• Film
  • Human Rights Arts & Film Festival
  • Gowns by Adrian
  • Monster Pies
  • Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
  • Like Someone in Love
  • Jazz on Film
  • Little Big Shots
  • The Human Scale
  • Melbourne International Animation Festival
  • Reykjavik Calling: The Icemen Cometh
  • Australian Perspectives
  • First Look
  • Seniors' Cinema
  • Kids' Flicks
  • Melbourne Cinémathèque
  • Melbourne Filmoteca
  • Scream and Scream Again
  • Classification Advice
  • Archive
• What's On Calendar
• Buy Tickets
• Subscribe

Cinémathèque Archive 2010

Krzysztof Zanussi: The Structure of Cinema

Family Life (Zycie rodzinne) After a long absence, a man returns home to discover his house - and family - have deteriorated.

The Structure of Crystal (Struktura krysztalu) Zanussi's debut feature is an unassuming and sensitive portrayal of a dissolving friendship.

Behind the Wall (Za sciana) An examination of fate, physical existence and the limits of humanist empathy.

Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease A doctor who discovers he is terminally ill travels to Paris to live his last days with abandon.

Camouflage (Barwy ochronne) A young, idealistic and impressionable teacher comes under the sway of a cynical professor.

Death of a Provincial (Smierc prowincjala) A multiple award-winning work that helped redefine international perceptions of Polish cinema.

Revisited (Rewizyta) Krzysztof Zanussi returns to form in this reflexive and playful summary work.

Illumination (Iluminacja) A student seeking clarification of the certainty of things is shaken by two life experiences.

Scandanavian Silent Cinema

The Phantom Carriage In this simple folk tale, a drunk relives his life before alcohol ruined him.

Sir Arne's Treasure Three 16th century Scottish mercenaries are cursed after stealing the local vicar's treasure.

Vietnam War Documentaries

The 17th Parallel: The People's War A powerful film documenting the lives of people living under relentless US bombing raids in Vietnam.

Guerillas in Australia: the Camera as Weapon Short films documenting the seething dissatisfaction with Australia's part in the Vietnam War.

The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch

Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin A feature documentary covering Ernst Lubitsch's formative years in Berlin.

Kohlhiesel's Daughters (Kohlhiesels Töchter) A comic adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew transposed to 19th century Bavaria.

Broken Lullaby Ernst Lubitsch's rarely screened anti-war statement and one of his few dramatic talkies.

Madame Dubarry The private life of the mistress of Louis XV is given a lush treatment in this Lubitsch spectacular.

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg Lubitsch's bittersweet tale of star-crossed lovers embodies the director's famed 'touch'.

Carmen Lubitsch's loose adaptation of Bizet's opera is often regarded as his first important film.

One Hour With You A playful musical about a married couple whose relationship is upset by a flirtatious woman.

The Shoe Palace (Schuhpalast pinkus) An early Lubitsch work in which an entrepreneurial boy charms a rich benefactress to fund his dream.

The Chronicles of Raymond Depardon

Profils paysans: le quotidien The second chapter of Raymond Depardon's 'rural profiles'.

The Declic Years (Les années déclic) Photographer and director Raymond Depardon guides us through his 20-year career.

The 10th District Court: Moments of Trials Depardon's most celebrated film is constructed entirely from testimonies given in a Paris courtroom.

Caught in the Acts (Délits flagrants) An absorbing snapshot of contemporary French justice and criminality.

Profils paysans: l'approache A documentation of the lives of agricultural workers in rural France.

1974, une partie de campagne This snapshot follows the election campaign of 1974 presidential hopeful Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

As Tears Go By: The Films of Maggie Cheung

Ashes of Time Redux (Dung che sai duk) Wong Kar Wai brings a hyper-kinetic vision to this reworking of a seminal martial arts novel.

Song of the Exile (Ke tu qiu hen) A deeply moving film examining the notions of exile and diaspora from a multitude of perspectives.

Farewell China (Ai zai bie xiang de ji jie) An anxious tale of identity tracing a woman's diasporically induced descent into madness.

In the Mood for Love (Fa yeung nin wa) Wong Kar Wai's exquisite account of two lonely strangers brought together by suspicion.

Irma Vep An eccentric director attempts to remake Les vampires with Maggie Cheung as the slinky protagonist.

Centre Stage (Yuen Ling-yuk) Stanley Kwan's deeply moving account of the tragic life of Chinese silent movie star Ruan Lingyu.

Dark Star: Alain Delon

A Day in the Country (Partie de campagne) Jean Renoir's socially insightful and moving masterpiece, based on a story by Guy de Maupassant.

Rocco and His Brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli) Visconti's sordidly operatic tale of a young boxer's journey from the Italian south to Milan.

For a Cop's Hide (Pour la peau d'un flic) In his directorial debut, Alain Delon plays a PI who becomes entangled in web of collusion.

The Red Circle (Le cercle rouge) The lives of two anti-heroes intersect in this perfectly realised work by Jean-Pierre Melville.

Mr Klein An amoral antiques dealer is mistaken for a wanted Jewish man in this mood piece set during WWII.

New Wave (Nouvelle vague) This later Godard work focuses on a hitchhiker taken in by an Italian heiress after a road accident.

Purple Noon (Plein soleil) An intriguing exploration of villainy, based on Patricia Highsmith's series of Ripley novels.

The Swimming Pool (La piscine) Jean-Paul and Marianne's vacation is disrupted by the arrival of Marianne's ex and his daughter.

Bittersweet Symphony: The Cinema of Perestroika

Cold Summer of 1953 (Kholodnoe leto pyatdesyat tretego) This tale of a small town's solution to victimisation was a gutsy critique of the Soviet system.

Little Vera (Malenkaya Vera) A woman struggles to define herself beyond the values of the Old Regime administered by the State.

Days of the Eclipse (Dni zatmeniya) This strangely hallucinatory work is loosely based on a sci-fi novel by the Strugatsky brothers.

Freedom is Paradise (S.E.R. - Svoboda eto rai) Interned in a reform school, a 13-year-old boy escapes to search for a father he does not remember.

The Sacrifice (Offret) Set on the Swedish island of Fårö, Tarkovsky's final film is an homage to Ingmar Bergman.

The Needle (Igla) In Nugmanov's searing film, a man takes on the criminals behind his ex-girlfriend's drug addiction.

Tod Browning

Freaks Horror master Tod Browning's terrifying vision of life among the inhabitants of a sideshow carnival.

West of Zanzibar A paralysed magician moves to Africa where he transforms himself into the disturbing 'Dead-Legs'.

The Unknown A man masquerading as 'Alonzo, the Armless Wonder' competes for the affections of an equestrienne.

'The Chief Just Voted' - Milos Forman's Democracy

A Well-Paid Walk (Dobre placená procházka) In one of Forman's rarely seen films, a bickering couple pretend to be happy to gain an inheritance.

Audition (Konkurs) This mix of cinéma vérité and quiet drama highlights a clash between tradition and modernity.

Black Peter (Cerný Petr) Milos Forman's feature film debut is a keenly observed coming-of-age comedy.

The Firemen's Ball (Horí, má panenko) Forman's acclaimed satire of a small town's annual firemen's ball, based on actual events.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's acclaimed novel is a masterpiece of American cinema.

Taking Off A runaway teenager sneaks out of her middle-class home to attend an audition for a record label.

Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky) The poignant story of a worker in a small town factory who spends the night with a musician.

The Living Cinema of Akira Kurosawa

Scandal This key early Kurosawa work is an expository critique of the rise of the tabloid press.

The Hidden Fortress This seminal film by Kurosawa is renowned for its influence on George Lucas' Star Wars series.

Rashômon In Kurosawa's Oscar-winning classic, a suspect, a victim and two witnesses recount a horrible crime.

No Regrets for Our Youth Kurosawa's first film after WWII explores the unrest of a generation who survived the horror of war.

High and Low An honest, wealthy industrialist is held to ransom over the kidnapping of his chauffeur's child.

The Most Beautiful Rarely seen, Kurosawa's second feature offers an insight into the director's artistic development.

The Universe of Jacques Demy

Lola Demy's first feature stars Anouk Aimée as a cabaret artist dreaming of the return of her first love.

Jacquot de Nantes Varda's moving tribute to her late husband Jacques Demy is an eloquently joyous valediction.

Les demoiselles de Rochefort Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac light up the town of Rochefort with their romantic musings.

Une chambre en ville A striking worker with a pregnant girlfriend falls in love with a callgirl.

Les parapluies de Cherbourg Jacques Demy's perennial, bittersweet, all-singing love story won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1964.

Le baie des anges Jeanne Moreau stars as an ageing Parisian gambler in Jacques Demy's dazzling second feature.

Soviet Silent Cinema

Man with a Movie Camera Vertov's most iconic film is a joyous celluloid poem using all the techniques of experimental film.

Aelita Based on a novel by Alexei Tolstoy, this futuristic film is a significant work of Soviet cinema.

Figuring Landscapes: Documentary & Experimental

Stones in the Bush This program features two experimental documentaries made in the early 1970s.

Figuring Landscapes: Anti-Terrain This program of short films explores our relationship to the landscape.

Figuring Landscapes: Enactment This program explores the dynamic between human habitation and the landscape.

Figuring Landscapes: Surroundings This program explores the ambience of place, from the broad horizon to the closely observed.

Figuring Landscapes: Encounter This program explores landscape as an encounter with specific places, through land, water and air.

Figuring Landscapes: Engagement This program explores the political, cultural and representational engagement with place.

Documentary: Varda & McElwee

Daguerréotypes Varda's deeply humanistic social documentary records a group of Parisians facing urban change.

Bright Leaves Explores the relationship between the tobacco industry and the director's fraught family history.

The Sweet Life: The World of Federico Fellini

Nights of Cabiria A streetwalker down on her luck is the focus of the last of Fellini's neo-realist tinged works.

Roma This charming and visually breathtaking film is a cinematic valentine to the "history" of Rome.

Boccaccio '70: Le tentazione del dottor Antonio Fellini's lavishly ludicrous contribution to a compilation film exploring sexuality and censorship.

La Dolce Vita Fellini's seminal work is an influential and often caustic exploration of Rome's "sweet life".

Amarcord Fellini's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set during Italy's fascist era.

La Strada This landmark work focuses on the partnership between a circus strongman and his naïve companion.

Martin Scorsese

Who's That Knocking at My Door? Scorsese's viseral first feature film provides a fascinating blueprint for his later works.

After Hours This absurdist tale of a man stranded in night-time SoHo is one of Scorsese's most underrated films.

Éric Rohmer Tribute

Full Moon in Paris This lyrical comedy of manners is the fourth installment in the "Comedies and Proverbs" series.

Boyfriends and Girlfriends This final installment in Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" series is a charming but deceptive film.

Max Ophüls Tribute

Lola Montès Ophüls' legendary virtuosic last work is one of the greatest and most visionary of widescreen films.

La Ronde A group of people are connected by affairs in this defining work of post-war European cinema.

list all session times