web - The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet 2 LOWRES copy
The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet (1989)

The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present

Breaking Ground: Five Animations From the 1980s

1983-1989

Australia | Unclassified (15+)
Film

When

Wed 26 Nov 2025

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This program includes five key films made by Australian women animators in the 1980s. Lee Whitmore’s pencil on paper film, Ned Wethered (1983), probes the animator’s own memory as she reflects on a family friend. Pianoforte (1984) showcases Antoinette Starkiewicz’s mastery of metamorphosis and alluring musicality. Sabrina Schmid’s Elephant Theatre (1985) uses a mix of cut-outs and cel animation to bring to life one man’s imagination.

The narrator in Maggie Fooke’s Pleasure Domes (1987) meditates on her sense of place while looking out from her St Kilda balcony. Finally, Anne Jolliffe’s The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet (1989), narrated by Ruth Cracknell and featuring the artwork of Victoria Roberts, contains delightful interjections of visual music.

Prints of most films courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive, Australia.

To be introduced by season co-curator Dr Ruth Richards.

Format: 16mm & DCP
Language: English
Source: NFSA, Lee Whitmore
Runtime: 89 mins

Event duration

89 mins

Rating

Unclassified (15+)

Where

Cinema 1, Level 2
ACMI, Fed Square

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Membership options

Mini membership
(3 consecutive weeks)
$30.5–36

Annual memberships
$174–325

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More films screening in this program

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About Melbourne Cinémathèque

Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.

Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven. 

Learn more | View the 2025 program | See membership options

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