Please note that the program is under development. Some classifications have not been provided. Dates and times subject to adjustment. All films are shown at the Campbell Theatrette in the Bendigo Library, Hargreaves Street Bendigo.

Details are correct at the time of publication and the Bendigo Film Society reserves the right to substitute films should the need arise.
Some of the movies have not been classified and content may challenge, offend, or not be suitable for minors.

This weekend festival will give you a taste of some great films from Hong Kong, Finland and Iran, and a film noir classic from Orson Welles. There's no charge for these films but you can join the film society at the door to access our exciting 2007 program.

In the Mood for Love* Wong Kat-Wai (Hong Kong 2001)
This story of a couple who suspect their spouses of affairs is "a genuinely wonderful movie; at once old-fashioned and entirely contemporary, subtly erotic, effortlessly cool." (Neil Norman, This is London). Romantic movies can tell a love story, but how many put the viewer so deeply inside a yearning heart that we feel as if we are falling in love right along?. (Kim Morgan, Oregonian). Wong Kat-Wai's long anticipated followup, 2046, will be screened later this year.

The Man Without a Past Aki Kaurismäki (Finland 2002) M
"On arrival in Helsinki, a man is viciously mugged and given up for dead - but miraculously revives; without memory or any idea of who he is, the man wanders off into the city, moves in with the homeless living in freight containers around the harbour, and eventually begins to put his life (or someone else's?) back together. A droll, deadpan comedy complete with nods to '50s B-movies, rock'n'roll, and fairytale romance, but also addressing social and political issues (unemployment, homelessness, welfare, heartless capitalism) with the lightest of touches." (GA, Time Out). "A sublime work, at once comic, melancholic, meditative, liberating and philosophical." (Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter)

A Touch of Evil* Orson Welles (USA 1958) M
From the director of Citizen Kane comes a classic film noir "tale of corruption and conscience, played out in the strip joints and motels of a sleazy border town. ... A Touch of Evil endures as a superbly kinky masterpiece of technique, imagination, and audacity." (AE, 1001 movies). With Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich. Don't miss the famous opening 3 minute tracking shot.

A Taste of Cherry Abbas Kiarostami (Iran 1997) PG
A man drives around villages and the desert hills offering a series of carefully selected men a lift and unusually well paid work; he's not looking for a pick-up but, as we discover after a while, someone to help in his planned suicide. Kiarostami's Cannes Palme d'Or winner is low on narrative drive, slowly but steadily revealing more and more information, visual and verbal, until we are totally caught up in his protagonist's psychological and ethical dilemma - suicide is forbidden to Muslims. (GA Time Out)

Each date is for a Thursday evening, 7:30 pm, unless otherwise stated.

Little Fish* Rowan Woods (Australia 2005) MA15+
This intimate compelling film about an ex-heroin addict trying to stay clean and realise her dreams of owning a small business, is made all the stronger by a superb cast (Cate Blanchett, Noni Hazelhurst, Hugo Weaving). Little Fish picked up most of the acting awards at the AFI Awards in 2005 including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, as well as Best Editing & Best Sound. "Blanchett is at her best in a complex, gripping role.... Weaving is a revelation, going completely against type". (Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall)

Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki (Japan 2002) PG
Hayao Miyazaki's breathtakingly beautiful and poetic animated feature about 10-year-old girl who wanders into a world of strange creatures and illogical rules "is such a landmark in animation that labeling it a masterpiece almost seems inadequate." (Lou Lumenick, New York Post)

Mean Streets* Martin Scorsese (USA 1973)
Scorsese's first masterpiece is a grimy story about a couple of kids working for the mob. "The Godfather made the mob glamorous. Mean Streets made it real. Martin Scorsese's ferocious, grimy 1973 classic is just as good as Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, but it shows us criminal life lower down the food chain." (Nev Pierce, BBC). "...a gritty, one-of-a-kind, unromantic, down-and-dirty look at the streets of New York like no film had portrayed those streets and their people before. (John J. Puccio, DVDTown.com). With Harvey Keitel and Robert de Niro.

Look Both Ways* Sarah Watt (Australia 2005) M
The feature debut by Sarah Watt, starring Justine Clarke and William McIness, is a warm, gentle inventive comedy about death, disaster, catastrophe and cancer. It also won a large swag of AFI Awards in 2005: Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hayes). "Watt's sensitive, controlled handling of the various strands of the narrative is very impressive; these aren't just interesting characters, they're flawed but beautiful human beings, and your heart reaches out to them as they pick their way through the difficulties of simply living." (David Stratton, ABC)

Lilya 4-ever Lukas Moodysson (Denmark/Sweden 2003) MA15+
"Lukas Moodysson, a young Swedish director, crafts a stunner of a film out of familiar turf. Lilya, 16, is dumped by her mother in the former Soviet Union. Drifting through Europe, she lives on scraps and the cash she gets from selling her body. Oksana Akinshina is unforgettable as Lilya." (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) "What Lilja 4-Ever has in common with the greatest films is its spiritual transcendence. Don't miss it." (Andrew Sarris, New York Observer)

Moolaadé Ousmane Sembéne (Senegal 2004) M
Often called 'the father of African film' Sembéne here tackles the controversy of female circumcision in a passionate drama set in a rural village, in which a woman valiantly stands up against the "purification", exposing it for the misogynistic fraud it is. "Solemnity rarely taints Sembéne's films; his anger and indignation are invariably tempered by his warmth, humour and generosity of spirit." (Philip Kemp, Sight and Sound)

Bendigo Framed
We invite Central Victorian filmmakers (young and old) to submit short films of all styles for screening during this weekend dedicated to local filmmakers, amateur and professional. An opportunity for filmmakers to mix and mingle. Start making your films now. Closing Date 1st May. Full details on our website www.latrobe.edu.au/bfs/festival.htm. Enquiries Elly Coyle 0400791457.

Yellow Submarine* George Dunning (UK 1969)
All is peace, love, and music in gentle Pepperland until the wicked Blue Meanies take over. The Beatles come to the rescue in their yellow submarine, meeting all kinds of strange and interesting characters along the way. Although critically dismissed by some at the time, it is now seen as an important film, leading the charge against Disney-style animation. "the animation itself is so rich and experimental and outrageously imaginative that it amounts to its very own festival of animation." (William Arnold, Seattle Post). And of course it has all those catchy Beatles songs. Fancy Dress tonight.

The Gleaners and I Agnes Varda (France 2000) G
The "gleaners" of the title are real people who live off the surplus of others by scavenging. This bewitching documentary by Agnes Varda, one of cinema's greats, mischievously fuses the past with the present, the rich with the poor, the idle with workaholic and manages to be both poetic and a personal reflection on aging. "... an impressive personal study. It's a little sad, a little funny, intimate and universal." (Nathaniel Rogers, The Film Experience)

2046 Wong Kat-Wai (France/Hong Kong 2004) M
"Sumptuous follow-up to In the Mood for Love makes for a rapturous cinematic experience. It's not just the stunning production design, exquisite camerawork and superbly used music, which together give the film the febrile intensity of a nineteenth-century opera. It's also the subtlety and complexity that distinguish Wong's charting of the emotional odyssey undergone by Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung) as he goes through a series of relationships with different but likewise lovely women: a prostitute, a gambler, a cabaret singer, and his landlord's daughter. (GA, Time Out). "The film is a beautiful reverie, a kind of poem about lovers briefly glimpsed and never forgotten." (Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Triplets of Belleville* Sylvain Chomet (Canada 2003) PG
This stunning animated feature by Sylvain Chomet is a weird and wonderful, strange and spellbinding adult film brimming with imagination and energy at every turn, about a cyclist kidnapped during the Tour de France and whisked to Belleville, a lavish Québecois twist on Manhattan. Relish the film's deadpan grotesquery, its flair for invention, its clever gags, or simply its sensational blending of cel animation and computer-enhanced backgrounds and action.

The Marey Project* James Clayden (Australia, 2005)
"Australian artist James Clayden has long been known for his painting and theatre work, but in recent years his innovative experiments with film and video have come to the fore. The Marey Project (referring to the pioneering cinema inventor Etienne-Jules Marey) mixes Clayden's penchant for abstraction with strong narrative elements: a series of kinky sex murders, and the making of a film. It is a powerful, remarkable and mysterious piece, among the peaks of recent Australian cinema." (Adrian Martin, The Age). We plan to have a discussion with the director, James Clayden, and actor, Ian Scott, after the screening.

The Conformist* Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy 1970)
One of the really great political films and Bertolucci's best, this multi-layered reworking of an Alberto Moravia novel about a man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who joins the Italian Fascist party and agrees to murder a left wing professor. "A great film, drunkenly beautiful and deeply disturbing." (David Thompson, LA Weekly)

Dark Days Marc Singer (USA 2000) M15+
A startling and moving documentary depicting the true stories of a community of people living underground in some of the many subterranean railway tunnels in New York City. created by Marc Singer, who lived among his subjects for two years. "A genuinely enriching and educational experience, Dark Days is deliciously committed and daring fare." (BBC). Enhanced by DJ Shadow's spare, muted electronica and turntable scratchings. Winner of Best Documentary at 2000 Sundance Film Festival.

Vertigo* Alfred Hitchcock (USA 1958) PG
The greatest film ever made? So say the critic at Senses of Cinema. James Stewart plays a detective who has left the police force because his fear of heights has caused, he believes, a tragedy. When an old college friend summons him to investigate the eccentric actions of his psychologically perplexing wife (Kim Novak), Stewart's life takes a new, obsessive course from which he never recovers. (Desson Howe, Washington Post). "A rich, resonant meditation of male romantic obsession . Not only does Hitchcock demonstrate a total mastery of cinematic point-of-view, but he turns what might have been mere melodrama into film poetry. Perhaps his greatest film." (Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly)

Red Lights (Feux Rouges) Cedric Kahn (France 2004) M
"Kahn's (Hitchcockian) adaptation of Georges Simenon's tale of marital strife confirms that he's one of the best French directors at work today. .... a marvellously intelligent blend of stylish suspense and perceptive psychological study.... But it's Kahn's control of mood that best distinguishes his films, and music, colour, composition, camera movement and cutting are all here masterfully combined to create a genuinely nightmarish atmosphere of unease. Agreeably nasty." (GA - Time Out)

Turtles Can Fly Bahman Ghobadi (Iraq/Iran 2005) M
The first feature made in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, is set and shot among the Kurdish people on the border between Iraq and Turkey. It's the eve of the American invasion and we find ourselves with a ragtag group of refugee children who dig up land-mines and sell them for food. "a fairy tale that is tragic, haunting and often oddly beautiful. (James Verniere, Boston Herald)

Sunrise* FW Murnau (USA 1927) G
Many critics claim this melodramatic love story as the greatest silent film of all time. "Sunrise conquered time and gravity with a freedom that was startling to its first audiences. To see it today is to be astonished by the boldness of its visual experimentation." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). Sunrise will be screened with a live music score.

Mysterious Skin Gregg Araki (USA 2005) R18+
Gregg Araki's masterful and harrowing adaptation of Scott Heim's novel about two youths struggling to come to terms with earlier sexual abuse by their coach. .. Araki creates a powerfully intimate tone through first-person framing of conversations and lush, meticulous attention to pattern, colour and texture - fingers on a face, rain on a window, cereal on a floor. ... It's a film full of characters gazing upwards in hope of a fantastical escape that cannot come. (BW Time Out). "Mysterious Skin, for all of its depictions of atrocities and human sadness, is a rarified thing of vulnerable beauty." (Dustin Putman, TheMovieBoy.com)

Tokyo Story* Yasujiro Ozu (Japan 1953) PG
"No story could be simpler. An old couple come to the city to visit their children and grandchildren. Their children are busy, and the old people upset their routines. In a quiet way, without anyone admitting it, the visit goes badly. The parents return home. A few days later, the grandmother dies. Now it is the turn of the children to make a journey. From these few elements Yasujiro Ozu made one of the greatest films of all time" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). "One of the most quietly powerful studies of the gradual and inevitable erosion of the family in a rapidly changing world." (Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide)

Playtime Jacques Tati (France 1967) G
In Jacques Tati's most brilliant film, he takes on modern technology via the parallel paths of Monsieur Hulot and a group of American tourists. "so richly conceived and choreographed that its lack of a plot is compensated by a wealth of memorable incidents, sight gags, gestures and satiric notions." (Phil Hall, Film Threat)

* Titles marked with an asterisk are from the National Film and Video Lending Service.