ACMI would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waterways of greater Melbourne, the people of the Kulin Nation, and recognise that ACMI is located on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices, or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or text.

ACMI will open at 11am on Wed 25, Mon 30 June and Tue 1 July owing to essential electrical maintenance work being carried out in Fed Square.

The cast of The Wayward Cloud
The cast of The Wayward Cloud
The Wayward Cloud (2005)
Melbourne Cinémathèque

The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present

The Wayward Cloud

Tsai Ming-Liang | Taiwan | 2005 | Unclassified (18+)
Film

This event has ended and tickets are no longer available.

When

Wed 7 Jun 2023

This Silver Bear-winning sequel to What Time Is it There? and The Skywalk Is Gone is Tsai’s boldest film, freely shifting tonal registers to encompass minimalist, ennui-inflected drama, absurdist comedy, high-level sex scenes and exuberant musical numbers adapted from vintage Taiwanese pop. Hsiao-Kang (Lee Kang-Sheng), now a jobbing porn actor, and Shiang-Chyi (Chen Shiang-Chyi) meet again in a Taipei beset by a water shortage but abundant in watermelons; the latter as central to sex as to hydration. The finale remains the most confronting sequence – and amongst the most profound – in Tsai’s cinema.

Format: 35mm
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Source: Homegreen Films
Runtime: 112 mins

Event duration

112 mins

Rating

Unclassified (18+)

Where

Cinema 1, Level 2
ACMI, Fed Square

How to get there

Membership options

Mini membership
(3 consecutive weeks)
$28.5–$33.5

Annual memberships
$161–300

See full options

Also screening on Wed 7 June

Program

One Day at a Time: The cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang

What Time Is It There? (2001) – Wed 31 May, 7pm
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) – Wed 31 May, 9.15pm
Rebels of the Neon God (1992) – Wed 7 Jun, 7pm
The Wayward Cloud (2005) – Wed 7 Jun, 9pm
The River (1997) – Wed 14 Jun, 7pm
Days (2020) – Wed 14 Jun, 9.10pm

View the full program

About the program

Of all the notable figures of to emerge in 1990s world cinema, few have developed a corpus of work as consistently transfixing and distinctive as that of Malaysian-Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-Liang (1957–). Born in Kuching, Sarawak, Tsai was largely raised by his cinephile grandparents, who would take him to the movies twice a day from the age of three...

Read the full program notes
Tsai Ming-Liang - social

Plan your visit

Read our COVIDSafe visitor guidelines, information on accessibility, amenities, transport, dining options and more.

Start planning

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 2023 program | See membership options

Melbourne Cinémathèque - Dirk Bogarde in a still from Victim