February 17
Terra Nullius, 1992 19 min, Anne Pratten, Australia
This film is based on the filmmaker's personal experience and tells of eight year old Alice, a Koori whose Aboriginality has been denied by her white adoptive family.

Bad Boy Bubby, Rolf de Heer 1993, 111 mins.
Australian/Italian co-production. A challenging, topical and multi-award winning film. Halliwell's describes it as: An odd and disturbing black comedy of a man who replays everything said and done to him; many may find it repugnant, but it offers a skewed & satirical perspective on everyday life and communication. The film uses 30 other cinematographers, one for each location. The film won awards for best director, best actor, best original screenplay and best editing at the 1994 Australian Film Institute awards.
OR,
Bubby has spent the first 35 years of his life locked in a filthy room by a mother who systematically emotionally and sexually abuses him. His first encounter with his father ends in a violent confrontation, which results in Bubby breaking through to the outside world. Alone and frightened, a child in an adult man’s body, he begins his first tentative steps into humanity. Watching the world through Bubby’s eyes challenges the viewer to reexamine our conventional ideas of what is “normal” and what is “strange”.

February 26
The Miracle Worker, 106 min, 1962, Arthur Penn, USA
Blind and deaf from an early childhood illness, Helen Keller lived in a world of solitude where animal instinct and a strong will enabled her to survive the dangers of everyday life. Annie Sullivan, a poor partially blind Irish girl, comes to the Keller mansion to teach Helen. She also has indomitable courage and strength but must struggle not only with Helen's enormous will, but against a family whose love and pity for their child is so great, it keeps her locked in a prison of darkness and ignorance. A moving film with outstanding performances.

M. Hulot's Holiday, Jacques Tati 1958, 104 min, 1952, Jaques Tati France
In the pipe-smoking daydreamer Mr. Hulot, Jaques Tati created one of the most adored and one of the funniest of screen clowns. In a sleepy seaside resort town, Hulot is the centre of increasing chaos: deckchairs behave anarchically, a summer ball turns into a disaster. Amidst it all Mr. Hulot wanders around oblivious to the madness. "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" is a beautifully orchestrated piece of comic cinema and widely considered Tati's funniest film.

Lolita, Peter Sellers & James Mason 1962, 147 min, Stanley Kubrick, Great Britain
Adapted for the screen by Vladimir Nabokov from his controversial novel about a middle-aged man driven by a furious passion for a 'nymphet'. James Mason plays the tragic middle-aged professor Humbert Humbert who marries his widowed landlady (Shelley Winters) to be near her teenaged daughter Lolita (Sue Lyon). Peter Sellers plays the eccentric playwright Quilty who wants to hijack Lolita for himself.

February 27
Sunday too far away,94 min, 1975, Ken Hannam, Australia
The narrative is centred on the portrayal of workers on the job - a group of shearers working on an outback station in 1955 in the months leading to the nine months shearers' strike. While the gun shearer played by Jack Thompson is the central character, the focus of this episodic and unsentimental drama is on the communal values of the group rather than on those of the individual.

March 10
Animation for Live Action, 25 min, 1978, Vera Neubauer, Great Britain
Animation is inventively combined with live action in a lively feminist critique of everything from psychoanalysis to abortion, from erotic dreams to suicide.

The Devil's Playground, Fred Schepisi 1976, 95 min, 16mm
Deals with the anti-sex attitudes of a Catholic boarding school as a group of young boys struggle to come to terms with their own emotional and sexual identity. Winner of five Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Cinematography.
OR,
The subject of a Catholic adolescence in a preparatory school for seminarians set in provincial Victoria, 1953, is substantially autobiographical which explains the engaging intimacy that Schepisi achieves in his first film. An unusual feature, given its subject, is the avoidance of a single point of view. It is not just the youths that are trapped by the Irish Catholic rigidities of the institution but the staff as well. The film does not question belief so much as the institutional distortions that are engendered by the imperatives of belief.

March 24
The General, 75 min, 1926, Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, USA
Keaton's best, and arguably the greatest screen comedy ever made. Against a meticulously evoked Civil War background, Buster risks life, limb and love as he pursues his beloved railway engine, hijacked by Northern spies up to no good for the Southern cause. The result is everything one could wish for; witty, dramatic, visually stunning, full of subtle, delightful human insights, and constantly hilarious.

Mon Oncle, Jacques Tati 1956, 98 min, Jacques Tati, France
'Mon Oncle' continued Tati's satirisation of modern living. It is a transitional work between 'M. Hulot's Holiday' and 'Playtime'. The figure of Hulot, here bemused by an array of gadgets in a modernistic suburban home, is still at the centre but less so than in earlier films. By 'Playtime', Hulot is only one among many in a film composed almost entirely in long shot tableaux.

April 7
Mona Lisa Descending the Staircase, 1991, 7 min, 1993, Joan C. Gratz, Australia
Using the innovative technique of clay painting, artist and filmmaker takes the viewer on an entertaining and colourful journey through the development of Modern Art.

Desire, 1992, 10 min, Emma-Kate Croghan, Australia
A series of classic film noir tropes are cleverly strung together. A lonely laboratory worker becomes obsessed with a parcel, which a beautiful and mysterious woman has left on a train. Will the object of his desires yield pleasures or tragedy?

School in the Mail Box, 1946, 20 min, 1946, Stanley Hawes, Australia
This film about correspondence education in Australia is in the classic documentary style. Images and voices link pupil with teacher, the outback with the city; the voice of the narrator is optimistic; national problems (here those of distance and isolation) are being overcome.

The Optimists of 9 Elms, 110 min, 1973, Anthony Simmons, Great Britain
In this gentle, observational comedydrama a London busker (Sellers) brings some fantasy and imagination into the lives of two young slum children. Simmons, whose screenplay was based on his own novel, first made his mark in documentary before moving into features.

April 21
Action in Vietnam, 1966, 25 min, 1966, John Abbot, Australia
Scenes of the Australian Army First Battalion in South Vietnam. Shows part of a search and destroy mission in War Zone D. Also shows Vietnam under attack and the setting up of a medical post in a village.

40,000 Horsemen, 1940, 88 mins Charles Chauvel, Australia
This celebration of the legend of the Australian Light Horse in the Sinai desert campaign of World War I was appropriate for the times and it was a popular success in Australia, England and the U.S.A. The desert marches and climactic action scenes, filmed in the Cronulla sandhills, remain the high points. Incidently, Chauvel gave Chips Rafferty his first major screen role.

May 5
The Road Home, 86 min, 1999, Zhang Yimou, China
After the death of his father, Luo returns home to his village to help his mother with funeral arrangements. On his arrival he learns of his mother's wish for a traditional burial for his father - something that has not been performed in the village for hundreds of years. It is a costly and exhausting ceremony and Luo does not understand why they can't have a simple funeral. Told in flashbacks, "The Road home" recounts Luo's parents romance and how they captivated the village with their undying love for one other. This is a beautiful tale of love and undeniable passion.

May 19
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 1940, 1981, 11 min, Walt Disney, USA
Animation portraying Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's apprentice. Abridged version of segment from the 1940 Disney feature-length classic, "Fantasia".

Oh Dem Watermelons; Orange; Banana, 3 shorts; 17 mins total USA

The Draughtsman's Contract, Peter Greenaway 1982, 106 min, Peter Greenaway, Great Britain
It is the summer of 1694. An ambitious young draughtsman is contracted to draw the house and estate of the wealthy Mrs Herbert. However, what outwardly appears to be a most proper household is thrown into chaos as his contract includes unrestricted freedom on the estate and Mrs Herbert's most intimate hospitality. Not even Mrs Herbert's daughter escapes his charm and magnetism in this intriguing movie of murder, adultery and double values.

June 2
Zoom and Bored, Looney Tunes 1957, 6 mins USA
One of the Roadrunner series, this contains the brick wall and harpoon gags, two of the best in this "eleven gags a cartoon" series.

Lumiere Program, 1995, 6 min, 1895, Unknown, Great Britain
The first public film show in Great Britain was given at the Regent Street Polytechnic London, on February 20th, 1896, by the brothers August and Louis Lumiere. This film is a complete reprint of the programs shown on that occasion. None of these films is more than a single shot, without cutting or camera movement; their interest lay entirely in the novelty of the moving photograph.

Calcutta, 1970, 22 min, Paul Cox, Australia
A documentary on Calcutta showing aspects of life of its teeming masses set against a background of indigenous poetry and music.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962, 128 min, Robert Aldrich, USA
Bette Davis plays Jane Hudson, an aging alcoholic whose vaudeville career as child-star "Baby Jane" has faded to obscurity. Her sister Blanche lived in Jane's shadow as a girl but enjoyed a successful adult career as a glamorous film star until an "accident" left her wheelchair-bound. The aging sisters live alone in a gloomy Hollywood mansion, with Jane becoming increasingly eccentric and keeping Blanche a virtual prisoner. After a series of horrific incidents, the obsessive relationship between the two draws to a sinister conclusion.

June 16
Sophie's Choice, Meryl Streep 1982, 144 min, Alan J. Pakula, USA
Meryl Streep gives a glorious performance as Sophie Zawistowska, the tragic Polish Catholic beauty, who having survived Auschwitz, has settled in America after World War II. The time is 1947. Stingo, a 22 year-old aspiring writer from rural Virginia, rents a room in a Brooklyn boarding house. He is drawn to his exotic upstairs neighbours, Sophie and Nathan, a madly romantic couple whose instability and flamboyance utterly capture this young man's imagination. The deeper he delves into these people's lives, the more he learns that each harbours terrible and terrifying secrets. This personalised view of the Holocaust and its devastating effect on one woman who survived it, is a shattering, moving experience.

June 30
A Decent Bloke, 1993, 25 min, Andrew Narozny, Australia
An elderly couple from the country take financial advice from their seemingly upstanding young boarder. A cleverly written and acted comedy saturated in the Australian vernacular.

The Pink Panther, Peter Sellers, 113 min, 1963, Blake Edwards, USA
Peter Sellers debuts in the role that made him a legend and launched a number of sequels. As the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, Seller's own particular brand of comedy comes to the fore. The film takes its title from the rare "Pink Panther" Diamond owned by Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale). Debonaire David Niven is intent on stealing the jewel and Clouseau must foil this plot.

July 14
Playtime, Jacques Tati 1967, 117 min, France
Tati's comedy is path-breaking modernist work. He does not only depart from the classical system but sets up an alternative filmic system. In his vision of studio-built modern Paris, virtually ten years in the planning and realisation, and originally shot on 70 mm. there is no clear definition between subject and background. Every character, Hulot included, has the status of an extra. Every scene is in long shot so that the subject is everything that appears in the shot where several points of interest compete independently for the viewer's attention. In a sense the viewer has the possibility during several viewings of creating a different movie each time.

July 28
The Ugly Duckling, 1939, 8 min, Walt Disney, USA
A baby swan, hatched among ducks, finds himself ridiculed because he is different from the rest of the brood. He finds someone to love him when he meets a family of swans.

Anatomy of Desire, 1995, 48 min, Jean-Francois Monette and Peter Tyler Boullata, Canada
What makes us gay, straight or bisexual? Is sexual orientation a lifestyle choice or is scientist Simon LeVay right to argue sexual preference is genetically determined? This program reviews the longstanding nature or nurture debate as well as science's history of attempting to define, control, and sometimes even eradicate, same-sex desire.

A Zed and Two Noughts [ZOO], Peter Greenaway 1985, 110 min, 1985, Great Britain
A bizarre meditation on the processes of life, death and decay, by that stylist of the off-beat and the grotesque, Peter Greenaway.

August 11
Latcho drom: bonne route Movie, 1993, 143min, Tony Gatlif, France
A masterpiece by Tony Gatlif is a "docu-musical" which explores the rich cultural, social heritage of the world's Gypsies. The program is a political statement about the persecution suffered by Gypsies but is presented as a celebration of their music, dance and song from the around the globe. Singers, dancers and musicians from India, Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France and Spain are featured. This is an energetic, powerful, joyous experience.

August 25
The Three Stooges: Back from the Front, 1942, 20 min, Jules White, USA
The Three Stooges at their best were skilled exponents of low comedy - slapstick and violence - firmly based in vaudeville routines. In this short the Stooges, now in the Merchant Marine, encounter two Nazis.

The Apartment,125 min, 1960, Billy Wilder, USA
This classic romantic comedy gave Jack Lemmon one of his best roles. Lemmon was ideally cast as an ambitious clerk in a big insurance company trying to gain promotion by renting out his apartment to senior executives for their extra-marital trysts. Everything goes according to plan until Lemmon falls in love with elevator operator Shirley Maclaine - and discovers that she is the mistress of his boss Fred MacMurray. The three central performances were perfect and Lemmon and Maclaine both received well deserved Oscar nominations. This multi-award winning movie is one to be seen again and again.

September 8
Another Fine Mess, 1930, 29 min, 1930, James Parrott, USA
Stan and Ollie are vagrants. They take refuge in a large house and impersonate the owners. Stan impersonates first the butler and then the maid.

Applause Please, 1975, 19 min,, Ivan Gaal, Australia
A mimed comedy/satire on our daily commercial television diet and its effects on one of its viewers.

Jour de Fete, Jacques Tati 76 min, 1949, Jacques Tati, France
In his first feature as director Tati plays a village postman who decides to streamline his own operations along the lines of the American postal system he has observed in a short film. The theme of the coldness of modern technology that runs through all his subsequent films is already apparent. Tati's visual style, which developed fully into an alternative filmic system in Playtime, is also evident. Kehr comments that 'many of the gags in Jour de Fete depend on the use of framelines and foreground objects to obscure the comic event - not to punch home the gag, but to hide it and purify it, to force the spectator to intuit and sometimes invent the joke for himself.'

September 22
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen, 1975, 53 mins Steve York, USA
A survey of the representation of blacks in the American cinema from 'The Birth of a Nation' to the late forties. Includes clips from 'The Birth of a Nation', 'Sanders of the River', 'The Emperor Jones' and 'Pinky' and from more than a dozen films made specifically for black audiences including 'The Scar of Shame' (1924), 'Bronze Buckaroo' (1938) and 'Moon over Harlem' (1939).

I'm all Right Jack, Peter Sellers 1959, 105 min, Roy Boulting, USA
A common worker breaks into industry in his uncle's missile plant. Becoming the pawn of both the corrupt management and a labour union determined nobody will be fired through incompetence or laziness, he causes a major strike, pushing the economy to the brink of collapse.

October 20
Road to Alice 1992, 30 min, Stavros Andonis Efthymiou, Australia
Jimmy's attempted escape from the threatening Louis who wants a debt repaid takes him into the outback. But it may as well be around the block. Louis seems to know exactly where Jimmy is headed. This black comedy is a road movie, which playfully engages with the genre's conventions. Fortuitous encounters along the way are casual yet quirkily loaded, almost predestined, as the surprise twist at the end of the journey reveals.

Till Human Voices Wake Us, 101 min, 2002, Michael Petroni, Australia
Filmed around Maldon and Castlemaine. The story of Sam Franks who spends his summers with his best friend Silvy. One night as the two friends swim in the river Silvy disappears underwater and never resurfaces, her body is never found... Years later Sam returns to the area and there he meets Ruby...

November 3
The Pillow Book, Peter Greenaway, 121 min, 1995, Great Britain
An erotic fantasy that combines two limitless fascinations - flesh and literatures. Nagiko (Vivian Wu) flees an unhappy marriage in her native Japan to work as a model in Hong Kong. Nagiko holds treasured childhood memories of the annual ritual of her calligrapher father (Ken Ogata) gently painting a traditional birthday greeting on her face. In Hong Kong she takes a string of lovers, whom she values more for their calligraphy than their sexual skills, asking them to write on her body. An English lover (Ewan McGregor) suggests she starts writing herself, using her lovers as papers. However, his plan to get her writing published backfires with tragic consequences.

November 17
Ground Zero, M. Pattinson, 96 min, 1987, Australia
Ground Zero is an incredibly suspenseful story set in contemporary Australia. Government hearings are in progress to determine whether compensation is due to victims of the long-term effects of A-bomb radiation fallout resulting from British tests in the outback in the early 1950's.