Matinees

Celebrate cinema at a sensible hour with our thoughtfully curated line-up of films from Australia and around the world.

Cinema is special. Every time we go, we enter a dark room, turn off our devices, focus and experience life through someone else’s eyes. This autumn, we’re sharing experiences from all around the world.

To begin the season, we’re going to Armenia with Sergei Parajanov’s striking avant-garde work about the life and work of poet Sayat Nova. Inspired by the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, the film leans into the poetic, filling every frame with wondrous visuals. It screens in beautiful 4K after a stunning digital restoration.

We’ll journey to the suburbs of Sydney with Jane Campion’s 1989 feature debut Sweetie, recently restored to 4K. From there, we’ll take a daytrip to Lagos, Nigeria, during the tumultuous 1993 presidential election with My Father's Shadow. We will recover from a car accident in Germany with Christian Petzold’s new film Mirrors No. 3. And in Spain, we will experience life through the eyes of a profoundly Deaf woman navigating discrimination from her inner circle after announcing her pregnancy. All these films screen exclusively at ACMI.

Summer is ending, but your gateway to escapism is right here. Matinee sessions run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout autumn, with new films beginning every fortnight.

– Reece Goodwin, Senior Programmer (Film & Screen Industry)