1986. The film has become just as much a cult in its home country.
25th March : Mondo Great Britain
Primitive London – Arnold Louis Miller 1965
The sensational follow-up to “London in the Raw” sets out to reflect society’s decay through a sideshow spectacle of 1960s London depravity – and manages to outdo its predecessor. Here, we confront mods, rockers and beatniks at the Ace Cafe, cut some rug with obscure beat band The Zephyrs, witness a seedy Jack the Ripper re-enactment, smirk at flabby men in the sauna and goggle at sordid wife-swapping parties as we discover a pre-permissive Britain still trying to move on from the post-war depression of the 1950s.
Wild exploitation with a hell of a lot more style and verve than its contemporaries. Female prisoner #701: Scorpion was the first in a string of successful films, of a girl done wrong and out for retribution. Perhaps not the most daring of the series in terms of artful excess. What it does have is an amazing collision of aesthetic beauty and poetry against brutality and sleaze. What makes it transcend almost all other films of the “Women in Prison” genre is that the heroine, never a victim, triumphs over the coarseness of her situation. Meiko Kaji who plays as the heroine Nami Matsushima was the inspiration for Uma Thurmans charachter in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”.
21st January
Performance – Nicholas Roeg / Donald Cammell – 1970
A break-through in British cinema, and a début for Roeg. A wry and hallucinatory meditation of London in the Swinging Late 60’s. Its sex-drugs-and rock ‘n’ roll decadence “cross-pollinating” with a violent gangster culture. Chaz (James Fox), a hired heavy, has snuffed a rival and is on the lam. Desperate for a hideout, he seeks a basement room in the house of Turner (Mick Jagger) a rock star, dissipated by hedonism. Through a process of seduction, and transference, each begins to absorb the spirit of the other. Jagger is in his prime and does well playing himself as softened by indulgence and fading in power. Great soundtrack by Jack Nietzsche with performances by Jagger throughout.
28th January
Ace in the Hole – Billy Wilder 1951
Billy Wilder, the director of “Double Indemnity” and “Sunset Boulevard” was another one of the swathe of German-US cinematic emigres escaping the Nazi regime. Along with Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang and Edgar G. Ulmer, Wilder was also another major contributor to the lexicon of Film Noir. Kirk Douglas plays Tatum, an unscrupulous Journalist, working for a small Albuquerque daily, who chances upon man trapped in a cave whilst robbing ancient Navajo graves. Tatum, snubbed by every major Newspaper and edged to the margins, sees his chance for syndicated fame. Sociopathic and brilliantly manipulative, Tatum stymies the rescue mission so he can adequately capitalise on the crisis. A withering and candid treatment of the American media and the equally vampiric nature of its audiences. Critically shunned for portraying the Pressmen and their public as they truly were. 60 years on has become all the more relevant.
February 4th
East-Euromation
A collection of pre-CGI animated films mostly from Poland, but also from Yugoslavia, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, from the 70’s to the 90’s. None are aimed at children and nor are they particularly cute. Though each are examples of fantastic hand-made art. (85mins)
Ndeleko Dragic – “Diary”1970: Random surrealist meander through the weeks scribblings of the Artists’ subconscious in his visual diary. The trains of thought and the shifting style typical to it Thomas Stellmach – “Quest” 1996: Absurd journey of a Sand-man as he goes on a quest for water, falling from one dimension to another Julian Josef Antonisch – ” A Highly Committed Movie” 1979: Giddy, vibrating and hyperkinetic crayon art rendition of a naïve folk musical number, weirdly lampooning State mediated joy. Zbigniew Rybczynski – “Tango” 1980: repetitive clusters of everyday life, a mad crowd of banal habitual activity. Maybe a comment of overcrowding in public housing as well Jan Lenica – “Labyrint” : Surrealist montage a la Max Ernsts Victoriana collagework exploring the city as nightmare, and the pursuit of pleasure and power are dealt with in dream logic. Jiri Barta – “The Vanished World of Gloves “1982: A unearthed roll of film, containing great moments in cinema history completely enacted by gloves….Yes! Zlatko Bourek – “The Cat” 1971: Based on Aesops’ fable, a young poet is lonesome until Venus provides him with company, transforming his cat into a girl with inhuman appetites.
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February 11th
Short Silent Comedies
The silent era was the period when filmmakers were free to invent the gamut of cinema language. Not everybody wanted to make works to rival literature… some just wanted to play.
Number, Please (1920) Harold Lloyd: The bungling enthusiast negotiates the perilous amusements of Coney Island in his quest for the girl. One Week(1920) Buster Keaton: Buster makes a mockery of the standard home kit, building a house for the imagination to inhabit. It’s a Gift(1923) “Snub” Pollard: Forgotten Aussie comic, “Snub” Pollard, plays an eccentric inventor in a two-reeler that, with its anarchic playfulness and plastic irreverence, fully demonstrates his unfulfilled potential. Now You Tell One (1926) Charlie Bowers: Animator and silent comedian, Charlie Bowers, pulls out all the stops in a delirious chain of associative imagery worthy of many a self professed surrealist. Wrong Again(1929) Laurel and Hardy: An extended exercise in comic incongruity and bizarre juxtaposition with a strong socio-satirical undertow from the fertile mind of Stan Laurel.
February 18th
Hellzapoppin! – H.C.Potter 1941
Ole Oleson and Chick Johnson are put at the helm of this completely anarchic and convulsive gag-a-second screen rendition of their successful Off-Broadway smash. There are many who think that the British were the pioneers of madcap and off-the-wall comedy. But in the 1940’s “Hellzapoppin” and “Spike Jones and his City Slickers” equally pioneered a truly random dementia more closely associated with Spike Milligan and Monty Python. A film about a film that is teetering on ruin, with ongoing manipulations and interventions from behind the scenes. “Hellzapoppin” does more than be another piece of self-reflexive cinema, it completely demolishes the tired old tricks of show-biz, whilst cleaning the gunk off your cerebrum.
February 25th
Kosmische bis Neue Welt Klänge
A journey through the sound of the German underground 68-86
Documentaries, Super 8 films, live footage and video clips from the birth of the psychedelic and early German electronic based rock music of the late 60’s and early 70’s, through to the post-punk/new wave scene in the 80’s.
includes
Channel 4 documentary “Krautrock, the rebirth of Germany”
A selection of Berlin based Super 8 work
Video clips from Amon Duul II, Floh de Cologne, Xhol Caravan, Neu, Can, Kluster, Ton Steine Scherben, Kraftwerk, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Liasons Dangereuses, Einsturzende Neubauten, Palais Schaumburg, Todliche Doris, Malaria, Der Plan, Nina Hagen, etc, etc……
plus its my birthday as well….(Dean)
The emphasis this season is on animation and experimentation with a dose of social criticism.. Three areas of film culture will be given a reasonable amount of exploration. Eastern European film (especially Animation), Post-WWII Hollywood Melodrama and experimental works of the time. Otherwise its the sprawling grab-bag of cinema you have come to expect.
October 29thBaron Prasil – Karel Zeman 1961 : 83min
A sumptuous treatment of the “Legend of Baron Munchausen”, by Czechoslovakia’s most beloved master of the fantastic. Using Gustave Dore’s original illustrations as a basis for his own boggling compositions, Zeman’s ability to unite live action and illustration through matting and elaborate staging is truly astounding. Of all filmic versions of this story, only Zemans’ truly captures the Romanticism and delirious spirit of the original book and its implicit relation to the “Age of Discovery”. Though possibly intended for children, the films “fine-art sensibility” and sophistication is ageless…
preceded by…
The Special Effects of Karel Zeman:17mins – A short British documentary about Karel Zeman and his inventive film-making methods. Revealing tricks behind the production of the underwater sequences in “The Diabolical Invention”
November 5thLunacy – Jan Svankmajer2008 : 123min
The lunatics have taken over the Asylum, or have they? Svankmajer’s latest live action feature puts his animation in the background, and is his most satisfying drama to date. Inspired by Poe (once again) Lunacy is akin to Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade, in which the Marquis DeSade presides over a revolutionary Sanatorium, where the inmates are free to express their manias unrestrained. A relatively sensible man suffering from night terrors finds himself drawn into a web of secrets that lie underneath the surface of the Institute. Secrets with monstrous repercussions.
preceded by The Castle of Ortranto : 1977 / 15min
November 12thLady in a Cage – Walter Grauman1964 : 94min
Olivia De Havilland plays Mrs Cornelia Hilyard a wealthy but debilitated and isolated poetess, house bound in the affluent suburbs of Los Angeles and attended by her devoted yet suffocated son Malcolm . Having been pushed to the brink of suicide by their creepy sub-incestuous relationship, he leaves her alone for the weekend. A series of accidents leaves our Lady trapped in a badly designed elevator in the middle of her home. Misfortune and brutality escalates as a succession of social detritus and criminal opportunists invade her home (including a debut for James Caan as a young sociopath). Whilst being theatrical and wielding a heavy hand, the film brilliantly presents a biting portrayal of the social isolation of middle America and the nations overall trend towards everyday barbarism and disregard. Prescient of the shape of things to come… Like “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” it deserves equal title to the status of the “Great Californian Gothic” .
preceded by Motor Mania – Jack Kinney 1950 / 6.40mins – Goofy suffers from acute road rage and becomes the “Road Demon”
November 19thAnimation and Ideology1933-1977 : 119min
A program of Animations largely state and corporate propaganda from the USSR and USA, that range from idealist self-portraits of both Communism and Capitalism, through to wholesale mud-slinging. Even ideological manipulation can have its artistic merit, and all the films in this program display a great deal of creativity and mastery of the animation medium.
Black and White – I. Ivanov, I.Vano & L.Almarik:1933 : 2.27mAlls Fair at the Fair – Max Fleischer 1954 : 8.20mForward March Time – V Tarasov :1977 : 17.47minGoing Places – J. Sutherland:1948 : 8.33mThe Millionaire – V Bordzilovsky & Y. Prytkov :1963 :10mDestination Earth – J. Sutherland:1948 : 8.33mMake Mine Freedom – J. Sutherland:1948 : 9.33m :We Can Do It – L. Atamanov : 1970 : 9.24m :It’s Everybodys Business – J. Sutherland:1954 : 19.53mShooting Range – V. Tarasov 1979 : 19.15m 200 – Vincent Collins :1976 : 3.15m
November 26thClassics of Animation Review Part 1
La Joie de Vivre – Hector Hoppin & Anthony Gross : 1934 / 9min
Frisky, naughty and bursting with raw power: this is one of the most technically adept animations ever made, and represents a milestone in the development of an international style of animation on par with the Art Deco movement. Two long-legged nymphs are doggedly pursued by a horny young man through myriad landscapes
The Idea – Berthold Bartosch:1932 / 30min
Bartosch was one of the essential three people who made Lotte Reinneger’s “Adventure of Prince Achmed”.. A man contemplates the eternal stars and miraculously gives birth to a utopian dream, an “Idea” in the form of a naked angelic woman. She leads him to spread her message to the people, which results ultimately in his execution by firing squad. The “Idea” continues to spread, leading to revolt, then recrimination, then revolt again.. its message being unstoppable.
The Nose – Alexieff : 1963 / 11min
An adaptation of a Gogol short story, a man wakes to discover that his nose has disappeared from his face, only to rediscover it later in a loaf of bread. An absurdist tale that prefigures Kafka’s style of indiscriminate misfortune. Alexieff’s pin-board technique was a prefiguring of digital imaging, using thousand of retractable pins on a large board surface. Incredible.
The Hand – Jiri Trinka : 1965 / 18min
A simple potter who wishes to do nothing other than make flower pots is continuously harassed by a giant all pervading hand. Cajoling the poor artisan to make a likeness of itself, its tactics becoming increasingly aggressive. Trnka was most famous for his puppet animation for children, “The Hand” was made with Stalin in mind, and it was banned until recent times.
The Tell Tale Heart – Ted Parmelee : 1953 / 7.40min
Vincent Price narrates this beautifully rendered UPA studio animation of the classic tale by Edgar Allen Poe., Stylish 50’s graphics and sublime menace.
and more!!!
December 3rdWerner Herzog Documentary Double FeatureTwo Portraits of Women.
When one thinks of Herzog, one usually thinks of tales of deranged “men of action” trying to conquer nature and subsequently destroying themselves. Whether dragging boats up mountains or trying to find communion with wild bears. These two stories on the other hand are about women, people of sound mind, overcoming the unsolicited catastrophes of life with an uncommon courage. They are my current favourites of his Documentary oeuvre.
Lands of Silence and Darkness ; 1971 : 85min
Emotionally powerful journey into the work of deaf/blind spokeswoman and advocate Fini Straubinger and her crusade to save other deaf/blind people from their solitary prisons. We learn of the agony faced by those, ignored and shunned, and left alone in their abyss, and experience the liberating effects of a shared language and community.
Wings of Hope ; 2000 : 60min
In 1972 LANSA flight 508 disintegrated in midair, scattering its bulk and human cargo for miles through the Peruvian Amazon. Only one teenage girl, Juliane Koepcke, survived the crash, and was left to fend for herself through the jungle, into eventual safety. During that exact time Herzog was travelling a parallel path through the jungle in his filming of “Aguirre; the Wrath of God”. 30 years later, Herzog brings Juliane back to the scene of the crash, to trace her path through the jungle, and to discover the crumbling remains of the craft. A courageous and moving journey into the painful process of remembering.
December 10thThe Cremator – Juraj Herz1969 / 100min
Beginning in a Zoo and ending in a Mausoleum. We are led, lectured and dominated by Kopfrkingl , the manipulative, and increasingly menacing Master Cremator in a town during the first phase of the Nazi occupation Whilst being guided through the finer points of the death rites, the film explores the complicity of sympathisers and opportunists with the new regime. More incisively though, our protagonist slides into a murderous and delusional state, imagining himself as the Dalai Lama, expounding a philosophy of death as liberation, whilst being groomed as the architect of the ovens of Dachau. A key film of the Czech “New Wave” and key peer of Jan Svankmajer. If you missed this film during the Melbourne Cinemateques Czech New Wave retrospective, don’t miss this film again.
STAY TUNED FOR THE OTHER “TWO-THIRDS” OF THE SEASON
COMING SOON
A focus on Mary Ellen Bute, Norman McLaren and Oskar Fishinger , Roger Corman’s “The Intruder”, “Ace in the Hole”, a Survey of East European Animation, Silent Comedy shorts, ‘Hellzapoppin”, Jean Painleve and other Scientific film marvels. Pabst’s “Three Penny Opera”, Berlin 80’s Super-8 retrospective. Post Punk / New Wave revisited, and a special screening of films presented by “Sunshine and Grease”…. etc etc
For those who don’t know, or haven’t been to ABC Gallery, its a great cinema venue which is open for anybody who wishes to organise film launches, or even a programme of Screenings. Timecapsules is neighbours with SHADOWS which is another programme of films. Doors open at 7.30 every friday til the 27th November. I can personally vouch for every film on the programme as deserving your loving eyeballs.
Teorema (Theorem)– Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy 1968 94m)
A news report announces the passing of a factory into the hands of its workers as its owner wanders into the desert. Flash-back… A mysterious visitor (Terence Stamp) appears at a rich industrialists family reunion. As if by unseen power he embeds himself in the house and proceeds to make love to, and unfurl the repressed souls of all within its walls. A story of sex, angelic possession and madness… Pasolini’s most enigmatic film, attempts to merge his revolutionary, sexual and religious tensions and beliefs into a whole, as if it were an argument, a game… a theorem…
July 18th
The Yakuza Papers– Kinji Fukusaku (Japan 1972 99m)
Beginning in Hiroshima, in the aftermath of the Bomb amidst the anarchy of Japans painful rebirth. An ex soldier falls in with a Yakuza Family out of desperation. Keenly observant of a presumed code of honour, he is quickly taken advantage of by his unscrupulous colleagues. Fukusaku broke with the type of sycophantic glory that films of the day awarded the Yakuza. Instead he chose to portray the sleaze and betrayal within its ranks. Tightly structured, brilliantly filmed, rocking soundtrack, and oozing with tension and violence, Yakuza Papers (Battles without Honour or Humanity) is a giant within the Yakuza film genre.
July 25
Third Part of the Night – Andrzej Zulawski (Poland 1972 105m)
Set amidst the harrowing Nazi occupation of Warsaw. Michal, a young man having witnessed the senseless killing of his entire family joins the underground. Through a cruel twist he finds himself enmeshed with a woman who is a doppelganger of his murdered wife. Like other fugitives he is sheltered and protected by a medical research facility experimenting with human lice-borne disease as both test subject and researcher. Based on his Fathers own stories of the Polish Resistance, Images of parasitism and arbitrary violence mix into a nightmare logic; assisted more than adequately with arresting performance and sheer visual artistry from this unsung maverick of Polish cinema.
August 1
Ciao Manhattan – John Palmer and David Weisman (USA 1972 84m)
A brilliant and lucid confessional of the rise and fall of Edie Sedgwick, Warhols most notable “superstar”. “Ciao Manhattan” is perhaps the most curious biopics ever produced. A strange treatment of Edies tortured “poor little rich girl” tale that started as a document, became a fictional work and then somehow became real again. Intimate, honest, and truly affectionate despite the unflinching focus on her decadence. Great scenes in the so called health spa of Dr Robert, the reputed “Dr Feelgood”, the real-life amphetamine dispenser to the stars. ”Ciao Manhattan” is both an illuminating light into the speed-fueled Dream machine of 60’s NYC scene, and the beauty, damage, and depth of Sedgewick after the parade had passed. Forget that revolting piece of unrelenting bullshit “Factory Girl”, see the real deal.
August 8
Wake in Fright – Ted Kotcheff (Australia 1971 109m)
This critically revered, yet rarely seen or enjoyed moment in Australian film history is based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, and stars Chips Rafferty, Jack Thompson and Donald Pleasence. It is best described as a gothic tale of booze, sun and masculinity. Gary Bond plays John Grant a Sydney schoolteacher submitting to a mandatory stint of rural service. In the spirit of Australian manhood and mateship he sinks deeper into a knuckle-headed world of beer-swilling and kangaroo killing. “Wake in Fright” cut far too deep to be enjoyed much in Australia but just like “Wolf Creek” in more recent years, it provided overseas audiences with pleasurably barbaric views of the Australian Outback. This film is very hard to find!!!! Dont miss
August 15
La Cabina – Antonio Mercero (Spain 1972 34m)
A man finds himself trapped in a telephone booth, though people try, they cannot free him. After a series desperate measures he is eventually carted off to an unknown destination. A Kafkaesque and cloying type of horror, made effective due to its arbitrary and absurd premise
Pure Shit – Bert Deling (Australia 1975 83min)
A crowning example of Melbourne 1970’s underground film-making that chronicles 24 hours in the life of a group of junkies trying to find good quality heroin. From parties to kitchens to drug stores to the streets of St Kilda, Fitzroy and Footscray. Pure Shit says as much about the sexual politics and crudity of Melbourne’s drug subcultural life as it does the vacuousness of addiction and government policy in regards to it. Delings’ film was hilariously dubbed “the most evil film in the world” by some dumb critic in the Herald Sun which also indicates another form of backwardness. Don’t take it from him though… see for yourself
August 22
The Last Wave – Peter Weir (Australia 1977 106m)
Weirs follow up to “Picnic at Hanging Rock” finds another, more esoteric angle on White alienation in the Australian landscape. Freak weather patterns and Aboriginal mysticism, set the scene of this very unusual and timely piece of Australiana. Richard Chamberlain plays a Sydney Lawyer asked to defend a group a Aboriginal men indicted for the murder of a compatriot and transgressor. He uncovers a web of magic and etheric power announcing a cycle of watery destruction. Naive and brave in it’s attempt to map out Anglo Aboriginal conflict from a more metaphysical perpective, its fallacies are (in my humble opinion) eclipsed by its integrity. Impressive and imaginative usage of metaphor in dream sequences and great sound design, make this often ignored anomaly in Peter Weirs career definately worth watching.
August 29
Salut du Cubains – Agnes Varda (France 1963 30m)
A salute to the people of Cuba in black and white photography and film footage, woven with great love and gusto with the words of Agnes Varda, Celebrating the sassy and sexy soul of Cuban women and men, music, dancing and style as much as its revolutionary acheivments, Varda with the assistance of a team of other Parisian film-makers give us a glimpse into the optimistic spirit of a young island state then subject to much American aggression.
Vagabond – Agnes Varda (France 1985 105m)
Without adornment, or stylization “The Vagabond” opens with the death of a female drifter. Through a sequence of recollections from friends, lovers and complete outsiders a picture is formed of our response to those who chose to live outside of social obligations. Neither moralising or glorifying the choices made by our protagonist, Varda makes her point about the discomfort caused by those who spiral out of control amongst those close to them. An amazing talent for for telling human stories without the typical cliches, Vagabond is considered the heights of her work
September 5
Fantomas contres Juves – Louis Fueillade (France 1913 60m)
Louis Fueillade, the early silent film-maker made crime films that were truly innovative and equally transgressive. Second in a series of highly popular films depicting the murderous and creepy figure of Fantomas, based on the equally popular pulp novels of the early 1900’s. Fantomas is the face of a willful evil that finds much fascination in French culture at the turn of the century, Like the writings of Marquis De Sade, or Lautremont. Fueillades’ Fantomas films and his “Les Vampires” series were inspiration to the Surrealists and became a popular “cult” in Europe and Latin America.
Fantomas – Louis de Funes (France 1964 97m)
Fantomas leaves the jaundiced world of the absinthe sipping “fin-de-ciecle” and instead takes a leaf from James Bond in a swinging sixties B-Grade treatment of the Fantomas charachter. Jean Marais, toy-boy of Jean Cocteau and aging French sex-symbol plays both hero and villian in the first of a series of campy and frothy treatments of the highly subversive character created by Fueillade. Certainly not a great work of film art it IS however a great exercise in syle, and it is clearly this film that served as a cue for Mario Bava’s Diabolik (refer to https://timecapsules.wordpress.com/2008/01/)
September 12
Schastye (Happiness) – Alexandr Medvedkin (Russia 1935 94m)
One of the three film makers who commanded the famed “Agit-prop” trains in the early days of the Bolshevik Revolution. Happiness details the misfortunes of a poor Peasant named “Loser” trying to “get ahead” and survive the caprices of landlords and bureaucrats in the backwards world of rural west Russia. Slapstick and biting satire on par with Chaplin’s “Modern Times”. Dealing cheekily with the common persons fantasy of wealth, and on the problems of institutional and individual power without submitting to propagandist cliche or rhetoric. Happiness is a window into the heart of an artist who deeply cared about the fate of ordinary people. It is no surprise that this films irreverence fell foul of Stalin and his apparatchiks. Medvedkin was prevented from making another film until he capitulated to making rousing musicals about combine harvesters and the people who drive them.
Preceded by an interview with Medvekin from ”The Train rolls on” by Chris Marker and the SLON collective (France 1971 12m)
September 19
Le Corbeau – Henri Georges Clouzot (France 1943 91m)
(Replacing Maurice Tourneurs “La Main du Diable” which is sadly unavailable in a subtitled version)
“Le Corbeau” is a highly controversial film, that both details the escalation of rumour-milling, betrayal and hysteria, and was itself the subject of vilification and recrimination.. A small town is pulled to pieces when a series of letters are circulated and signed by a shady figure named “Le Corbeau” (the Raven) implicating its more prominent members in terrible scandal. Made during the Nazi Occupation for an independant German owned studio, “Le Corbeau” was denounced as Anti-French by both poles of the politcal spectrum as well as the Catholic church (for allegedly being soft on abortion) and was promptly banned after liberation. Clouzot also was barred from making films for years and this film only resurfaced in the late 60’s. It is clear to see that the real problem presented by this gritty Gallic “Noir” was that it highlighted the political opportunism, and the betrayals of thousands by informants during the Vichy era… Picking open unmentionable scabs whilst the Republic was desperately trying to raise it’s wounded pride.
September 26
Gold Diggers of 1933 – Mervyn LeRoy (USA 1933 97m)
First of the three films Mervyn Le Roy made with Busby Berkely and the first of a series of “Gold Diggers” films exploring the desperate world of showbiz and specifically the lives of Showgirls during the heights of the Great Depression. These sassy, wise cracking dames, completely at ease with their sexualities, provide an interesting glimpse into the innocent and sexy world of pop culture of the time. A time before the Catholic “League of Decency” made moves to clean up Hollywood, songs like “Pettin in the Park” are saucy even by todays standards. Apart from the unforgettable choreography and squadrons of neon-violin wielding femmes. Whilst the public craved an escape from their everyday lives, “Gold Diggers of 33” broke the mould with what social issues it managed to incorporate into its plot. The film ends notably with a sobering and heart wrenching paeon to those broken ex-service men on the breadlines of America.
October 3
O No Coronado! – Craig Baldwin (USA 1992 40m)
Craig Baldwins’ least known work is an exploration of the conquering of America by the brutal forces of the Spanish Inquisition. It details the infamous exploits of the psychotic Conquistador, Coronado and his hunt for a mythical city of gold in North AmericaUsing his trademark style of blending found footage, live action and poetic narrative, he explores the underlying machinations of colonial power and the decimation of one civilization by another from the 16th Century through to the modern day.
Story Without End / We Programme Life – People Like Us (UK 2005 20m)
People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett) is a maestro of audio montage and pop music mash up, a Star DJ on the famed WFMU radio and inheritor of a line of British humour that traces its lineage from Spike Milligan and Monty Python as well as Neo-Dada sound artists like Nurse with Wound. These films are largely culled from the wonderful Prelinger Archives video databank (www.archive.org) and made into a kitsch and perverse video mixage of radiant 1950’s America’.
The Voice – Johan Soderberg (Sweden 2004 28m)
Neo conservatives and Islamic fundamentalists eventually wake up to the notion that they have too much in common to be at war with each other. Instead they join forces againt the godless, the homosexual and the other undesirable elements to create a new North/South divide. Soderberg is an angry young media artist who lives with one foot squarely placed in the language of MTV and the other in the radical tradition.
October 10
Ilhas das Flores (Isle of Flowers) – Jorge Furtado(Brazil 1989 12m)
A deeply ironic exploration of the human race through the economic life-cycle of a common tomato. The film employs a unique usage of scientific relativism and educational film style to show the disgraceful state of the poor in Brazil and to illustrate the primordial dynamics of what we now fondly refer to as globalization.
Pixote – Hector Babenco (Brazil 1973 130m)
Few words sum up the intensity and purity of Pixote. Performed by a cast of real street children, namely the lead performer Fernando Ramos Da Silva who eventually was killed by police gunfire. Pixote (Portugese for Urchin) is a story of social refuse, intimately bonded against the hostile forces of Sao Paolo’s ghetto’s and endless sexual predation that encroach them from all sides. Whilst things are not quite as bad in Brazil since the fall of the Junta, Pixote is a reminder of an era of terrible hardship, and reminds us of the wider realities of stolen childhood in the poorer nations of the world. Those who were impressed by “City of God” would be foolish to not catch this landmark film.
Director Alexandra Petrovica,Yugoslavia 1968 A torrid tragicomedy about the Roma (Gypsies) which exposes the dark side of poverty, oppresion and religion. Bora trades in goose feathers in Serbia, as does Mirta, whose stepdaughter, Tisa, Bora craves despite being married. Mirta also desires Tisa and eventually tries to rape her. After struggle, disillusionment and murder Bora and Tisa finally flee as a couple, protected by the Roma. A lyrical movie encapsulating the heartaching beauty and transience of Romany existence.
24 April THE INNOCENTS
Director Jack Clayton, UK 1961 Based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, this is a stunning low-key ghost story. A governess, Miss Giddens, is hired by the uncle of his orphaned nephew and niece to look after them, without bothering him. All the cast are strange but the smooth and creepy Miles is a stand out. The children are obsessed with the recently deceased valet and the late governess. Perversion, suicide and innuendo lace a subtle vision of secret communications with an evil underworld, or is it all in Miss Giddens head? A struggle with evil that leads to a devastating conclusion.
2 May THE STONE TAPE
Director Peter Sasdy, UK 1972 If these walls could talk… They do more than that when a group of corporate scientists clod hop into a country manor house to work on the next communications revolution. But crawling through the cracks of the Dr Who set and slinking beneath the blustery acting is an idea that can stop you in your tracks like a manor house rat. A typical serve of ingenuity and creepiness from writer Nigel Kneale.
9 May IDI I SMOTRI (Come and See)
Director Ellem Klimov, USSR 1985 Farm boy Florya tries to make it through each day intact as the blitzkrieg eviscerates the land and people around him. There are moments of fascination in the great Russian forests, even some eroticism, but these are fleeting as the nazi machine finds its way into every last quiet place. Still a teenager at the end of the flim, Florya seems to have aged a hundred years as he confronts an image of the cause of this hell on earth. A film that holds its anger like a newborn child.
16May SLACKER
Director Richard Linklater, USA 1991 Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its younger social outcasts and misfits, using a series of linear vignettes which move from one point of physical contact to the next. The characters social disjunction melds with the seamless movement of life scenes. Highlights include a UFO buff who insists the US has been on the moon since the 1950s, a woman who produces a glass slide purportedly of Madonna’s pap smear and an old anarchist who sympathetically shares his philosophy of life with a robber.
23 May MARTIN
Director George A. Romero, USA 1978 Is Martin a vampire or just an awkward teenager? He does attack people for their blood but he also walks around in daylight delivering groceries. George Romero drained the ritual and eroticism from vampires just as he had removed the voodoo from the zombies in his landmark Night of the Living Dead. In both cases he used the horror genre as a starting point for bitter social commentary.
30 May SEDOTTA E ABBANDONATA
(Seduced and Abandoned)
Director Pietro Germi, Italy 1964 Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental work -the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family’s honor! Seduced and Abandoned was the follow-up to Germi’s Divorce Italian Style, and in many ways is even more audacious – a rollicking yet raw series of escalating comic calamities that ensue in a small village when sixteen-year-old Agnese loses her virginity at the hands of her sister’s lascivious fiance. Merciless and mirthful, Seduced and Abandoned skewers Sicilian social custom
6 June DESPERATE REMEDIES
Directors Stewart Main and Peter Wells, NZ 1993 A wonderfully camp and lusty production filmed in staged sets. In the 19th century New Zealand town of Hope elegant and attractive Dorothea has a sister, Rose, addicted to opium and her boyfiend/supplier. Dorothea hires a handsome immigrant, Lawrence, to lure Rose away from this relationship. But Dorothea and Lawrence grow attracted to each other. Dorothea already has a ‘suitor’ in Anne, who sensing a rival, pushes her into a marriage of convenience. A vivid and gay melodrama.
13 June KYUA (Cure)
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan 1997 A series of baffling murders, a detective whose life is imploding from stress, and a softly spoken drifter who exudes a strange charisma are the ingredients of this troubling urban fable from Kyoshi (don’t call him Akira) Kurosawa. The cure of the title is as dreadful as it is subtle.
20 June WESELE (The Wedding)
Director Andrzej Wajda, Poland 1973 Set at the turn of the century during one night and based on the play by Stanislaw Wyspianski, the film concerns a Polish poet who has decided to marry a peasant girl. The wedding is attended by a heterogenous group of people from all strata of Polish society, who dance, get drunk and lament Poland’s division between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The bridegroom, a painter friend and a journalist each in turn is confronted with spectres of Polish past. In the end a call to arms is called but turns out to be a farce. A confined, painterly satire on oppression.
27 June PHASE IV
Director Saul Bass, USA 1974 Saul Bass is best known for his movie poster work and title design for Alfred Hitchcock but his second and only major feature film is Phase IV, a wonderfully photographed and metaphorical film that lurches from B grade horror to profound metaphysics. Dealing with the nature of fascism, evolution and humanity it confronts an alien, elevated mass mind – in the form of altered ants. Transformed by cosmic bombardment they begin to etch mathematical patterns in the soil and freak their investigators out…
4 July DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE
(Cemetary Man)
Director Michele Soavi, Italy 1994 The girl of Francesco’s (Rupert Everett) dreams is murdered after their consummation. Then it happens again. And again. Between that and dispatching the increasing parade of the living dead who are crawling out of their graves at the cemetery where he works life gets tough. Michele Soavi serves up comedy, creepiness, violence and even romance before slamming on the brakes for one of the horror genre’s strangest endings.
In the shadow of Camelot stands the Grey Gardens. Inside this overgrown estate in East Hampton, Long Island, mother and daughter “Big” and “Little” Edie Bouvier Beale are caught in a time tunnel of regret and fantasy. Their once beautiful 28 room shingle mansion declined to such a state that after a National Enquirer story the Health Department threatened its closure. Close cousins Jaqueline Onassis Kennedy and her sister Lee Radizwell intervened, had it cleaned and saved the day. In the wake of this, Albert and David Mayles spent most of a year, assisting and documenting the fabric of these two women’s lives, amidst defecating cats and fleas. At once tragic and full of wit and spirit, Grey Gardens is a rare film portrait, a snapshot of the faded halcyon of fallen aristocrats, those rare types that even decay with a sense of style.
25th January
Bigger than Life – Nicholas Ray / 1956 95min
James Mason stars asEd Avery, family man and school teacher, self-bound to the task of providing his family with a suburban lifestyle he cannot afford. Secretly taking a second job to make ends meet Ed precipitates a rare and potentially fatal coronary disease that strikes him down. The experimental steroid Cortisone that is used to save him becomes the vessel for a dark journey into the heart of 1950’s America. Hysterically terrified of death, Ed binges on the substance till he becomes addled with a psychopathic rage causing him to terrorise his family. Ray’s searing critique of the nuclear family, patriarchy and materialism passed cleverly under the censor’s radar due to such devices as its “drug-message” and it’s seemingly saccharine ending.
1st February
Experimental Music Documentaries
Two BBC Four documentaries exploring the life works of composers who have helped re-invent music in the 20th century.
The Outsider / 2007 60min
Harry Partch was a celebrated young American composer whose mission was to bury classical musical conventions such as notation, scales, and even its instruments. He constructed his very own orchestra replete with instruments with which to pursue his unique micro-tonal composition. Partch’s career was railroaded by the Depression, when he became a Hobo drifting the continent for 10 years and only returning to his work in the 40’s.
Alchemists of Sound / 2007 – 60min
Dick Mills, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson were amongst numerous sonic experimenters, composers and engineers who worked at the BBC Radiophonics Workshop from 1958 til 1995. Hand-crafting sounds for such films, television and radio shows as “Quatermass”, “Doctor Who”, “The Goon Show”, “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” and “Blake 7”. In the process they contributed immeasurably to the development of electronic and electro-acoustic sound.
8th February
Danger Diabolik – Mario Bava / 1968 99min
An adaptation of the popular Italian comic book “Diabolik” which details the exploits of a master criminal who plunders both government and organised crime syndicates alike. John Philip Law, who played the blind angel in Roger Vadims’ “Barbarella”, sheds his wings and slips effortlessly into the black rubber and leather skin of an erotic demon. A superior comic book adaptation than “Barbarella”, Bava eschewed excessive dialogue and kept to the style of the graphic novel. Like Louis Feulliades “Fantomas” films which inspired the original comic-book character, Danger Diabolik gleefully revels in the pleasure of crime and destruction without any recourse to moralism.
Screen-written by Yukio Mishima and directed by the man who brought us “Battle Royale”, “Kurototage” features transvestite actor Akihiro Maruyama (now a voice behind Hayao Miyazaki’s animations) and music by Isao Tomita. “Kurotokage” parallels the same impious spirit and excess as “Danger Diabolik”, and was released the same year. The Black Lizard is a female arch fiend who has set her eyes on the great jewel the “Star of Egypt” and kidnaps the daughter of its owner. Tormented by her own fading beauty, she is obsessed with the eternal beauty of her shimmering prize. A cat and mouse game between the Black Lizard and the detective hired to save both daughter and diamond evolves into a type of seduction culminating in increasingly bizarre scenarios. The Black Lizard turns those whom she seduces into preserved artefacts that she can enjoy forever…
22nd February
Boom! – Joseph Losey / 1968 110min
Joseph Losey was blacklisted by McCarthy’s HUAC for communist leanings and relocated to Britain, using pseudonyms to release films in his native country. His work ranged from the acclaimed “The Servant” through to the maligned “Modesty Blaise”. “Boom!” (aptly named after the crashing of waves on rocks) is perhaps the greatest blooper of his career, but that doesn’t stop it from being a foray into absolute excess. This insane rendition of “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” by Tennessee Williams features Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noel Coward as “the witch of Capri”. A fashion designers dream (or nightmare) and a cloying portrayal of wealth and evil. Outrageously pretentious, overblown and over-dressed, this film is considered one of the greatest flops of the 1960’s, earning back a fifth of the money spent on it and becoming almost completely buried. “Boom!” was performed by a cast of drunkards, which only partially explains its particular qualities. John Waters has extolled it as his biggest inspiration, and continues to tour with it right across the world. (See him lecture about it in the video below).
29th February
Animationfest – Best of Looney Toons 120min
Brian May (AKA DJ Delay of “Balkan Beasts”) purveyor of “Loony Toons” an ongoing mix-up of animation and music brings a selection of his favourite animations from his personal collection, this time in their entire original sonic glory.
Run Wrake – Idol (2005)
Sun Ra & Dumbo – Pink Elephants
Visions Of Frank – (Taruto Fuyama)
Konstantin Bronzit (2003) – The God
Ishu Patel (1977) – The Bead Game.
Fallen Art (Tomek Baginsky) 2004
Osvaldo Cavandoli – la linea (episode 120 & 110)
The Fly (oscar winner 1980)
Bill Plympton – 25 ways to quit smoking (1995).
Don Hertzfeldt – rejected
March 7th
Brothers Quay Retrospective / 80min
Twin brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay have a keen eye for crumbling Victoriana, subtle emotional energies and a direct connection with the power of substances and objects. Their dream-like stop-motion films take a leaf from Czech and Polish animators such as Jan Svankmajer and Jan Lenica but take it to a more fetishistic and nightmarish level. This is a selection of films spanning their pure animation career before they embarked on producing drama features “Institute Benjamenta” and “Piano Tuner of Earthquakes”…
Nocturna Artificialia 1979 (21min)
Street of Crocodiles 1986 (20min)
Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer 1984 (14min)
Stille Nacht I / Dramolet 1988 (2min)
Anamorphosis 1991 (14min)
Stille Nacht III / Tales from the Vienna Woods 1992 (4min)
Video Clips for “His Name is Alive”
“Cant go Wrong Without You / Stille Nacht IV” and “Are we still married?”
March 14th
The Saddest Music in the World – Guy Maddin / 2006 96min
Winnipeg, Canada, during the heights of the great depression is dubbed the most depressed city in the world. A beer baroness embittered by the loss of her two legs and the cruel machinations of love is the richest woman of the city. In order to increase sales she embarks on a giant promotional campaign, to invite musicians from all over the world to compete for the title of the “saddest music”. Maddins films are like entering into an imagined past of cinematic melodrama, Frank Capra meets Arnold Fanck meets the Kuchar Brothers. Ridiculous, imaginative and unique….
21st March
Love and Anarchy- Lina Wertmuller / 1973 120min
Operatic, melancholic and warm spirited treatment of the ugly Fascist era of pre-war Italy. Turin a young peasant has taken on the task of assassinating Mussolini on behalf of Anarchist insurgents, and to avenge the murder of his father. He is deployed to take cover in a brothel under the wing of anarchist sympathising prostitute Salome until his opportunity has arrived. Racked equally by a lust for vengeance and fear of his inevitable death, Turin also realises that he has barely lived as he falls in love with a young prostitute. Wertmuller explores the painful territory where revolutionary ideals are eclipsed by totalitarian force, and attempts to express an emotionally feminine perspective on such loss.
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Deep in the heart of the Wimmera, Victoria’s drought beleaguered grain growing district is the sleepy two horse / one pub hamlet of Natimuk (Pop: 500 greater district) . Even if the grain silo’s aren’t brimming with bounty, for the last two biennial “Nati-Frinj” festivals, they have been brought to life with giant video and aerial performance routines…
Each Nati-Frinj festival is gaining more momentum and this November its time for its return. http://www.natimuk.com/html/2007.html is the page for the 2007 program which should be finalised over the course of September 2007 so STAY POSTED
On the weekend commencing on the evening of Friday 2nd and finishing on the early evening Sunday 4th there will be performances, film screenings, exhibitions, featuring a major performance work on Natimuk Lake and a cool party on the Saturday night… If you need to sleep over there is plenty of camping space at the Arapiles National Park.
THE ARAPILES
The Arapiles is perhaps one of the greatest geological wonders of Victoria (imagine a condensed Grampians) a wall of rock spires vaulting out of an otherwise flat landscape. It is a mecca for rock-climbers internationally and another great reason to come out here.. Even the marsupials are chilled out and fearless… Enjoy your Sunday morning post party recovery having brunch on top of the peaceful soul-enriching pinnacles that overlook golden harvest-fields Dont worry about climbing though, you can reach the top easily by car via the reverse slope
CINEMA EPHEMERA
Just make sure you come back in time for Cinema Ephemera as I will be presenting a 145 minute program on the Sunday afternoon 1.00 – 3.30pm… though there will be a local film presentation and a film and live score performance called Subsonic earlier during the weekend..
The Program is…….
Chromophobia – Raoul Servais 1966 (9.26)
A kids story about authoritarianism in which the invading grey forces of control, outlaw all colour in a small town. A child, artist, and a jester set in wheels an inevitable rainbow revolution. Though based on childhood experience of Nazi occupation, Chromophobia is prescient of the psychedelic youth-quake of 68-69.
Storytime – Terry Gilliam 1968 (9.00)
The first animation and first film by the Director of “Monty Python’s” cinematic output. Featuring a series of vignettes, trademark “off the wall” antics and plot tangents; all culminating a beautifully tasteless exploration of the Christmas Card.
The Isle ofFlowers – Jorge Furtado 1989 (12.31)
Bittersweet exploration of the human race through the economic life-cycle of a common tomato. The film employs a unique usage of scientific relativism and educational film style to show the disgraceful state of the poor in Brazil and to expose the primordial dynamics of what we now call globalization.
Giselle Kerozene – Jan Kounen 1989 (5.00)
Amazing stop motion animation of three broom-flying transvestite witches battling over a fetish object through the ultra-modern section of Paris. Debut short from the director of “Blueberry” and “Dobermann”.
Une Mission Ephemere – Piotr Kamler 1994 (8.09)
A perpetual unveiling of an extra-terrestrial realm within the confines of an Orb,Some aspects of 70’s science fiction and designer sensibilities being most evident.
O No Coronado – Craig Baldwin 1992 (40.00)
Craig Baldwins’ least known work is an exploration of the conquering of America by the brutal forces of the Spanish Inquisition. Using his trademark style of blending found footage, live action and poetic narrative, he explores the underlying machinations of colonial power and the decimation of one civilization by another from the 16th Century through to the modern day.
El Capitan – Fred Padula 1971 (60.00)
Screening especially for the Arapiles rock- climbing community…. A special presentation of this visually stunning and psychologically revealing climb, miraculously shot on 16mm film. A straight forward document of a three day escalation of “El Capitan”, (Yosemite Valley’s famed kilometre high cliff-face), the film revels in its sheer grandeur, unadorned by extra vocal narrative.
WEEKLY THURSDAY NIGHT SCREENINGS 8.30 Open / 8.45 Shorts / 9.00 Feature
Heated and improved sound. Gold coin donation. Large video screen. Bar at pub prices
ABC GALLERY – 127 Campbell St, Collingwood
(refer to feb program for map)
MAY 3rd
Heavy Metal Parking Lot – Jeff Krulik 1986 (30min)
Hanging out in the stadium parking lot somewhere in the deep heart of Maryland USA, waiting for Judas Priest, the bitchenist metal band in the world, peach-fuzz, hormones, big hair and luke warm Budweiser… mmmmmmm Phantasm – Don Coscarelli 1979 (1.28 hr)
More of a cult than most cult films, generations of metal heads and horror geeks swear by it, and they are not wrong. Phantasm is a “one of a kind” genre picture. Mixing good old Yankee style teen drama, gothic Italian horror and science fiction that is genuinely surreal. Coscarelli never made another film that is this uncanny, and chose to ruin the enigmas contained in the original by making two sequels. He later made films with people with big hair and even bigger swords (or is it the other way round) which is why I have played it with “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”…. OK?
MAY 10th
The Milky Way – Luis Bunuel 1969 (1.37hr)
Bunuel explores the history of heretics through the ages and of the church authorities who persecuted them. Two French tramps make a pilgrimage to the tomb of the St James in Spain, encountering Jesus, the Devil, the Virgin Mary, heretics, priests, revolutionaries and madmen along the way. Mixing both time-period and cinematic forms, fiction and documentary modalities “The Milky Way” questions the dogma of Christianity through its most ludicrous proclamations, double speak and superstitions.
MAY 17th
Karen Carpenter clips (15min)
“Calling All Occupant of Interplanetary Craft”, “Superstar” and “Karen Plays Drums” Superstar – Todd Haynes 1987 (43min)
Todd Haynes’ daring treatment of the rise and fall of Karen Carpenter, enacted by Barbie dolls and set against a backdrop of Nixon’s reactionary America. Quashed by the Carpenter family due to their bleak treatment in the script (and copyright issues), this film is only available through the exchange networks. Superstar somehow manages to convey pathos and sympathy despite the usage of plastic figurines (amazing). Tribulation 99 – Craig Baldwin 1992 (48min)
Craig Baldwins debut feature premiering his trademark derangement of stock footage and B-grade Science fiction in the service of political conspiracy. Through a double layered pastiche, Baldwin describes the black operations carried out in Latin America by the Reagan Administration during the 1980’s as part of extra-terrestrial world domination plot
MAY 24th
Dimensions of Dialogue – Jan Svankmajer 1982 (12min)
A homage to the painter Archimboldo, and a brilliant visual exploration of the dialectic, the process of digestion and integration, borne from clay and returning to clay. Death of Stalinism in Bohemia – Jan Svankmajer 1990 (10min)
A bitter, comical, and powerfully metaphoric journey into the painful history of the Czech nation under Russian occupation. The whitewash of history, the reforms and counter-reforms, the passing of despots and the smashing of monuments. Closely Observed Trains – Jiri Menzel 1966 (1:33hr)
Comedy-drama about a young man employed in a tiny station during World War II. Milos Hrma, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice at a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, he embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Milos becomes involved in a plot to blow up a German ammunition train, but when the plan backfires, he is forced to commit the ultimate act of courage.
MAY 31st
The Unknown – Tod Browning 1927 (50min)
Browning worked in the Circus as a young man, which is perhaps why his “Carni” films best embody his love of the misfit, the freak. “Unknown” explores the dark world of “Alonzo” (Lon Chaney) the “armless” knife thrower and part time strangler as he desperately tries to consummate his unfulfillable desires for his assistantt Estrellita (Joan Crawford). Chaneys facial expressions are so brilliant, so convulsive, they constitute one of the greatest moments of acting…EVER!!!!. This film is said to have been the inspiration for Jodorowsky’s “Sante Sangre” Freaks – Tod Browning 1932 (1.07hr)
An inimitable, (and in this P.C. epoch) unrepeatable journey into the lives of those in a Carnival freak-show. Populated by midgets, pin-heads and hermaphrodites, they endure relentless jaunts from so-called normal folk. A wrong doing to one brings vengeance from all. Despite it having a horrifying conclusion, Browning is clearly on the side of the pariah, and against the blonde beauty that constitutes his model of villainy. The shock this film brought to audiences of the time resulted in Brownings’ career being stifled by the studios.
JUNE 7th
WR : Mysteries of the Organism – Dusan Makayev 1971 (1.24hr)
Partly a documentary on the radical theories of sex-liberationist Wilhelm Reich, and the integration of sexual freedom into revolutionary politics, WR is a freewheeling magazine style essay film of the radical 60’s. Full of wit and humour, Makayev attempts to approach the idea of sex and revolution from as many angles as he can muster. The result can be baffling, but with at least some passing knowledge of Reich’s ideas and radical politics, it is a wild and memorable contribution to that legacy. WR departs from the dry handling of facts, and instead wants to play with meaning and argument and refuses to force his various ideas into an uneasy whole.
JUNE 14th
Eternal Beauty – Marcel Schwieren 2003 (1.30hr)
A compelling documentary detailing the role of aesthetics and the rationale behind it’s usage in the Third Reich. Using cinema and numerous propaganda reels, this document explains the ambitions and material philosophy of the Nazis, and its firm basis in body, sexuality and a neo-pagan nostalgia for earth. Notions of Nazi style neo-classicism are counter pointed with a clear internal logic, that the ultimate beauty, and the longest lasting, is death glorious death. Berlin : Symphony of a City – Walther Ruttman 1927 (1.12hr)
A parallel to Dziga Vertov’s “Man with a Movie camera”, Ruttman’s “Berlin” is the course of a day in what was arguably the most racy, vibrant and volatile city in western Europe during the short lived days of the Weimar Republic. This is a brilliant time capsule most appreciated by those who love Berlin, the culture of pre-war Europe, or both. Ordinary shots of commuting, working, drinking and cavorting are mixed with micro-drama and montage, illustrating the class conflict, poverty, and despair experienced by ordinary people at the time.
JUNE 21st
The Testament of Dr Mabuse – Fritz Lang 1932 (2.00hr)
A “magical-realist” detective story, and Lang’s final film before fleeing Germany for the US. “Testament” reprises the character of the arch manipulator he had created for his famous two-part ‘Dr Mabuse, der Spieler’. Mabuse now locked in an asylum, has shrunk into catatonia, only emerging to scrawl his insane testament, his blueprint for absolute power. Parallels to Hitler’s imprisonment are clear, but this story is more than just a parable about Hitler. Lang through Mabuse, explores the exploitation of crime (terrorism) and mass hysteria as tools of state control. Mabuse is about totalitarianism, and how individuals become posessed by fear, and allow themselves to become instruments of power.
JUNE 28th
The Mad Masters – Jean Rouch 1955 (36mins)
Simple premise of this film is to follow the effects of colonialism on indigenous Africans via specific rituals developed as a reaction to the colonial system. The film turns into a crazy elaboration on both the madness of such a political system and man himself. At once we are amazed and confused by the violent and involved trance that the Africans take part in; however, we are, at the same time, forced to recognize the power that the camera may have over those in front of it. That is, the very “reality” of a documentary is dissolved or, at least, questioned. Disturbing and essential. Divine Horsemen – Maya Deren 1961 (55min)
A sublime and extraordinary documentary on Haitian Voudoun shot during the 40’s and 50’s by Maya Deren. While apparently only planning to bring back rare footage of ritual dance, the artist ended up writing a revealing book on Haitian Voodoun (by the same title) and becoming an actual initiate of the practice. This movie is a must see for anyone even the least bit curious about Voudoun religion or Haitian culture. Deren as artist rather than ethnographer is sensitive to the archetypal poetry contained in Voudoun symbolism, and this is conveyed in the details.
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TIMECAPSULES CINEMA 
