About

This screening will be introduced by Rosie Hays, Australian Cinémathèque.

Emir Kusturica’s meditation on war and the whirlwind of being caught in its tumult beats with a raucous and ecstatic heart. In Sarajevo, in the former Yugoslavia, a band of people head underground to live in a cellar seeking safety from the political corruption and conflict raging through the ravaged city. A moment of refuge becomes 20 years of life as they are convinced the war has not ended. Weddings, celebrations, parades and all the highs and lows of the human condition continue on in their self-imposed exile. The film is driven by Goran Bregović’s unruly, vital score that blends Gypsy and Balkan brass with punk sensibilities. A tour de force of the brutal, bombastic and beautiful motivations between people, Underground won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995.

M | Medium Level Coarse Language, Medium Level Violence, Low Level Sex Scene