Change: Paths Through 20 Years of Film
Change: Paths Through 20 Years of Film
16 December 2012 – 14 April 2013
In this major thematic program for APT7, the motif of ‘change’ is used to explore 20 years for filmmaking throughout the region, reaching from the Middle East across Asia to Australia and the Pacific.
Featuring a wide range of video and filmmaking practices, genres and makers, the program includes more than 80 films by some of the world’s most celebrated directors. The works featured consider social, political and aesthetic transformations broadly, as well as specifically in moving image culture.
Change highlights a contemplative mode of storytelling that sets individual experience within the context of broader social change. In particular, children and young adults are shown as a locus for change within cinematic narratives. Other subjects explored in the program include political and social upheaval, urban transformations and the shifts between rural and city life, labour, industry and the environment; shifting borders and the movements of people; and the intersection of faith, religion and conflict.
The intertwining of documentary and narrative elements is also a re-occurring strategy, highlighting the creation of new cinematic forms that exceed the traditional categories of documentary and fiction. The program acknowledges that the nature and characteristics of filmmaking have shifted during the last decade, a change galvanised by the rise in independent film and video using digital technologies, the democratisation of media through accessibility and portability, as well as artists and filmmakers working experimentally across art and cinema contexts.
Film notes are abridged; sources are indicated. The Australian Cinémathèque acknowledges all the archives, filmmakers and distributors who have generously provided screening materials for this program. In particular, the support of the National Film and Sound Archive Australia and Chinese-Taipei Film Archive.
Screenings
DECEMBER 2012
16.12.12 | Various 11'09''01 – September 11 2002
JANUARY 2013
04.01.13 | Tsai Ming-liang Rebels of the Neon God 1992
04.01.13 | Geoffrey Wright Romper Stomper 1992
05.01.13 | Apichatpong Weerasethakul Mysterious Object at Noon 2000
06.01.13 | Marzieh Meshkini The Day I Became a Woman 2000
06.01.13 | Warwick Thornton Samson and Delilah 2009
09.01.13 | Marzieh Meshkini The Day I Became a Woman 2000
09.01.13 | Geoffrey Wright Romper Stomper 1992
11.01.13 | Sima Urale O Tamaiti 1996 + Lee Tamahori Once Were Warriors 1994
12.01.13 | Abbas Kiarostami Ten 2002
13.01.13 | Taika Waititi Boy 2010
13.01.13 | Ivan Sen Toomelah 2011
16.01.13 | Zhang Yimou Not One Less 1999
16.01.13 | Ivan Sen Toomelah 2011
18.01.13 | Tran Anh Hung Cyclo 1995
19.01.13 | Avi Mograbi August: A Moment before the Eruption 2002
20.01.13 | Yasmin Ahmad Mukhsin 2006
20.01.13 | Liew Seng Tat Flower in the Pocket 2007
23.01.13 | Kumar Shahani The Bamboo Flute 2000
23.01.13 | Tran Anh Hung Cyclo 1995
25.01.13 | Deepa Mehta Fire 1996
26.01.13 | Vilsoni Hereniko The Land Has Eyes 2004
27.01.13 | Abbas Kiarostami Taste of Cherry 1997
28.01.13 | Tracey Moffatt Bedevil 1993
28.01.13 | Rachel Perkins One Night the Moon 2001
28.01.13 | Wayne Blair The Sapphires 2012
30.01.13 | Shivajee Chandrabhushan Frozen 2007
30.01.13 | Abbas Kiarostami Taste of Cherry 1997
FEBRUARY 2013
01.02.13 | Edwin Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly 2008
01.02.13 | Elia Suleiman Chronicle of a Disappearance 1996
02.02.13 | Byambasuren Davaa The Story of the Weeping Camel 2003
02.02.13 | Harutyun Khachatryan Border 2009
03.02.13 | Hirokazu Koreeda Nobody Knows 2004
06.02.13 | Pema Tseden Old Dog 2011
06.02.13 | Hirokazu Koreeda Nobody Knows 2004
08.02.13 | Sherman Ong Flooding in the Time of Drought 2009
09.02.13 | Jia Zhang-Ke Cry Me a River 2008 + Still Life 2006
09.02.13 | Zhao Liang Petition 2009
10.02.13 | Rithy Panh Rice People 1994
13.02.13 | Wang Bing West of the Tracks: Rust 2003
15.02.13 | Wong Kar-wai Happy Together 1997
16.02.13 | Rirkrit Tiravanija Lung Neaw Visits His Neighbours 2011
17.02.13 | Zhang Lu Grain in Ear 2005
20.02.13 | Wang Bing West of the Tracks: Remnants 2003
22.02.13 | Hou Hsiao-hsien Goodbye South, Goodbye 1996
23.02.13 | Raya Martin Autohystoria 2007
24.02.13 | Ben Hackworth Corroboree 2007
27.02.13 | Wang Bing West of the Tracks: Rails 2003
MARCH 2013
01.03.13 | Hana Makhmalbaf Buddha Collapsed out of Shame 2007
01.03.13 | Samira Makhmalbaf At Five in the Afternoon 2003 (105mins)
02.03.13 | Jiayin Liu Oxhide II 2009
02.03.13 | Lida Abdul Shorts Program 2006-2009 + Kamal Aljafari Port of Memory 2009
03.03.13 | Almagul Menlibayeva Shorts Program 2009-2011
03.03.13 | Darezhan Omirbayev Student 2012
06.03.13 | Aktan Arym Kubat The Light Thief 2010
06.03.13 | Darezhan Omirbayev Student 2012
08.03.13 | Vimukthi Jayasundara The Forsaken Land 2005
08.03.13 | Sanjeewa Pushpakumara Flying Fish 2011
09.03.13 | Chen Chieh-jen Empire's Borders I 2009 + Empire's Borders II – Western Enterprises, Inc. 2010
10.03.13 | Asoka Handagama Him, Here After 2012
11.03.13 | Various 3.11 Sense of Home 2011
13.03.13 | Masahiro Kobayashi Bashing 2005
13.03.13 | Asoka Handagama Him, Here After 2012
15.03.13 | Brillante Mendoza Grandmother 2009
15.03.13 | Takeshi Kitano Fireworks 1997
16.03.13 | Özer Kiziltan Takva: A Man's Fear of God 2006
17.03.13 | Lav Diaz Melancholia 2008
20.03.13 | Brillante Mendoza Grandmother 2009
30.03.13 | Iram Ghufran There is something in the Air 2011
30.03.13 | Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni The Well 2009
30.03.13 | Joon-ho Bong The Host 2006
30.03.13 | Kinji Fukasaku Battle Royale 2000
31.03.13 | Ali Samadi Ahadi The Green Wave 2010
APRIL 2013
03.04.13 | PARKing CHANce Night Fishing 2011 + Jafar Panahi This is Not a Film 2011
03.04.13 | Tusi Tamasese The Orator 2011
05.04.13 | Semih Kaplanoğlu Honey 2010
05.04.13 | Emin Alper Beyond the Hill 2012
10.04.13 | Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige A Perfect Day 2005
10.04.13 | Tusi Tamasese The Orator 2011 (110mins)
12.04.13 | Edward Yang Yi Yi: A One and a Two... 2000
13.04.13 | Ho Tzu Nyen Earth 2009
13.04.13 | Tsai Ming-Liang Walker 2012 + Apichatpong Weerasethakul Mekong Hotel 2012
14.04.13 | Ho Tzu Nyen The Cloud of Unknowing 2011
14.04.13 | Annemarie Jacir Salt of this Sea 2008
Ch'ing shaonien ne cha (Rebels of the Neon God) 1992 Ages 18+
Fri 4 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, MONO, 106 MINUTES, TAIWAN, MANDARIN/TAIWANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TSAI MING-LIANG / CINEMATOGRAPHER: PEN-JUNG LIAO / EDITOR: WANG CHI YANG / PRINT SOURCE: CHINESE-TAIPEI FILM ARCHIVE / RIGHTS: TAMASA DISTRIBUTION
‘Heralding the arrival of Taiwan’s great poet of urban alienation, Tsai Ming-Liang’s debut drifts through the familiar haunts of a group of dejected Taipei teens: malls, video game arcades, the oppressive spaces of their own apartments. Regular Tsai anti-hero Lee Kang-sheng emerges as the central figure, quitting his college-prep classes to lose himself in the decaying cityscape. Shot through with dark humour and poetic imagery, Tsai’s film examines the spiritual crisis at the heart of modern life.’ Film Society Lincoln Center
‘Of all the hundreds of movies that have tried to get inside the unguided missile minds of lonely young men in crumbling inner cities, Rebels of the Neon God strikes me as the truest and most tender. Using an absolute minimum of dialogue, Tsai Ming-Liang goes to the very heart of youthful joys, fears and insecurities. He finds pellucid, haunting images to express everything that cannot be put into words.’ Tony Rayns, Brisbane International Film Festival
Romper Stomper 1992 R18+
Fri 4 Jan 8.00pm and Wed 9 Jan 7.30pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 94 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH/VIETNAMESE/GERMAN/JAPANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: GEOFFREY WRIGHT / CINEMATOGRAPHER: RON HAGEN / EDITOR: BILL MURPHY / PRINT SOURCE: NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE AUSTRALIA / RIGHTS: DANIEL SCHARF PRODUCTIONS, ROADSHOW FILMS
‘A group of neo-Nazi skinheads in Footscray, Melbourne, try to prevent Vietnamese refugees from converting the local pub into a restaurant. In a mixture of frustrated rage and indignation, they resort to brutal violence and to their surprise meet strong resistance from their new Asian countrymen. Romper Stomper created enormous controversy when it first premiered and was accused of defending racial violence.’ Cinemateket i Bergen
Bedevil 1993 PG
Mon 28 Jan 2.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 90 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TRACEY MOFFATT / CINEMATOGRAPHER: GEOFF BURTON / EDITOR: WAYNE LE CLOS / PRINT SOURCE: NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE AUSTRALIA / RIGHTS: RONIN FILMS
‘Bedevil is a thematically linked trilogy of multiculturalisms, ghosts from Queensland’s past: Greeks, Chinese, Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginals are posited against an American GI and the blondest of children. Tracey Moffat awakes the ghosts of her own past, her Aboriginal/Irish heritage and in so doing taps in to the ghosts of all our pasts.’ Anne Démy-Geroe, Brisbane International Film Festival
‘The first Australian feature directed by an Aboriginal woman, Bedevil is a haunting trilogy of ghost stories inspired by tales that Tracey Moffatt first heard as a child. In "Mister Chuck," a young boy is haunted by the vision of an American soldier buried in the quicksand near his house. In "Choo Choo Choo Choo," a mother is drawn back to the nearby railroad tracks by dreams — or are they memories? — of a past tragedy. In "Lovin' the Spin I'm In," a woman refuses eviction from her home in order to maintain her vigil for her deceased son.’ Toronto International Film Festival
Neak sre (Rice People) 1994 Ages 15+
Sun 10 Feb 2.45pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, MONO, 125 MINUTES, CAMBODIA/FRANCE/SWITZERLAND/GERMANY, KHMER (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: RITHY PANH / SCRIPT: ÈVE DEBOISE, RITHY PANH / BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘RANJAU SEPANJANG JALAN’ (NO HARVEST BUT A THORN) (1972) BY SHAHNON AHMAD / CINEMATOGRAPHER: JACQUES BOUQUIN / EDITORS: ANDRÉE DAVANTURE, MARIE-CHRISTINE ROUGERIE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: JBA PRODUCTIONS
‘Filmed in the Kandal Province situated along the Mekong Delta, Rice People is a powerful story of one family’s tenuous fight to eke out a subsistence living from their rice paddies in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. Featuring both the beauty of the landscape and the hardships hidden beneath, this moving story follows Poeuv, his wife Om and their seven daughters over the annual farming of their rice crop and the joy and heartache this life cycle reflects. Balanced precariously between survival and economic failure, this haunting film charts the family’s desperate struggle to hold ground as a series of unfortunate events pulls them into a downward spiral. Examining deceptively simple themes, Rice People explores the complexities surrounding love, loss, hope and frustration in rural Cambodia.’ Australian Cinémathèque
Once Were Warriors 1994 MA15+
Fri 11 Jan 7.30pm (with O Tamaiti) / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY SR, 99 MINUTES, NEW ZEALAND, ENGLISH/MĀORI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: LEE TAMAHORI / SCRIPT: RIWIA BROWN / BASED ON THE NOVEL 'ONCE WERE WARRIORS' (1990) BY ALAN DUFF / CINEMATOGRAPHER: STUART DRYBURGH / EDITOR: MICHAEL HORTON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ICON FILMS
‘Once Were Warriors uses the tortured history of wife abuse in the Heke family — a family of working class Māoris in New Zealand — to speak a universal truth about the dark web of despair such interfamily violence can spin… In a poor suburb of Auckland, Jake and Beth Heke live a life defined by drunken parties, unstable friendships, and confrontations with authorities. Jake, a complex man with a rascal's charm, is weighted down by a quick temper, alcoholism, and an evil streak of male entitlement. Beth’s beauty has been scarred by broken dreams and Jake’s beefy fists. Yet, her inner strength and desire to save her family make her the solid centre around which Warriors’ story of tragedy and hope is constructed… By tapping into the rich legacy of nobility, pride, and love that is their Maori birth right, Beth and her children gain a sense of spiritual rebirth. Once Were Warriors is harsh and harrowing — but, ultimately hopeful about the human spirit’s capacity for renewal.’ Nelson George, The Criterion Collection
Xích lô (Cyclo) 1995 Ages 18+
Fri 18 Jan 7.30pm and Wed 23 Jan 7.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 123 MINUTES, VIETNAM/FRANCE/HONG KONG, VIETNAMESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TRẦN ANH HÙNG / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: BENOÎT DELHOMME, LAURENCE TRÉMOLET / EDITORS: NICOLE DEDIEU, CLAUDE RONZEAU / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: LE PACTE / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL CINEMA
‘Set in present-day Saigon, Cyclo centres on what sons inherit or learn from their fathers… and it’s a film of hallucinatory intensity and shocking violence. The cyclo, 18-year-old driver of a cyclo-pousse pedicab, is pressed into a life of crime by his employer, the Boss Lady, who makes him think that his vehicle has been stolen and that he owes her massive compensation. He is put in the care of the mysterious Poet, a Baudelairean figure who tests the boy’s moral strength and resilience by challenging him to go further into corruption and depravity. The cyclo is compliant until he is told to commit a murder…. Tràn’s film is ultimately a moral parable, skilfully positions at the mid-point between social realism and delirious fantasy.’ Tony Rayns, Brisbane International Film Festival
Fire 1996 M
Fri 25 Jan 7.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, ULTRA STEREO, 108 MINUTES, CANADA/INDIA, HINDI/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: DEEPA MEHTA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: GILES NUTTGENS / EDITOR: BARRY FARRELL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: UIP / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL CINEMA
‘The first in Deepha Mehta’s Elemental Trilogy, Fire is a tender, passionate and controversial story of two women torn between their devotion to duty and their desire for love and companionship. Radha has been a consummate wife for 15 years, but her husband is seeking spiritual enlightenment through celibacy. Her sister-in-law, Sita, is similarly frustrated by her new spouse, who spends his nights with his mistress. Deprived of their husbands’ affections, the women draw closer in ways neither ever imagined.’ Walker Art Centre
‘Deepa Mehta has captured the shifting landscape of the entire Indian subcontinent, where both men and women are caught in the immense tension between the continuity of the extended family and the desire for greater freedom and independence. Lusciously photographed and passionately told, Fire ignites the senses as well as the emotions’ Toronto International Film Festival
Nánguó Zaìjiàn, Nánguó (Goodbye South, Goodbye) 1996 Ages 18+
Fri 22 Feb 8.15pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 124 MINUTES, TAIWAN, MANDARIN/HOKKIEN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: HOU HSIAO-HSIEN / SCRIPT: CHU TIEN-WEN, JACK KAO, JIEH-WEN KING / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: MARK LEE PING-BIN, HUAI-EN CHEN / EDITORS: CHING-SONG LIAO / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: SHOCHIKU COMPANY
‘After a string of historical movies, Hou Hsiao-hsien turns his attention to Taiwan in the mid-1990s — and doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As often before, his protagonists are small-time gangsters and bar girls, always looking for ways out, but forever embroiled in petty, internecine squabbles. This lot spend much of their time traversing southern Taiwan, dashing from one get-rich-quick project to the next; in a sense, this is Hou’s road movie. The plot follows the Mean Streets template: a wearying gangster pushing middle age gets more and more aggro because of the volatility of his sidekick, Flathead. And their respective girlfriends, Ying and Pretzel, make things worse, not better: One yearns for “normal” domesticity, while the other turns suicidal after notching up vast debts in a gigolo joint. Background elements include the diminishing lure of mainland China, the dream of emigrating to start over and the quagmire of local government corruption. Hou takes these characters and issues seriously, of course, but he knows that a tiny shift in perspective would reveal their absurdity. The film is as much on a knife-edge as its subjects.’ Tony Rayns, Vancouver Film Festival
O Tamaiti 1996 Ages 15+
Fri 11 Jan 7.30pm (with Once Were Warriors) / Cinema A
35MM, BLACK AND WHITE, STEREO, 15 MINUTES, NEW ZEALAND, SAMOAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: SIMA URALE / CINEMATOGRAPHER: REWA HARRE / EDITOR: ANNIE COLLINS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION
‘O Tamaiti, which translates from Samoan as ‘the children’, offers a rare insight into Samoan family life and questions the ‘happy-haven’ image of the Pacific. Eleven-year-old Tino looks after his younger siblings while his parents fight out of frame. Sima Urale uses a rich visual language to convey to the viewer the children’s world and point of view.’ Australian Cinémathèque
Segell Ikhtifa (Chronicle of a Disappearance) 1996 Ages 15+
Fri 1 Feb 7.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 88 MINUTES, PALESTINE/ISRAEL/USA/GERMANY/FRANCE, ARABIC/HEBREW/FRENCH/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: ELIA SULEIMAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: MARC-ANDRÉ BATIGNE / EDITOR: ANNA RUIZ / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: PYRAMID INTERNATIONAL
‘Elia Suleiman’s acclaimed debut is a meditative search for what it means to be Palestinian. Constructed as a series of witty vignettes, some contemplative, others laced with satirical humour, the film expresses Suleiman’s emotions and state of mind as he observes daily life in Nazareth, Jerusalem, and outlying areas. The director leads us on an evocative journey from an apartment in West Jerusalem to a Holy Land souvenir shop to a group of old women gossiping about their relatives.’ Jytte Jensen, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Chūn guāng zhà xiè (Happy Together) 1997 M
Fri 15 Feb 8.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, 96 MINUTES, HONG KONG/JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA, MANDARIN/CANTONESE/SPANISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: WONG KAR–WAI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: CHRISTOPHER DOYLE / EDITORS: WILLIAM CHANG, MING LAM WONG / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: POTENTIAL FILMS
‘Lai and Ho are gay lovers who travel to Argentina from Hong Kong in an effort to salvage their relationship. While visiting the Iguaçu Falls, however, they have a falling-out and set out on their separate ways. Lai goes to work as a doorman at a Buenos Aires tango bar, trying to earn enough money to pay for his airfare back to Hong Kong, while Ho turns to a life of partying and pimping. With the aid of his brilliant cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, Wong Kar-wai fashions an unusual urban melodrama that explores the frustrations of cultural displacement and identity in a newly globalised, post-colonial world.’ Harvard Film Archive
Hana-bi (Fireworks) 1997 MA15+
Fri 15 Mar 8.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY SR, 103 MINUTES, JAPAN, JAPANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TAKESHI KITANO / CINEMATOGRAPHER: HIDEO YAMAMOTO / EDITORS: TAKESHI KITANO, YOSHINORI OHTA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: TAMASA DISTRIBUTION
‘Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) is a broken man haunted by the presence of death in both his work and personal life. A hardened policeman, he replays the trauma of a gunfight which his officers were killed and his colleague confined to a wheelchair. Off duty he cares for his dying wife. The deceptively simple sequences between Nishi and his wife are suffused with a heart-rending melancholy as both try to negotiate their relationship amid the unspoken spectre of her approaching death. Fireworks is a delicate balance of tenderness and Kitano’s characteristic nihilism that brought the actor-director to international prominence.’ Australian Cinémathèque
Ta'm-e gīlās (Taste of Cherry) 1997 PG
Sun 27 Jan 3.00pm and Wed 30 Jan 8.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 95 MINUTES, IRAN/FRANCE, PERSIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: ABBAS KIAROSTAMI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: HOMAYUN PAYVAR / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MK2 / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
‘Mr Badii traverses the Iranian countryside, winding up and down the rocky mountain passes in his dust-covered Range Rover. He is searching for someone to perform a simple task — to come to a specified location the following morning and throw 12 spades of dirt on top of a shallow grave that he himself will occupy. It is a job, in a country where religion and politics are so delicately interwoven, for which there are few eager applicants. From this deceptively simple scenario, Abbas Kiarostami creates a remarkable paean to the small miracles of everyday life and the elusive nature of happiness — a patient, poetic and profoundly beautiful work that confirmed its director as one of the masters of modern world cinema.’ New York Film Festival
Yíge dōu bùnéng shǎo (Not One Less) 1999 G
Wed 16 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOURS, DOLBY SR, 106 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: ZHANG YIMOU / SCRIPT: SHI XIANGSHENG / BASED ON THE STORY 'TIĀN SHÀNG YǑU GE TÀIYÁNG' (A SUN IN THE SKY) (1997) BY SHI XIANGSHENG / CINEMATOGRAPHER: HOU YONG / EDITOR: ZHAI RU / PRINT SOURCE: NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE AUSTRALIA / RIGHTS: SONY PICTURES
‘The title of Zhang Yimou's Not One Less is a direct reference to its 13-year-old heroine's assignment to keep all 28 of the Chinese village children under her charge in school. To lose one is to fail at the task at hand: substitute teaching. But more insidiously, tallies (especially financial ones) impede and corrupt everything from trust to education. The exacting toll numbers take is the bottom line of this moving experiment in adjusting the separation between the real and the dramatised whose tender symbol of hope is a lasting supply of chalk. Based on the actual events that took place in one rural Chinese village, Zhang's film has every character being played by the person who experienced the hardship - so that Wei Minzhi's breakdowns, the physical lengths she goes to in this aesthetic re-enactment are the searing ne plus ultra in brave hyper-reality.’ Xiangsheng Shi, San Francisco Chronicle
Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale) 2000 R18+
Sat 30 Mar 8.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 122 MINUTES, JAPAN, JAPANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KINJI FUKASAKU / BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KOUSHUN TAKAMI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KATSUMI YANAGIJIMA / EDITOR: HIROHIDE ABE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL CINEMA
‘Japan at the start of the new millennium. The country is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers in schools is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: every year a school class picked at random will be cast away on a desert island to fight it out among them. The rules are simple: it lasts three days, everyone gets water, food and a weapon and only one may survive. Then a school class on a school trip is kidnapped. When they wake up, a teacher (no one less than Kitano 'Beat' Takeshi) tells them that the collar around their necks monitors their position and can be caused to explode remotely at any moment. Veteran Fukasaku Kinji, eternally young and still just as provocative, has added a contemporary, controversial and violent epic to his oeuvre. As the catalogue to the festival in Tokyo concluded, his world of thoughtless violence is starting to look more and more like contemporary Japan, in these times of moral decay, aggressive youth and frightened adults. Fukasaku was immediately able to identify with the teenagers from the popular novel by Takami Koshun that formed the basis for the film. At the age of 15 he was confronted with the death of most of his classmates during a bombing raid. The emotions that evoked, the irrational hatred of the powers that had used such violence, have for him always been crucial - and certainly for this brutal variation on Survivor.’ International Film Festival Rotterdam
Birah bharyo ghar aangan kone (The Bamboo Flute) 2000 Ages 15+
Wed 23 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 84 MINUTES, INDIA, HINDI/TAMIL (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KUMAR SHAHANI / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: KK MAHAJAN, SUBROTO MAULLICK / EDITOR: LALITHA KRISHNA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION
‘The Bamboo Flute is a cinematic tribute to the flute and its importance to Indian civilisation. Shahani depicts the flute — from its bamboo form (the bansuri) to the classical metal instrument (the veena) — as a primordial interpreter of natural sounds. It has been used throughout the history of the subcontinent to stimulate thought and heighten perception, and is written into Krishna’s experience of waking into an auditory world. The Bamboo Flute transforms auditory experience into a non-linear narrative, using synaesthetic images and motifs. The film’s visual sequencing is informed by the structure of classical bansuri music.’ Australian Cinémathèque
Dokfa nai meuman (Mysterious Object at Noon) 2000 Ages 15+
Sat 5 Jan 3.30pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, BLACK AND WHITE, DOLBY, 83 MINUTES, THAILAND, THAI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: PRASONG KLIMBORRON, SAYOMBHU MUKDEEPROM / EDITORS: TONY MORIAS, APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: KICK THE MACHINE
‘Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s experiment in collective storytelling was inspired by the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, in which players draw a part of a picture (usually a figure), or write a line of a story, without awareness of the whole. Shooting “on the road”, the director and his small crew asked people they met throughout the country to contribute the next lines of a story about a handicapped boy and his tutor, a woman named Dogfar. The interviewees — Muay Thai kickboxers, grandmothers, video game-playing school children — all participate enthusiastically, employing uniquely Thai modes of storytelling.’ Australian Cinémathèque
Roozi ke zan shodam (The Day I Became a Woman) 2000 Ages 15+
Sun 6 Jan 1.00pm and Wed 9 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 78 MINUTES, IRAN, PERSIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: MARZIYEH MESHKINI / SCRIPT: MARZIYEH MESHKINI, MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: MOHAMAD AHMADI, EBRAHIM GHAFORI / EDITORS: MAYSAM MAKHMALBAF, SHAHRZAD POUYA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MAKHMALBAF FILM HOUSE
‘The attitude of society towards women is emotional; women are either mothers or mistresses, and that is why every man tries to gain exclusive possession of his mother and mistress. As a result home becomes the safest place where women can be preserved. The Day I Became a Woman depicts the position of women for whom their gender poses a social problem. The film focuses on the lives of women who are imprisoned in the house, not because they are hated but because they are loved ― women who have to forego emotional attachments in order to win individual independence and active social positions.’ Marziyeh Meshkini
‘With this disturbing portrayal of the role of women in Iran, director Marziyeh Meshkini (made her entry into) Iranian cinema. The script, written by Meshkini’s husband, the consummate filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, tells several stories. The first, referring to the film’s title, is about Hava, who on the morning of her ninth birthday is told that she is now a woman. She must wear a chador and may no longer associate with her male playmates. In the most remarkable episode, Ahoo, a young wife, is competing in a bicycle race against dozens of other chador-clad women on a hot dusty road. As she pulls ahead of the field, her husband pursues her on horseback to take her out of the race, and no film chase has ever been more heart-wrenching. With compassion, Meshkini examines a society where women are still the property of men and cannot achieve independence without forgoing emotional attachments.’ BAM / Pacific Film Archive
Yī Yī (Yi Yi: A One and a Two...) 2000 M
Fri 12 April 7.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 173 MINUTES, TAIWAN, MANDARIN/HOKKIEN/TAIWANESE/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: EDWARD YANG / CINEMATOGRAPHER: WEI-HAN YANG / EDITOR: BO-WEN CHEN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: RIALTO DISTRIBUTION
‘Edward Yang’s beloved final film is a sensitive chronicle of an upper-middle class Taiwanese family shaken by a series of unexpected — yet, in retrospect, clearly inevitable — events. As the middle-aged parents ruminate over past decisions and grow anxious for the future, their children grapple with the burdens of growing up. Yi Yi masterfully interweaves its characters and Yang reveals himself to be a consummate observer of behaviour, able to discern the comic and the tragic sides of the human predicament.’ Harvard Film Archive
One Night the Moon 2001 M
Mon 28 Jan 4.00pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 57 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: RACHEL PERKINS / SCRIPT: RACHEL PERKINS, JOHN ROMERIL / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KIM BATTERHAM / EDITOR: KAREN JOHNSON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: DENDY FILMS
‘One Night the Moon tells of the search for a small white girl who wanders off one night from the family’s remote home to follow the full moon. Her father won’t allow the black tracker Albert on his land to let him participate in the search, instead fruitlessly leading a band of white men across the desolate country, decimating every trace of the girl’s path. It is a simple tale beautifully told and sung, for this country-and-western musical (with some didgeridoo). The theme is encompassed by the refrain from a duet sung: “This land is my land” versus “This land owns me”.’ Anne Démy-Geroe, Brisbane International Film Festival
11'09''01 – September 11 2002 M
Sun 16 Dec 2.30pm / Cinema A
35MM AND HDCAM, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 134 MINUTES, UK/FRANCE/EGYPT/JAPAN/MEXICO/USA/IRAN, SPANISH/ENGLISH/FRENCH/ARABIC/HEBREW/PERSIAN/FRENCH SIGN LANGUAGE/JAPANESE / [EGYPT: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: YOUSSEF CHAHINE / CINEMATOGRAPHER: MOHSEN NASR / EDITOR: RASHIDA ABDEL SALAM]; [ISRAEL: DIRECTOR: AMOS GITAÏ / SCRIPT: AMOS GITAÏ, MARIE-JOSE SANSELME / CINEMATOGRAPHER: YOAV KOSH / EDITOR: KOBI NETANEL]; [MEXICO: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER: ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU / EDITORS: KIM BICA, ROBERT DUFFY, ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU]; [JAPAN: DIRECTOR: SHÔHEI IMAMURA / SCRIPT: DAISUKE TENGAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: MASAKAZU OKA / EDITOR: HAJIME OKAYASU]; [FRANCE: DIRECTOR: CLAUDE LELOUCH / SCRIPT: CLAUDE LELOUCH, PIERRE UYTTERHOEVEN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: PIERRE-WILLIAM GLENN / EDITOR: STÉPHANE MAZALAIGUE]; [UNITED KINGDOM: DIRECTOR: KEN LOACH / SCRIPT: PAUL LAVERTY, VLADIMIR VEGA / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: JORGE MÜLLER SILVA, NIGEL WILLOUGHBY / EDITOR: JONATHAN MORRIS]; [IRAN: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: SAMIRA MAKHMALBAF / CINEMATOGRAPHER: EBRAHIM GHAFORI / EDITOR: MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF]; [INDIA: DIRECTOR: MIRA NAIR / SCRIPT: SABRINA DHAWAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: DECLAN QUINN / EDITOR: ALLYSON C JOHNSON]; [BURKINA FASO: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: IDRISSA OUEDRAOGO / CINEMATOGRAPHER: LUC DRION / EDITOR: JULIA GREGORY]; [USA: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: SEAN PENN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SAMUEL BAYER / EDITOR: JAY CASSIDY]; [BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: DANIS TANOVIC / CINEMATOGRAPHER: MUSTAFA MUSTAFIC / EDITOR: MONIQUE RYSSELINCK] / PRINT SOURCE: TAMASA DISTRIBUTION / RIGHTS: DENDY FILMS / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL CINEMA
‘This film is a unique and extraordinary response to the catastrophic events in New York City that shook the world on September 11, 2001. Producer Alain Brigand invited 11 renowned international directors to look towards their own cultures, their own memories, their own stories and their own language, and create a film lasting eleven minutes, nine seconds and one frame around September 11 and its consequences. The thought-provoking results — made with complete freedom of expression and in a spirit of complete equality — cover a diverse range of sensibilities and viewpoints and testify to the resonance of the event throughout the world.’ Kino International
August: A Moment before the Eruption 2002 Ages 18+
Sat 19 Jan 3.30pm / Cinema A
DVCAM TRANSFERRED TO DIGITAL BETACAM, COLOUR, STEREO, 72 MINUTES, ISRAEL/FRANCE, HEBREW (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: AVI MOGRABI / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: PHILIPPE BELLAICHE, EITAN HARRIS, AVI MOGRABI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: DOC & FILM INTERNATIONAL
‘In an absurdist romp reminiscent of Nanni Moretti's Dear Diary, Avi Mograbi sets out to make a film about what it is he hates about August in Israel. After a series of false starts derided by his wife as morbid and uninspiring, the true theme of his project emerges: recording people's reactions to his own artifice as filmmaker. Arab workers, wealthy Jewish suburbanites, soccer yobs, Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli policemen – no one escapes the dogged gaze of his camera, the acerbic righteousness of his wit. A curious, scathing satire of a society fuelled by hatred, intolerance and misunderstanding.’ Doc Alliance Films
Ten 2002 PG
Sat 12 Jan 3.30pm / Cinema A
DVCAM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DTS, 89 MINUTES, IRAN/FRANCE/USA, PERSIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER: ABBAS KIAROSTAMI / EDITORS: VAHID GHAZI, ABBAS KIAROSTAMI, BAHMAN KIAROSTAMI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MK2
'Ten offers an extraordinarily revealing look at the condition of women in present-day Iran and is set entirely within the confines of a moving car — a private “road movie” in which speech is unrestrained behind closed doors. The story follows the divorced mother of a seven-year-old boy over the course of several days as she chauffeurs her son, her sister, a pious elderly women, a streetwalker and others on various errands around town. Each trip becomes a conversation that touches on the characters’ emotional lives and, no less intriguingly, on the social realities of life in contemporary Tehran. The woman’s annoyance at all the bad drivers around her provides a lightly comic counterpoint to which Western audiences will easily relate.' Harvard Film Archive
Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel (The Story of the Weeping Camel) 2003 PG
Sat 2 Feb 1.30pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 87 MINUTES, MONGOLIA/GERMANY, MONGOLIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS: BYAMBASUREN DAVAA, LUIGI FALORNI / SCRIPT: BYAMBASUREN DAVAA, BATBAYAR DAVGADORJ, LUIGI FALORNI / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: LUIGI FALORNI, JULIANE GREGOR / EDITOR: ANJA POHL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: DENDY FILMS
‘This delightful documentary comes from the Gobi Desert, Southern Mongolia and is totally enchanting with its portrayal of the nomad culture and locations, parallels between humans and animals, and the treatment of the animals. It's springtime and the camels are giving birth. A nomadic family assists one of the camels with a difficult birth. The newborn calf is a rare white camel, but its mother rejects it. As the livelihood of the family depends on its livestock, the nomads make every effort to re-unite the camel mother and child. However, despite the calf’s piteous bleatings, its mother continues to reject it and deny it milk. Finally, a traditional violinist is called from a distant village and an ancient ritual achieves the desired bonding.’ Anne Démy-Geroe, Brisbane International Film Festival
Panj é asr (At Five in the Afternoon) 2003 Ages 15+
Fri 1 Mar 7.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, MONO, 105 MINUTES, IRAN/FRANCE, DARI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: SAMIRA MAKHMALBAF / BASED ON THE NOVEL BY MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: EBRAHIM GHAFORI, SAMIRA MAKHMALBAF / EDITOR: MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: WILD BUNCH
‘After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, girls are once again allowed to go to school. But Noqreh’s conservative father maintains his belief that girls should not be educated, although he concedes enough to allow her to attend Koran school. Each morning she pretends to honour his wishes, but after he drops her off she changes her slippers for high-heeled shoes and heads for the newly-opened secular school. There, girls learn self-respect along with everything else. In a class on politics, Noqreh begins to voice her dream of becoming president of her country, taking former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto as her inspiration... The title of the film was inspired by a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca.’ Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, Part I: Rust 2003 Ages 18+
Wed 13 Feb 6.00pm / Cinema A
DVCAM TRANSFERRED TO BETACAM SP, COLOUR, STEREO, 224 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: WANG BING / SCRIPT: LI HONGBIN / EDITORS: WANG BING, ADAM KERBY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: WANG BING
‘Wang’s astonishing first film is a moving and engrossing chronicle of the slow, sinking death of the factory towns in China’s North-east Shenyang province as their aging foundries are quietly abandoned by the state and a way of life is extinguished. Armed with only a handheld DV camera, Wang invents remarkable yet understated camera movements and compositions to capture both the grueling factory work and the anxious waiting time that gradually takes over the workers’ lives. Despite its four-hour length, Rust somehow remains as gripping from its first to last minute by giving equal space to the vivid dangers of the factory and the quiet moments in the workers’ break rooms — and most notably during a forced hospital retreat — where their fears of unemployment and their suddenly uncertain future begin to cast dark shadows. Rust’s fascination with the choreography of Man and Machine gives way to moments of intense beauty that at times recalls the structural films of sculptor Richard Serra.’ Harvard Film Archive
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, Part II: Remnants 2003 Ages 18+
Wed 20 Feb 6.00pm / Cinema A
DVCAM TRANSFERRED TO BETACAM SP, COLOUR, STEREO, 178 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: WANG BING / SCRIPT: LI HONGBIN / EDITORS: WANG BING, ADAM KERBY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: WANG BING
‘Shifting its focus to the vast shantytowns that emerged in the shadow of the factories, the second part of Wang’s trilogy offers a multi-generational portrait of a community faced with the sudden terrible certainty of its own demise. As the factories close, the always unseen and off-camera forces of the state abruptly begin to tear down homes, giving only perfunctory notice to their inhabitants. As a barometer of the unsettling changes, Wang chooses a group of restlessly drifting adolescents whose band is gradually diminished, one-by-one, often times without saying goodbye to their friends. As winter sets in and the dust of the demolished houses mixes with snow, a small group of townsfolk bands together to try and resist the cold and the destruction of their homes.’ Harvard Film Archive
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, Part III: Rails 2003 Ages 18+
Wed 27 Feb 6.00pm / Cinema A
DVCAM TRANSFERRED TO BETACAM SP, COLOUR, STEREO, 132 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: WANG BING / SCRIPT: LI HONGBIN / EDITORS: WANG BING, ADAM KERBY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: WANG BING
‘The closing chapter of Wang’s ambitious trilogy is arguably its most poetic and emotionally powerful: a portrait of the last supply trains that continue to deliver ever dwindling quantities of raw stuff to the crumbling factories. Passing through the ruins of abandoned homes and foundries, the conductors reflect with stoic restraint upon the gradual erasure of the world around them. A father–son team of metal scavengers becomes a vivid yet ultimately bleak vision of fragile hope, their daily struggle revealing how very little of value can be extracted from the wasteland left in the name of progress.’ Harvard Film Archive
Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows) 2004 M
Sun 3 Feb 2.45pm and Wed 6 Feb 8.00pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY SR, 141 MINUTES, JAPAN, JAPANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: HIROKAZU KOREEDA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: YUTAKA YAMASAKI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE / RIGHTS: SHARMILL FILMS
‘Abandoned by their mother, four children try to forge a life within the confines of a small Tokyo apartment. Devising their own set of rules, the children find a way to sustain themselves until they must face the harsh reality of the outside world. Koreeda’s slow pacing and limited setting allow a sensitive reading of the children’s perspective without overtly sentimentalizing their plight. His choice of nonfiction film techniques successfully captures the intimacies and nuances of the children’s world.’ Harvard Film Archive
Pear ta ma 'on maf (The Land has Eyes) 2004 M
Sat 26 Jan 3.30pm / Cinema A
DIGITAL VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 87 MINUTES, FIJI/USA, ROTUMAN/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: VILSONI HERENIKO / CINEMATOGRAPHER: PAUL ATKINS / EDITOR: JONATHAN WOODFORD-ROBINSON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: RONIN FILMS
‘The Land Has Eyes is set in the 1970s, the time of director Vilsoni Herekiko’s childhood, just before Fiji became independent from the United Kingdom. It is the first feature film set and short in the Fiji islands, and takes place on the island of Rotuma, Hereniko’s birthplace. Young Viki wants to leave the island to study. She works hard and her father encourages her, exempting her, to the irritation of her sister, from ‘women’s work’. However, after her father is unjustly accused of a crime by the British authorities, Viki’s immediate priority changes to clearing his name. She resists the colonial Christian values imposed on them, preferring to be inspired by the mystical figure of the Warrior Woman, who gives Viki the strength she needs. Based on the director’s own life and developed in conjunction with the community, the film very nicely captures not only the politics of the time, but also the island way of life, with all its joys and difficulties. The title comes from the island wisdom that “the land has eyes and teeth and the land knows the truth.”’ Anne Démy-Geroe, Brisbane International Film Festival
Basshingu (Bashing) 2005 Ages 15+
Wed 13 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, MONO, 82 MINUTES, JAPAN, JAPANESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: MASAHIRO KOBAYASHI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KÔICHI SAITÔ / EDITOR: NAOKI KANEKO / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: TAMASA DISTRIBUTION
‘Bashing reveals a consequence of war that many may never have fathomed possible. With an initial disclaimer that the film is fiction “loosely based on real events,” Kobayashi plunges into the desolate daily existence of Yuko, an aid worker whose recent kidnapping and release in the Middle East has made her the town pariah once back at home. As the narrative begins, the situation has reached a tipping point and, in quick succession, Yuko is shunned by coworkers, fired from her job, harassed by strangers and dumped by her boyfriend. Facing similar persecution, her father and stepmother, too, are reaching their limits, and the tension is unbearable. The message to Yuko, finally stated in blunt terms by a taunting voice on her answering machine, is thus: “If you’d been killed, you would have been a heroine. Now you are nothing but an embarrassment to us all.” The real-world circumstances that served as inspiration for the film involved several Japanese volunteer relief workers who were taken hostage in Iraq in 2004, then branded as selfish and denounced by the prime minister himself as being at fault for their situation. Kobayashi’s depiction reflects on the larger perceptions of Japanese society and its attitude toward the individual spirit, but Bashing’s strength is in its intimate sympathy for Yuko, who bears her torment and finally releases her anguish as she contemplates the depths of her alienation in a place that never felt like home.’ Deanna Quinones, San Francisco International Film Festival
Máng zhǒng (Grain in Ear) 2005 Ages 15+
Sun 17 Feb 3.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 109 MINUTES, SOUTH KOREA/CHINA, KOREAN/MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: ZHANG LÜ / CINEMATOGRAPHER: LIU YONGHONG / EDITOR: KIM SUN-MIN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: DOO ENTERTAINMENT
‘Cui Shunji sells kimchi from an unlicensed cart; it’s a popular dish in this northern Chinese town. She’s a Korean–Chinese woman bringing up her young son alone in a rented room, just barely getting by. Then good things start to happen to her: she meets a married Korean–Chinese man and starts seeing him for sex, and a kindly cop helps her get a licence for her cart. But Shunji remains essentially powerless, and when things start to go wrong she can’t help being a victim. Her revenge is extreme and pitiless… Grain in Ear finds Zhang Lü entering the territory Fassbinder once made his own: melodrama with a social conscience, executed with a slightly shell-shocked restraint. The climatic act of revenge is inspired by a real-life incident in China’s recent past, but the context is pure fiction. This is a social–realist fable illuminating the gap between haves and have-nots in ways that Marx never dreamed of.’ Tony Rayns, Brisbane International Film Festival
Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) 2005 Ages 18+
Fri 8 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY SR, 108 MINUTES, SRI LANKA/FRANCE, SINHALA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: VIMUKTHI JAYASUNDARA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: CHANNA DESHAPRIYA / EDITOR: GISÈLE RAPP-MEICHLE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MOMENTO FILMS INTERNATIONAL
‘[The Forsaken Land] seeks to convey that suspended state of being simultaneously without war and without peace. In between the two. I wanted to capture this strange atmosphere, in the manner of a poem where images can replace words.’ Vimukthi Jayasundara
‘A stark landscape that often seems to be frozen in time. A group of human beings, set against this landscape, struggling to retain a sense of humanity, to build and sustain human relationships, all of them caught up in the cycle of life and death that exists on the fringes of a war. A narrative that walks a tightrope between despair and delusion on one side and hope and aspiration on the other. Vimukthi Jayasundara’s The Forsaken Land maps the dreams and hallucinations of these characters, leading us through the morass of life in war-time, with its anxieties and uncertainties; it’s opening up of avenues for realising your desires as well as for articulating destruction of the self, and self-destruction. The Forsaken Land is a study of the vagaries of war, of the ways in which war shapes the lives and futures of women, men and children. The film is a study of human alienation, and of desperate attempts to escape that alienation. It is almost a meditation on life. At the same time, The Forsaken Land is a film about the dehumanising brutality of life in contemporary Sri Lanka, a film that lays bare the grim realities of an island where each day the list of those who have disappeared, been abducted and murdered by the bullet of an unknown assassin grows longer.’ Sunila Abeysekera
Yawmon Akhar (A Perfect Day) 2005 Ages 15+
Wed 10 April 6.00pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DTS STEREO, 88 MINUTES, LEBANON/FRANCE/GERMANY, ARABIC (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS/SCRIPT: JOANA HADJITHOMAS, KHALIL JOREIGE / CINEMATOGRAPHER: JEANNE LAPOIRIE / EDITOR: TINA BAZ / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: TAMASA DISTRIBUTION
‘Luminous, soft-spoken, and slowly paced, A Perfect Day captures a rare moment: the release from a long, haunting spell. The film recounts the day when a middle-aged mother and her son resolve to stop waiting for the return of the missing family patriarch, so they can begin mourning and lay him to rest for good. As gentle as a caress, A Perfect Day is an existential call for mourning, the most essential step in moving past the legacy of war.’ Jytte Jensen, MoMA, New York
Gwoemul (The Host) 2006 M
Sat 30 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 119 MINUTES, SOUTH KOREA, KOREAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: JOON-HO BONG / SCRIPT: JOON-HO BONG, WON-JUN HA, CHUL-HYUN BAEK / CINEMATOGRAPHER: HYUNG-KU KIM / EDITOR: SUN-MIN KIM / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT
‘Years after a US Army laboratory secretly dumped toxic chemicals into the Han River, a carnivorous mutant emerges to wreak havoc on Seoul. The Host unfurling suspense, slapstick, furious action sequences, biting social satire and geopolitical commentary, dark humour and, above all, a love of genre convention and its subversion. Yet by focusing the story on one family’s attempt to survive, Bong clearly emphasises human behaviour and emotion rather than offering a more abstract cautionary tale of a disinformation spreading government, even as the monster itself suggests an allegorical figure of consumerism run amok.’ Harvard Film Archive
Mukhsin 2006 Ages 15+
Sun 20 Jan 1.00pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 95 MINUTES, MALAYSIA, MALAY/ENGLISH/MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: YASMIN AHMAD / CINEMATOGRAPHER: LOW KEONG / EDITOR: AFFANDI JAMALUDIN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ATTRACTION DISTRIBUTION
‘Called the Godmother of the new Malaysian digital cinema, the late Yasmin Ahmad created films that draw from experiences close to her own life. Her Orked trilogy is set in the world of today's most culturally diverse societies — providing ample opportunity for conflicts of colour and creed, prejudice and taboo. Mukhsin, the third film in the trilogy (but the earliest in the story's chronology), portrays the filmmaker's alter ego, Orked, and her best friend, a boy named Mukhsin, as they enter adolescence and their relationship changes character. Portrayed with deep humanism and a liberating sense of humour, Mukhsin completes the trilogy's multidimensional portrait of a woman from childhood to adolescence to marriage.’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
Once Upon Awakening 2006 All ages
Sat 2 Mar 3.30pm (Lida Abdul Shorts Program) / Cinema A
16MM FILM TRANSFERRED TO DV, COLOUR, STEREO, 6:50 MINUTES, AFGHANISTAN, NO DIALOGUE / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: LIDA ABDUL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: LIDA ABDUL
'Lida Abdul's video works investigate of the role of monuments and ruins in contemporary culture. Returning to Afghanistan after years spent abroad (and as a refugee with no passport), Abdul’s past and present inform her perceptions of home and place. Once Upon Awakening 2006 depicts a scene of young men, clad in black, pulling down the remains of a ruin in Kabul. Ropes are fastened to the ruin at various points, and the men strain to tear down what remains of the building. In this work architecture is a process, rather than an object; a meditation on the aftermath of war, exposing the aftershocks of destruction, acceptance and renewal. Shot on film and occupying a seductive cinematic quality, the silent work departs from conventional narrative and as such offers an open space to contemplate its complexity through its open-ended, cyclical construction.' VIP Art
Sānxiá hǎorén (Still Life) 2006 Ages 15+
Sat 9 Feb 1.00pm (with Cry Me A River) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 111 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN/SICHUAN DIALECT (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: JIA ZHANG-KE / SCRIPT: JIA ZHANG-KE, SUN JIANMIN, GUAN NA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: YU LIK-WAI / EDITOR: KONG JING LEI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MOMENTO FILMS / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
‘Set to be submerged for the controversial Three Gorges Dam project, the 2000-year-old town of Fengjie proves an appropriate setting for Jia’s look at a China in the process of both construction and deconstruction. The film follows two stories: in one, a miner (Han Sanming) searches for his wife, while in the second a woman (Jia regular Zhao Tao) searches for her husband. Jia uses their wanderings to explore the city and its environments, his camera touchingly lingering on landscapes and people who are about to vanish or be displaced. A not-so-tough youngster who mimics Chow Yun-fat; a small boy with a beautiful voice; shirtless miners and necktied yuppies: all pass through a landscape literally marked “OK for Demolition.” Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Still Life is both fiction and documentary; it’s now a historical document, as the old city is indeed under water.’ Jason Sanders, Pacific Film Archive
Takva: A Man's Fear of God 2006 Ages 18+
Sat 16 Mar 1.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 96 MINUTES, TURKEY/GERMANY, TURKISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: ÖZER KIZILTAN / SCRIPT: ONDER CAKAR / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SOYKUT TURAN / EDITOR: ANDREW BIRD / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: THE MATCH FACTORY
‘A simple lay member of a dervish order in Istanbul is selected on the basis of his piety to be the order’s rent collector. With his transformation from a lowly mercantile servant to a mobile phone-toting businessman, Muharrem’s simple and routine ascetic life takes on the complexity of dealing with dilemmas and temptations arising at the intersection of religion and economic interests. Turkey epitomises the intersection of Islam and the secular, and perhaps only here could a director claim, as Özer Kiziltan does, to be an atheist and yet make a deeply poetic and humanitarian film about the clash between the conscience of a simple, religious man and the administration of one of the world’s great spiritual sects.’ Anne Démy-Geroe, Brisbane International Film Festival
Autohystoria 2007 Ages 18+
Sat 23 Feb 1.00pm / Cinema A
DIGITAL VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO MINI DV, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, STEREO, 95 MINUTES, THE PHILLIPINES, TAGALOG (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: RAYA MARTIN / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: ALBERT BANZON, RAYA MARTIN / EDITOR: LOUIE QUIRINO / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTSL: RAYA MARTIN
‘At the center of Raya Martin's beautiful Autohystoria is the execution of the revolutionary Bonifacio brothers in the Philippine mountains in 1897. The Bonifacio brothers were leading figures in the Philippine revolution for independence from the colonial power Spain, and among the founders of the freedom movement Katipunan in 1892. Tragically, it was the Philippines" first independent president, Emilio Aguinaldo, who gave the orders for the brothers to be executed. Instead of giving us a traditional take on history, the film approaches its subject matter through a series of dramatic allegories, which the director himself has called "a collection of digitalised memories from dreams and realities".’ Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
Buda as sharm foru rikht (Buddha Collapsed out of Shame) 2007 M
Fri 1 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
DIGITAL VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 81 MINUTES, IRAN/FRANCE, PERSIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: HANA MAKHMALBAF / SCRIPT: MARZIEH MESHKINI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: OSTAD ALI / EDITOR: MASTANEH MOHAJER / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HOPSCOTCH FILMS / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
‘The beauty and grief of present-day Afghanistan receive epic, poetic treatment from Hana Makhmalbaf, the youngest member of director Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s remarkable family. Set in Bamian, the town where the Taliban’s destruction of cultural treasures sickened the world, Buddha Collapsed out of Shame is a frightening journey into the minds of the children who live in that desolate area — and children affected by violence everywhere. All Baktay wants to do is go to the school for girls that has opened up across the river. But she must overcome Herculean obstacles, starting with her family’s extreme poverty and her mother’s indifference. The film feels extremely authentic, largely due to the stripped-down neorealist style of the Makhmalbaf family’s projects and the fact that they cast local nonprofessional actors for all the roles. But this is not a documentary. The film sneakily reveals all sorts of narrative surprises and political critiques despite its simple exterior.’ Noah Cowan, Toronto International Film Festival
Corroboree 2007 M
Sun 24 Feb 3.00pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO HDCAM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 95 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: BEN HACKWORTH / SCRIPT: BEN HACKWORTH, PETER SAVIERI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KATIE MILWRIGHT / EDITOR: CINDY CLARKSON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: VALARC FILMS
‘A dying director sends for a young man to visit him in a meditation retreat to perform scenes from a story of his life. The young man has been given a tape of instructions: he must visit different rooms over the weekend, encountering five actresses who portray key women in the director’s life. As the scenes unfold, he must also decide whether the performance has gone too far. In his feature debut, Ben Hackworth serves up an Alice, in Wonderland-like tale (with a male Alice) loosely drawing inspiration from theatre impresario Richard Wherrett as the mysterious director.’ Melbourne International Film Festival
Flower in the Pocket 2007 Ages 15+
Sun 20 Jan 3.00pm / Cinema A
BETACAM SP, COLOUR, STEREO, 97 MINUTES, MALAYSIA, MALAY/MANDARIN/ENGLISH/CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: LIEW SENG TAT / CINEMATOGRAPHER: ALBERT HUE SEE LEONG / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: DA HUANG PICTURES
‘Already roundly considered one of the finest movies to come out of Malaysia, Liew's debut is deceptively light: a puckish coming-of-age comedy about two young brothers and a neglectful father. Using long, naturalistic takes that recall the work of Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, Liew captures the everyday lives of the young rovers on their own, flunking school, cooking dinner and meeting friends (and a puppy). Yet, Liew uses his wry observational style not only to offer a portrait of two mischievous kids, but also to ground his increasingly surreal touches in the dramatic context of an ever-evolving modern-day Malaysia.’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
Frozen 2007 Ages 15+
Wed 30 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, BLACK AND WHITE, DOLBY, 109 MINUTES, INDIA, HINDI/LADAKHI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: SHIVAJEE CHANDRABHUSHAN / SCRIPT: SHANKER RAMAN / BASED ON THE STORY BY SHIVAJEE CHANDRABHUSHAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SHANKER RAMAN / EDITOR: SHAN MOHAMMED / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: PHAT PHISH MOTION PICTURES
‘High in the Himalayas, teenage Lasya lives with her father and younger brother in their modest ancestral home. Surrounded by the majesty of snow-capped mountains, her father ekes out a subsistence living, making apricot jam with an antiquated press. Heavily in debt to a loan shark and approaching yet another moneylender, he resists an offer to clear his obligations in exchange for his daughter and house. The family’s problems are compounded by a Gurkha regiment that sets up camp next to them and eventually requires them to leave their home. Chandrabhushan’s feature film debut displays an ambitious style, redolent of his experience as a photographer and mountaineer. Shanker Raman’s high contrast black-and-white cinematography is visually stunning, while skilfully serving the director’s intent navigation of space. Whether focusing on speck-sized figures in a snowy Himalayan landscape or Lasya’s possibly real, possibly imaginary visions, Chandrabhushan glides between the exterior space where man lives with nature and the interior one where thoughts and memories interweave. The presence of the army, meanwhile, signals an ultimate invasion of space, a hegemonic force that will affect both the minds and bodies of the family as the film moves to its surprising conclusion.’ Roger Garcia, San Francisco International Film Festival
Babi buta yang ingin terbang (Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly) 2008 Ages 15+
Fri 1 Feb 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM TRANSFERRED TO BETA SP, COLOUR, STEREO, 77 MINUTES, INDONESIA, INDONESIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: EDWIN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SIDI SALEH / EDITOR: HERMAN PANCA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: BABI BUTA FILMS
‘In a series of minimal, slightly surreal tales, characters loosely linked by their minority status as Chinese–Indonesians are set within a contemporary urban Indonesia beset by social and racial tension. Past and present are jumbled, and events are vaguely symbolic and doubtlessly — albeit obscurely — connected to the violent political events playing out on TV. In this expertly crafted universe, the one constant, bizarrely enough, is Stevie Wonder’s 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' — sung by each of the characters at different points in the film.’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
Heshang de Aiqing (Cry Me a River) 2008 Ages 15+
Sat 9 Feb 1.00pm (with Still Life) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, STEREO, 19 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: JIA ZHANG-KE / CINEMATOGRAPHER: WANG YU / EDITOR: JIA ZHANG-KE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: UNITED STAR CORPORATION
‘Jia stages this exquisite film-poem over the romantic canals of the historic city of Suzhou during a 10-year reunion of university friends. They used to be poets or writers; now they discuss investment banking. One of them, the editor of a doomed literary magazine, had written, “The end of our generation does not mean the fall of our generation.” If they are not falling, maybe they’re flowing — with the passing of time, the withering away of youth — toward melancholia, middle age, unrequited longing, flowing away and losing themselves.’ Bérénice Reynaud, American Film Institute Festival
In Transit 2008 All ages
Sat 2 Mar 3.30pm (Lida Abdul Shorts Program) / Cinema A
35MM TRANSFERRED TO DV, COLOUR, STEREO, 4:55 MINUTES, AFGHANISTAN/AUSTRIA, ENGLISH SUBTITLES / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: LIDA ABDUL / CINEMATOGRAPHER: MARC TUESCHER / EDITOR: FLORIAN GRUNT / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: SIXPACK FILMS
‘With a practice spanning diverse media including film, performance and photography, Lida Abdul’s recent work reflects on the decades of war sustained by her native Afghanistan, and the relationship between architecture and identity. In In Transit the rusting remains of planes and tanks on the outskirts of Kabul become the playthings for children. ‘These are uncanny sights,’ Abdul has explained, ‘because the presence of these metallic giants is a symbol of sorts for the presence of the physical and psychological traumas of wars that have defined the history of Afghanistan for almost three decades now.’ Sixpackfilm
Melancholia 2008 Ages 18+
Sun 17 Mar 10.00am / Cinema A
DIGITAL VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO MINI DV, BLACK AND WHITE, DOLBY, 450 MINUTES, THE PHILIPPINES, FILIPINO (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: LAV DIAZ / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: LAV DIAZ
‘An eight-hour, intermission-less film may be daunting to many, but such is the incomparable, experiential cinema of Lav Diaz, one of the most singular filmmakers of his generation. Diaz is a formidable and unique figure in contemporary world cinema, widely recognised as the "godfather" of the New Filipino digital cinema movement. Melancholia is an epic tone poem of novelistic proportions. Displaying his signature high definition black-and-white video, with a palette ranging from chiaroscuro to ash, Melancholia comprises a triptych story of suffering, in which three characters assume roles in order to escape their personal despair. Alberta plays a reluctant prostitute, Julian her pimp, and Rina a charity-seeking nun as the trio attempt to quell their all-consuming grief by feigning alternate existences, worlds away from their bourgeois lives. A flip in chronology reveals the source of Alberta's pain: her husband Renato, a leftist activist, has gone to fight a bloody war of ideals and is presumed dead. Diaz leads us to him, making us bear witness to a world of madness. The film is both a political statement on the desaparecidos (those kidnapped by military operatives) as much as it is a lamentation about the gloomy state of the world. While Melancholia may be Diaz's bleakest work yet, it's as poetic as it is punk, and features a music interlude by his noise rock band, The Brockas (named after Lino Brocka), with Diaz on electric guitar and fellow director Khavn De la Cruz on keyboards.’ Andréa Picard, Image Festival
Milh Hadha al-Bahr (Salt of this Sea) 2008 Ages 15+
Sun 14 April 3.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY SR, 109 MINUTES, PALESTINE/BELGIUM/FRANCE/SPAIN/SWITZERLAND, ARABIC/ENGLISH/HEBREW (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: ANNEMARIE JACIR / CINEMATOGRAPHER: BENOÎT CHAMAILLARD / EDITOR: MICHÈLE HUBINON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: PYRAMID INTERNATIONAL
‘Born and raised in Brooklyn, Soraya travels to Palestine to retrieve her grandfather's savings, frozen in a Jaffa bank account after his 1948 exile. Struggling to feel at home in the land of her ancestors, she meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Stubborn, passionate, and determined to reclaim what's theirs, she and Emad set out on a road trip for poetic justice across a lush Palestinian (now Israeli) landscape — after which there is no return. Annemarie Jacir's debut represents a fresh, viscerally affecting, and definitive statement from second-generation Palestinian Americans. Rife with symbolism, the colour-saturated lensing of Palestinian landscapes and evocative score make palpable the yearning and frustration of a quest to reclaim what was stolen.’ Roya Rastegar, Tribeca Film Festival
Banjir Kemarau (Flooding in the Time of Drought) 2009 Ages 18+
Fri 8 Feb 6.00pm (Drought) and 8.00pm (Flood) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO HDCAM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 184 MINUTES (DROUGHT: 92 MINUTES; FLOOD: 92 MINUTES), SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA, HINDI/INDONESIAN/ITALIAN/TAGALOG/MANDARIN/GERMAN/JAPANESE/KOREAN/THAI/MALAY/HOKKIEN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: SHERMAN ONG / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SHARON LOH / EDITOR: MING AN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: SHERMAN ONG
‘What if suddenly the water supply runs dry in Singapore? This fusion of documentary and fiction narrative depicts the lives of foreign migrants as an impending water crisis begins to seep into their lives. With water, or the lack of it, becoming the central motif, this two-part feature length film takes us on a journey across 8 interweaved stories and 10 languages, as the protagonists, consisting of non-professional actors, grapple with this hopefully temporary discomfort, amidst their dalliance with human foibles and their fantasies of everlasting loves and broken romances. This aberration is a memento mori as the narratives grazed across the vague impressions of the racial tensions lingering past the 1997 riots in Indonesia, World War II, ritual beliefs, and ethnic discrimination in South-East Asia which has been ingrained over generations and transported along with the migrant communities. Nonetheless, amidst the sporadic ventures into death and violence, sexual relations and sexualities, these are the lines of division that bind us to each other, in one way or another, as people survive through their crises.’ Adele Tan, Singapore Biennale
EARTH 2009 All ages
Sat 13 April 3.00pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, DOLBY, 40 MINUTES (CINEMA VERSION), SINGAPORE, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: HO TZU NYEN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: AMANDI WONG / EDITOR: FRAN BORGIA / MUSIC: BY YASUHIRO MORINAGA AND STEFANO PILIA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HO TZU NYEN
‘EARTH consists of three long takes that pan horizontally and vertically in excruciatingly slow motion, revealing a mound of human bodies that seem to have been piled up in the wake of an unspecified catastrophe along with a tangle of wires and cables, stacks of wooden pallets, cardboard boxes, dead fish and fluorescent light tubes. Slowly, some of the bodies begin to stir, and several scenes that unfold bear a distinct resemblance to well-known religious paintings.’ Darryl Wee, artasiapacific
Empire's Borders I 2009
Sat 9 Mar 1.00pm (with Empire Borders II) / Cinema A
35MM TRANSFERRED TO HD VIDEO, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, STEREO, 28 MINUTES, TAIWAN, NO DIALOGUE / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: CHEN CHIEH-JEN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: CHEN CHIEH-JEN
'Chen Chieh-jen is Taiwan's most internationally recognised artist. Chen's artistic practice is fueled by an ongoing examination of hidden political powers and power relationships, in order to reflect upon today's neo-liberal empire built upon the alliance of nation and capital. Empire's Borders I is based on Chen's The Illegal Immigrant blog, and is divided into two segments of dramatised reportage. The first segment presents eight typical cases of Taiwanese applicants enduring a consular officer's abuse at AIT (American Institute Taiwan), and then being denied a nonimmigrant visa for inexplicable reasons. The second segment presents the stories of nine Mainland Chinese spouses immigrating to Taiwan on marriage visas, who, starting from their arrival interview at the airport, suffer all manners of discrimination and rigorous scrutiny from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency. Chen compares these two situations to explore global hierarchies of border control policies, and the disciplinary tactics dominant countries deploy when dealing with people of other nations.' Malin Barth, M K Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
Exodus 2009 All ages
Sun 3 Mar 2.45pm (Almagul Menlibayeva Shorts Program) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, STEREO, 11:21 MINUTES, KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIAN INTERTITLES (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: ALMAGUL MENLIBAYEVA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: PRISKA C. JUSCHKA FINE ARTS
‘Exodus transports the viewer into present day in Kazakhstan. While local men and women are packing up their yurts with the obvious intention to move on, a young girl watches, captivated and immobile, subsequently appearing to be left behind - synonymously evoking the experience of global uprooting. As an interlude and a visual bow to Kurban, two young women thrash their hair, symbolically transformed into birdlike creatures flapping their wings. The Peries (Shaman’s helpers) walk around the yurt making ancient shamanistic nomad rituals “The Closing Road” which makes nomads stay in the place. Only the small wondering girl is observing, the adults don’t.’ Rencontres Internationales
Lola (Grandmother) 2009 Ages 18+
Fri 15 Mar 6.00pm and Wed 20 Mar 8.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 110 MINUTES, THE PHILIPPINES/FRANCE, FILIPINO/TAGALOG (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: BRILLANTE MENDOZA / SCRIPT: LINDA CASIMIRO / CINEMATOGRAPHER: ODYSSEY FLORES / EDITOR: KATS SERRAON / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: THE MATCH FACTORY
‘Lola follows two elderly women whose lives intersect because their respective grandsons are the victims and the perpetrators of a pointless act of violence. Lola Sepa is heartbreakingly persistent in her quest for justice and compensation while Lola Puring seeks to save face and protect her indefensible grandson. From this simple premise evolves a complex and humane study of the justice system in a society where the poverty is so extreme that integrity can only be a relative concept. Continuing his ongoing dissection of life in the impoverished quarters of Manila, Brillante Mendoza’s extraordinary capacity for combining social analysis with the raw dramatic potential of everyday life has resulted in a stylistically fluid approach to filming that perfectly matches its subject’ Claire Stewart, Sydney International Film Festival
Niupi er (Oxhide II) 2009 Ages 15+
Sat 2 Mar 1.00pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO DV CAM, COLOUR, STEREO, 132 MINUTES, CHINA, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: JIAYIN LIU / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ICARUS FILMS
‘Jiayin Liu introduced film audiences to her parents and their tiny Beijing apartment in the multiple-award winner Oxhide 2005. Skilfully blending drama and documentary, she continues to let us into a fascinating world beyond mere daily life. Liu not only appears in the film, she is also the sole director, editor, cinematographer and scriptwriter. In this series of nine shots, revolving in 45-degree intervals around a central workbench, the limited vision of the cinemascope frame reveals much about this tight-knit family. Liu practices how to chop chives and wrap dumplings, following her mother’s very specific instructions. The father’s failing leatherwork business continues to dominate the family’s sharp conversations as the meal preparations progress in what seems like real time. Clearly, people can learn a great deal while making dumplings together. Don’t watch this film on an empty stomach.’ Reel Asian Film Festival
Shangfang (Petition) 2009 Ages 18+
Sat 9 Feb 3.15pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO DIGITAL BETACAM, STEREO, 120 MINUTES, CHINA/FRANCE, MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER: ZHAO LIANG / EDITORS: BRUNO BARWISE, SYLVIE BLUM, SHUN ZI, ZHAO LIANG / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: INSTITUT NATIONAL DE L’AUDIOVISUEL
‘The dysfunctional Chinese court system allows citizens with grievances against their local governments to petition the court to clear or correct their record. Yet, in order to do so, the petitioners must travel to Beijing to file paperwork and wait an indefinite period to plead their case. The vast majority of petitioners are impoverished villagers who travel far to the capital and typically end up waiting desperately in decrepit shantytowns for their cases to be settled, often pressured by hired thugs to return home. Following the saga of a group of petitioners over the years of 1996 and 2008, Petition unfolds like a novel by Zola or Dickens. Unwilling to accept defeat and seemingly unable to do anything but wait, the petitioners enter a strange and often terrifying zone, gradually losing touch with family and friends back home with the cruel reality of their situation.’ Harvard Film Archive
Port of Memory 2009 Ages 15+
Sat 2 Mar 3.30pm (with Lida Abdul Shorts Program) / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, STEREO, 63 MINUTES, PALESTINE/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, ARABIC/HEBREW (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: KAMAL ALJAFARI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: JACQUES BESSE / EDITOR: MARIE HÉLÈNE MORA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: KAMAL ALJAFARI
‘Kamal Aljafari follows his own family’s story after they receive an official order to evacuate their home in Ajami, a seafront neighbourhood of once-wealthy homes and villas in Jaffa. The family is thrown into disarray, and, lacking the means to fight back, a mute despair cloaks their lives. Radically poetic, blending mundane gestures of everyday life with evocations of collective memory, Port of Memory travels freely between the subjective and the objective.’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sahman (Border) 2009 Ages 18+
Sat 2 Feb 3.30pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 82 MINUTES, ARMENIA/THE NETHERLANDS, ARMENIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: HARUTYUN KHACHATRYAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: VREZH PETROSYAN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: GOLDEN APRICOT FUND FOR CINEMA
‘In Border, Harutyun Khachatryan reflects on the tragedy that befell his people during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the 1990s, after the Soviet Union fell apart. He does so without words or indeed human protagonists, through the story of a buffalo who is found stuck in a ditch in the countryside. He is brought to a nearby farm where animals, farmers and refugees are gathered to hide and recover from the conflict. All regard him with great suspicion. We follow life on the farm and in the surrounding villages through the eyes of the buffalo over the course of a year, with the changing of the seasons and the slow rhythm of the place.’ Rotterdam International Film Festival
Samson and Delilah 2009 PG
Sun 6 Jan 3.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 100 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH/WALPIRI LANGUAGE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER: WARWICK THORNTON / EDITOR: ROLAND GALLOIS / PRINT SOURCE: NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE / RIGHTS: FOOTPRINT FILMS
‘Warwick Thornton’s debut has been described as ‘one of the most confronting and important films about Indigenous culture ever made’. Samson is a petrol-sniffing layabout with a love for Delilah, a very independent and self-contained young woman who is blamed by the entire community for the death of her grandmother. In response to this, the two flee the desert and take off for Alice Springs, where they try to eke out a living on the fringes of society. Throughout the film, the two central characters do not share a single word, a tribute to the skill of the director, managing to convey so much with so little dialogue. Heartbreaking, yet hopeful, Samson and Delilah will leave you truly lost for words.’ Cork Film Festival
Vihir (The Well) 2009 Ages 15+
Sat 30 Mar 3.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 135 MINUTES, INDIA, HINDI/MARATHI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: UMESH VINAYAK KULKARNI / SCRIPT: SATI BHAVE, GIRISH KULKARNI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SUDHIR PALSANE / EDITOR: NEERAJ VORALIA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: AMITABH BACHCHAN CORP
‘After years apart, cousins Sameer and Nachiket meet at a family wedding. Spending their days swimming at the local well and figuring out what to do with their lives, they are inseparable — but when an argument divides them and one goes missing, thing are changed forever. At its core a meditation on how children deal with grief and loss, The Well is filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni’s take on adolescence and the moments that define it. Kulkarni’s film is part of a new wave of Marathi cinema — the oldest film industry in India, which focuses on bold realism and quality world cinema.’ Melbourne International Film Festival
Bal (Honey) 2010 Ages 15+
Fri 5 April 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 103 MINUTES, TURKEY/GERMANY/FRANCE, TURKISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: SEMIH KAPLANOĞLU / SCRIPT: SEMIH KAPLANOGLU, ORÇUN KÖKSAL / CINEMATOGRAPHER: BARIŞ ÖZBIÇER / EDITORS: AYHAN ERGÜRSEL, SUZAN HANDE GÜNERI, SEMIH KAPLANOĞLU / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT
‘A quiet, sensitive masterpiece, Honey is the final part of Kaplanoglu's trilogy about a young poet named Yusuf, who we meet here as a six-year old, learning the harsh realities of life when his beekeeper father disappears in the forest. Yusuf adores his father Yakup, who precariously climbs tall trees daily to reach his hives. One day, a branch snaps and Yakup is left hanging desperately on a rope. We then backtrack, through a series of set-pieces explaining Yusuf's devoted relationships with his mother and father, two very different characters, yet both adored by their sweet son. When disaster befalls the little family, Yusuf is forced to learn not only about the wonder and beauty of nature, but also the random, cruel quirks of fate that shape lives and destinies.’ Dubai International Film Festival
Boy 2010 M
Sun 13 Jan 1.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 87 MINUTES, NEW ZEALAND, ENGLISH/MĀORI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TAIKA WAITITI / CINEMATOGRAPHER: ADAM CLARK / EDITOR: CHRIS PLUMMER / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: TRANSMISSION FILMS
‘Boy is an 11-year-old Maori kid and avid Michael Jackson fan who lives on a farm with his grandma and younger brother. A cheerful dreamer, he’s waiting for the day his father breaks out of prison to take him to the King of Pop’s big show. Although his dad’s been locked up for most of his life, Boy has built up an image of him that’s part war hero, part sports star. Needless to say, when his father actually does show up, reality falls somewhat short of the fantasy. Inspired by his Oscar-nominated short, Two Cars, One Night, Waititi’s sophomore feature is a sweet, funny, and fresh look at growing up—whatever your age. Don’t miss the exuberant dance number at the film’s end: a Maori Haka-infused rendition of “Thriller.” Seattle International Film Festival
Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises, Inc. 2010 All ages
Sat 9 Mar 1.00pm (with Empire Borders I) / Cinema A
35MM TRANSFERRED TO HD VIDEO, BLACK AND WHITE, STEREO, 70 MINUTES, TAIWAN, NO DIALOGUE / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: CHEN CHIEH-JEN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: CHEN CHIEH-JEN
‘Chen Chieh-jen’s powerful and haunting body of films examine the history of Taiwan within the larger context of globalisation. Inspired by his own difficulties in acquiring a visa to enter the United States, Empire’s Borders I explores ideas of borders and boundaries within a shifting geopolitical landscape while also reflecting on the history of Taiwan-US relations. Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises, Inc. takes its cues from the political context of the 1950s Cold War when US interests in Taiwan overlapped with the Chinese civil war. Cooperating with the Taiwanese Nationalist government, the American CIA established what was called Western Enterprises – agents responsible for training an Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (NSA) for a surprise attack on communists in Mainland China. The three-channel film installation begins here and weaves the biography of the artist’s father, a member of NSA, who upon his passing left an autobiography, a list of NSA soldiers killed during the China offensive, an empty photo album and an old army uniform. Through Chen’s characteristically charged re-enactments, the figures in the film encounter the ghosts of history and move through the vacuous spaces of struggle, absence and erasure, which echo present-day realities.’ Redcat
Svet-Ake (The Light Thief) 2010 Ages 15+
Wed 6 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 80 MINUTES, KYRGYZSTAN/FRANCE/GERMANY/THE NETHERLANDS, KYRGYZ (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: AKTAN ARYM KUBAT / SCRIPT: TALIP IBRAHIMOV, AKTAN ARYM KUBAT / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KHASAN KYDYRALIYEV / EDITOR: PETAR MARKOVIC / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: THE MATCH FACTORY
‘On the steppe in Kyrgyzstan, a simple electrician affectionately known as Mr Light finds himself caught in a difficult position when an ambitious politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his tiny impoverished town. Mr Light is modest and altruistic through and through, but his unlikely partner seems motivated more by greed than hopes of community development. The Light Thief elegantly dramatises the complex challenges of a developing economy with its heartfelt story about the unglamorous yet very real struggles of life in post-Soviet Central Asia. Aktan Arym Kubat sets his narrative against the backdrop of the 2005 Tulip Revolution, when a disputed election led to a popular revolt against the government. Although the brief glimpses of political unrest seem a world away from Mr Light’s sleepy town, Kubat slyly illustrates the same governmental failings on a local level, as his humble protagonist faces the greatest social issues, plugging away against injustice and tyranny.’ Jesse Dubus, San Francisco International Film Festival
The Green Wave 2010 Ages 18+
Sun 31 Mar 3.30pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, DOLBY, 80 MINUTES, GERMANY, PERSIAN/GERMAN/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: ALI SAMADI AHADI / SCRIPT: ALI SAMADI AHADI, OLIVER STOLTZ / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: ALI SAMADI AHADI, PETER JESCHKE / EDITORS: ANDREAS MENN, BARBARA TOENNIESHEN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: VISIT FILMS / SCREENING FORMAT: HD CAM
‘During the 2009 Iranian elections, the world caught a glimpse of opposition to the government as the Green Revolution filled the streets of Tehran. But in the aftermath of Ahmadinejad’s victory, the hope of change came to an abrupt end, as government officials cracked down on protestors and censored media coverage. Part documentary, part animation, The Green Wave covers those chaotic and disturbing post-election days through eyewitness accounts, blogs, tweets, and cell phone footage. The Green Wave is an unblinking, clear-eyed documentary that captures the outrage, sadness, and fear during this momentous time in Iran’s history, and informs the continuing dialogue about human rights.’ Seattle International Film Festival
3.11 Sense of Home 2011 Ages 15+
Mon 11 Mar 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM AND HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO DVCAM, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, DOLBY, 75 MINUTES, JAPAN, JAPANESE/SPANISH/FRENCH/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS: VICTOR ERICE, NAOMI KAWASE, JIA ZHANG-KE, KAORI MOMOI, APICHATONG WEERASETHAKUL, LESLIE KEE, ISAKI LACUESTA, BONG JOON HO, ZHAO YE, TOYOKO YAMASAKI, PEDRO GONZALEZ RUBIO, ARIEL ROTTER, NAGUIB RAZAK, WISUT PONNIMIT, SO YONG KIM, JONAS MEKAS, CATHERINE CADOU, STEVEN SEBRING, TAKUSHI NISHINAKA, SHUNJI DODO, KAZUHIRO SODA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: NARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
‘Award-winning director Naomi Kawase initiated a project in response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the Tohoku region of Japan on 11 March 2011. The result is an anthology of films, all 3 minutes 11 seconds in duration, addressing the theme of home. 3.11 Sense of Home is a deeply personal and moving dedication to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami, and a poignant reminder of the universal significance of home.’ AsiaHouse
Igillena maluwo (Flying Fish) 2011 Ages 18+
Fri 8 Mar 8.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 125 MINUTES, SRI LANKA, SINHALA/TAMIL (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: SANJEEWA PUSHPAKUMARA / SCRIPT: CHINTHANA DHARMADASA, SANJEEWA PUSHPAKUMARA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: VISHVAJITH KARUNARATHNA / EDITOR: AJITH RAMANAYAKE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ASIA DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
‘Sanjeewa Pushpakumara’s breathtaking debut feature deftly weaves together three narratives about war-torn Sri Lanka, capturing the emotional and spiritual suffering of people trying to live a normal life amid the devastation of the country’s ongoing civil war. The landscapes of eastern Sri Lanka are captured in long takes, and the nation’s quiet rage is expressed through superbly framed tableaux vivants. Inspired by the director’s own experiences, the film is deeply felt — but its more shocking elements are not for the fainthearted.’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
In film nist (This is Not a Film) 2011 Ages 15+
Wed 3 April 6.00pm (with Night Fishing) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO DCP, COLOUR, STEREO, 75 MINUTES, IRAN, PERSIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS/CINEMATOGRAPHERS: JAFAR PANAHI, MOJTABA MIRTAHMASB / SCRIPT/EDITOR: JAFAR PANAHI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: SHARMILL FILMS
‘What becomes of a filmmaker who is forbidden to make films? This is the subject of This is Not a Film, which looks at a day in the life of acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from filmmaking for 20 years. This is Not a Film sees Panahi have a telephone conversation with his lawyer, feed the family’s pet iguana, and narrate a film he was planning before his arrest. His clear distress at the restrictions he faces suggests a stunning argument that the creation of art is a compulsion rather than a choice.’ Dubai International Film Festival
Khyi rgan (Old Dog) 2011 Ages 18+
Wed 6 Feb 6.00pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, STEREO, 88 MINUTES, CHINA, TIBETAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: PEMA TSEDEN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: SONTHAR GYAL / EDITOR: SANGYE BHUM / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ICARUS FILMS / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
‘Old Dog unfurls on plains some three thousand feet above sea level in the Tibetan region of the Chinese province of Qinghai. It tells the story of an aged sheepherder, his gruff grown son and the old man’s Tibetan mastiff hound — a highly prized breed, much sought after by urban Chinese — whose existence is imperilled from all sides. An emotionally gripping family story that combines measured pacing with limitless vistas, Old Dog makes use of those horizon-lines-that-delimit-human-destinies, even as its portrait of rural anomie amid astonishing scenery takes a completely modern approach to narrative, patiently accumulating detail by telling detail.’ Chuck Stephens, San Francisco International Film Festival
Lung Neaw Visits his Neighbours 2011 Ages 15+
Sat 16 Feb 1.00pm / Cinema A
16MM TRANSFERRED TO HD VIDEO, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 154 MINUTES, MEXICO/THAILAND, THAI (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA / CINEMATOGRAPHERS: CRISTIAN MANZUTTO, RIRKIRT TIRAVANIJA / EDITOR: CRISTIAN MANZUTTO / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: ESTUDIO DE PRODUCCIÓN / SCREENING FORMAT: DCP
‘In Rirkrit Tiravanija’s second feature, Lung Neaw, a retired farmer, lives in a tranquil village in Chiang Mai, far from the recent political turmoil in Bangkok. At a moment when many people are demanding equality, opportunity and democracy, we see in Lung Neaw an existence marked by compassion for his environment and his fellow villagers. The film offers a contemplative look at one man’s humble dialogue with his surroundings.’ MoMA, New York
The Cloud of Unknowing 2011 All ages
Sun 14 April 2.30pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, COLOUR, DOLBY, 28 MINUTES, SINGAPORE, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: HO TZU NYEN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: AMANDI WONG / EDITORS: HO TZU HYEN, FRAN BORGIA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HO TZU HYEN
‘Titled after a fourteenth century mystical treatise on faith, where the cloud is paradoxically a metaphor for both an impediment to, and reconciliation with, the unknown or the divine experience. Set in a deserted, low-income public housing block in Singapore, the film revolves around 8 characters in 8 apartments, each in the midst of an activity that brings them into an encounter with a cloud, that alternates between being embodied in a figure, and as a vaporous mist. In the moment of encounter, a shift, transformation or illumination occurs that, as the medieval text counsels, is effected in a direct experience of the senses, instead of being understood with the mind.’ Ho Tzu Hyen
There is something in the Air 2011 Ages 15+
Sat 30 Mar 2.30pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO DVCAM, COLOUR, STEREO, 29 MINUTES, INDIA, INDIAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/EDITOR: IRAM GHUFRAN / CINEMATOGRAPHER: KASHIF SIDDIQUI / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: IRAM GHUFRAN
‘There is Something in the Air is a series of dream narratives, and accounts of spiritual possession as experienced by women ‘petitioners’ at the shrine of a Sufi saint in north India. The film blends documentary and fictional tropes to weave a narrative that is based on hearsay.’ Berlinale
Toomelah 2011 MA15+
Sun 13 Jan 3.00pm and Wed 16 Jan 8.00pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 106 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: IVAN SEN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: CURIOUS FILM
‘Set in the mission town of Toomelah, a tiny Indigenous community riven by poverty, addiction and violence, Toomelah focuses on ten-year-old Daniel, who dreams of becoming a gangster like his idol, small-time hoodlum Linden. When a rival gang leader returns from jail and seeks to reclaim his turf, Daniel finds himself caught in the middle, and is faced with a serious choice to make about his uncertain future. Filmed on location and featuring many of Toomelah's residents (including the extraordinary young lead) in major roles, Toomelah is "incredibly moving . . . The kids' wide-eyed view of their community, and the rough mob humour, are artfully juxtaposed, and the film as a whole is both memorable and very moving" (Filmink).’ Toronto International Film Festival
Transoxiana Dreams 2011 All ages
Sun 3 Mar 2.45pm (Almagul Menlibayeva Shorts Program) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, STEREO, 23 MINUTES, KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIAN INTERTITLES (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: ALMAGUL MENLIBAYEVA / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: PRISKA C. JUSCHKA FINE ARTS
‘Transoxiana Dreams addresses the social, economic and ecological situation of the locally called Aralkum generation, the peoples living in the vast region of the rapidly receding Aral Sea due to the radical irrigation policies of the Soviet Union in the 1960’s, between Soviet Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and south-western Kazakhstan. Almagul Menlibayeva portrays the impact on the inhabitants of a formerly thriving area with tourism, beaches and fishing fleets, now living upon a constantly growing salt desert in a desolate landscape. Through the eyes of a fisherman’s daughter in a dreamlike mélange of documentary and fantasy, she depicts their struggle to survive in the 21st Century.’ Rencontres Internationales
O le tulafale (The Orator) 2011 PG
Wed 3 April 8.00pm and Wed 10 April 7.30pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 110 MINUTES, NEW ZEALAND/SAMOA, SAMOAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: TUSI TAMASESE / CINEMATOGRAPHER: LEON NARBEY / EDITOR: SIMON PRICE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: TRANSMISSION FILMS
‘This contemporary tale pays homage to and questions the rituals of manhood and mourning in Samoan culture. Saili, physically disadvantaged as a little person, faces prejudice at every turn. Shunned by the leaders of his village and beset by his wife’s past, Saili stands up for himself in order to properly bury and memorialise his loved ones. As circumstances throw Saili into increasing tension with his own village and his wife’s former one, he must decide whether he can take on the tasks of orator, a ritual role demanding physical display and bravado as well as an ability to produce wilting rhetoric. The first Samoan-language feature film unspools its narrative amid unwaveringly beautiful scenery and an involving air of mystery.’ Sean Uyehara, San Francisco International Film Festival
Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) 2011 Ages 15+
Wed 3 April 6.00pm (with This is Not a Film) / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO HDCAM, BLACK AND WHITE AND COLOUR, DOLBY, 33 MINUTES, SOUTH KOREA, KOREAN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS/SCRIPT: PARKING CHANCE (PARK CHAN-WOOK, PARK CHAN-KYONG / CINEMATOGRAPHER: JU SUNG-LIM / EDITOR: KIM WOO-IL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FINE CUT
'Not many films that clock in at 33 minutes generate the hype that surrounds Night Fishing, a surprisingly polished work shot by Park Chan-wook and his brother Park Chan-kyong on the iPhone 4. Night Fishing centres around a fisherman (Park regular Oh Gwang-rok) who reels in a fish that transforms into a young woman once touching land (actor/pop star Lee Jung-hyun, in a great performance). She begins talking to him of his long-lost daughter, and it only gradually becomes apparent that she is a shaman acting as a medium between the land of the living and the dead. Switching back and forth between black-and-white and colour, and featuring a mesmerising soundtrack by UhUhBoo Project, the film strikes a more sober and difficult tone than many of Park’s genre-influenced films. Indeed, the shamanist imagery and themes are reflected in previous work by acclaimed visual artist Park Chan-kyong.' Darcy Paquet, Screen Daily
Ini Avan (Him, Here, After) 2012 Ages 18+
Sun 10 Mar 3.00pm and Wed 13 Mar 7.30pm / Cinema A
35MM TRANSFERRED TO DCP, COLOUR, DOLBY, 104 MINUTES, SRI LANKA, TAMIL (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: ASOKA HANDAGAMA / CINEMATOGRAPHER: CHANNA DESHAPRIYA / EDITOR: AJITH RAMANAYAKE / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HÉLIOTROPE FILMS
‘After twenty-six devastating years of civil war, Sri Lanka is only now beginning to come to terms with the deep scars left by decades of conflict. At the close of the war, the victorious ruling government instituted rehabilitation camps for the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters. Returning rebels received mixed receptions from their former communities, which were equally resentful of the costs of resistance and disheartened by defeat. Sinhalese writer-director Asoka Handagama sets this Tamil tale in the time "after": after the war, after the trauma, after the return. For Handagama's unnamed protagonist, "Him," returning to his former life in the city of Jaffna proves impossible. Greeted by his neighbours with suspicion, hostility and accusations, he struggles to find a job and to reconnect with the lover he left behind, who in his absence married another man to save herself from conscription by the rebels. Without names, without pasts, Handagama's characters serve as reflections of the dehumanizing trauma of war. Haunted by the past, pursued by ghosts and shadows through the streets of Jaffna, "Him" is emblematic of the crises facing the returning soldier: the difficulty of reintegration, the lack of economic opportunities, the hostility of the community. Juxtaposing serene landscapes with strangely beautiful renderings of urban decay, Handagama's elegiac allegory neither wallows in grief nor mourns for a lost past, but rather explores the unsettling realities of post-war Jaffna. And yet, there is hope within this desperate, lyrical portrait — hope of an "after" for those who have lived through the traumas of war.’ Cameron Bailey, Toronto International Film Festival
Mekong Hotel 2012 Ages 15+
Sat 13 April 3.45pm (with Walker) / Cinema A
HDCAM TRANSFERRED TO DCP, COLOUR, DOLBY, 57 MINUTES, THAILAND/UK, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: THE MATCH FACTORY
‘Ostensibly a portrait of a hotel perched along the Mekong River, Mekong Hotel is at once a soothing lullaby, a film à clef, fragments from an earlier project, and collaboration between the filmmaker and his recurring actors. Exploring themes that are central to his work, such as reincarnation, the legacy of violence that once dominated Thailand’s northeast, and unabashed romantic love, Mekong Hotel evinces a sense of yearning bathed in radiant, sunset shades. Shot at the juncture where the Mekong marks the border between Thailand and Laos during the heavy flooding that devastated parts of Thailand earlier this year, Mekong Hotel shuffles fact and fiction in a calming rhythm of ebb and flow. Like notebooks and sketches, Mekong Hotel lends insight into the generous attitude and working methods of one of today’s greatest filmmakers, and makes a strong case not just for cinema as art, but as a way of life.’ Andréa Picard, Toronto International Film Festival
Student 2012 Ages 15+
Sun 3 Mar 3.30pm and Wed 6 Mar 7.30pm / Cinema A
HD VIDEO TRANSFERRED TO 35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 90 MINUTES, KAZAKHSTAN, KAZAKH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: DAREZHAN OMIRBAYEV / CINEMATOGRAPHER: BORIS TROSHEV / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: MEDIA LUNA
‘Darezhan Omirbayev has long been a devotee of director Robert Bresson, and Student uses the same literary source as Bresson’s masterpiece Pickpocket: Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. In the former Kazakh capital of Almaty, a hotbed of corruption and social inequality where nouveau riche gangsters flaunt their Range Rovers in the face of donkey-dragging peasants, philosophy student Ali is a mirror of his country’s fundamental confusion. Alienated from family and friends, Ali is a blank slate who, after attending a lecture applauding the “virtues” of social Darwinism, decides to take his nation’s new cutthroat principles to their horribly logical end by committing a robbery that leaves two people dead. But unlike Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov, who reasoned that he was entitled to take from those less deserving in order to guarantee his own existence, it is suggested that Ali views his action as a kind of twisted altruism: he believes himself a just man out to right wrongs, which renders his killings morally justifiable.’ Dimitri Eipides, Toronto International Film Festival
Tepenïn Ardi (Beyond the Hill) 2012 Ages 15+
Fri 5 April 8.00pm / Cinema A
ARRIRAW TRANSFERRED TO DCP, COLOUR, DOLBY, 94 MINUTES, TURKEY/GREECE, TURKISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: EMIN ALPER / CINEMATOGRAPHER: GEORGE CHIPER-LILLEMARK / EDITOR: ÖZCAN VARDAR / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: BULUT FILM
‘Emin Alper’s debut is set in an isolated valley in Turkey, where a man comes to visit his father, a herdsman, accompanied by his two children. The serene summer’s day is gradually disrupted by the proximity of uninvited guests from beyond the hills, who come to graze their goats on this particular piece of land. The intruders make it possible for the otherwise diversified family to come together in solidarity, but also to conceal their own guilt. Beyond the Hill can be seen not only as a parable about the contemporary Turkish political scene, but also as a testimony of the nature of human society in general.’ Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Sapphires 2012 PG
Mon 28 Jan 6.00pm / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, DOLBY DIGITAL, 103 MINUTES, AUSTRALIA, ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: WAYNE BLAIR / SCRIPT: TONY BRIGGS, KEITH THOMPSON / CINEMATOGRAPHER: WARWICK THORNTON / EDITOR: DANY COOPER / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HOPSCOTCH FILMS
‘An adaptation of Tony Briggs’s successful stage musical of the same name, The Sapphires is set in the late 1960s when the McCrae girls — four talented young singers from a remote Aboriginal mission — are plucked from obscurity and branded Australia's version of The Supremes. The girls dream of becoming as big as their Motown idols and they get their chance when they’re flown to Vietnam to entertain the troops, opening their eyes to a whole new world of sex, war, politics and soul.’ Melbourne International Film Festival
Walker 2012 Ages 15+
Sat 13 April 3.45pm (with Mekong Hotel) / Cinema A
HDCAM, COLOUR, DOLBY, 22 MINUTES, HONG KONG/TAIWAN, NO DIALOGUE / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT/CINEMATOGRAPHER: TSAI MING-LIANG / EDITOR: LEI CHENG CHIN / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SOCIETY
‘A metaphor for mourning as much as it is a reminder to slow down, Walker features a red-robed monk barely locomoting through the bustling streets of Hong Kong. Clutching a sandwich in one hand and a white plastic bag in the other, the snail-paced walker hovers as an otherworldly sight as he gradually traverses urban tableaux teeming with competing information and frenetic movement. A sublime and affecting viewing experience, Walker demands that we give ourselves over to a meditative, trance-like state.’ Andréa Picard, Toronto International Film Festival
