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entry
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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.
Each date is for a Thursday evening, 7:30 pm, unless otherwise stated. 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. |
| 9 March | 23 March | 6 April | 20 April | |
| 4 May | 1 June | 15 June | 19 June | |
| 13 July | 27 July | 10 August | 24 August | |
| 7 September | 21 September | 5 October | 19 October | |
| 2 November | 16 November | 30 November | 1 December |
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FEBURARY 22nd
Wednesday - PIZZA during intermission 2006 SHAKESPEARE WALLAH - 120 min, 1965, James Ivory, India About a struggling English troupe of Shakespearan actors touring post-independence India at a time when English influence is dying and the world of Indian filmmaking is beginning to achieve mass popularity. In the midst of their travels, the troupe's caravan breaks down, and an Indian playboy stops to help. A romance quickly starts. |
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MARCH 9th
COMPLAINTS OF A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER - 44 min, 1994, Deborah Hoffmann, USA A touching insight into Alzheimer's and family dynamics. THE SUM OF US - 100 min, 1994, Geoff Burton, Kevin Dowling, Australia A (heterosexual) father and his gay son are trying to find Ms/Mr Right respectively. The film shows their relationships with one another and the objects of their affection as tragedy strikes. There is no overt 'message' in the film, just very natural, entertaining story-telling. |
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MARCH 23rd
TEST CRICKET - AUST vs WEST INDIES - 37 min, 1961, Australia A resume of play in the final three days of the 1st Test Match in Brisbane between Australia and the West Indies in the 1960-1 series. The result was the only tied test match in cricket history. FALLSTAFF (CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT) - 117 min, 1965, Orson Welles Spain/Switzerland Sir John Falstaff is the hero in this compilation of extracts from Shakespeare's 'Henry IV' and other plays, made into a connected story of Falstaff's career as young Prince Hal's drinking companion. The massive knight roisters with and without the prince, philosophises comically, goes to war (in his own fashion), and meets his final disappointment, set in a real-looking late-medieval England. |
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APRIL 6th
GROUP DISCUSSION after the feature. MACBETH - THE WITCHES - 10 min, 1957, George Schaefer, Great Britain A study of the scene in which Macbeth encounters the witches who prophesy he will be King. WHO"S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? - 127 min, 1966, Mike Nichols, USA Nichol's debut feature after a string of successes on Broadway retained the taboo-breaking profane and sexually charged dialogue of Albee's stage play, the likes of which had not previously been heard in a big studio film. Burton and Taylor play a married couple in decline who engage in a relentless, vitriolic war of words over the course of one night in the presence of their guests. The film was rehearsed for three weeks before shooting started and was both a critical and box-office success, winning five Oscars. |
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APRIL 20th
THE NEWCOMERS: INHABITING A NEW LAND - 57 min, 1979, Rene Bonniere, Canada The story of Ivan Lypa, a Ukranian who homesteads in Saskatchewan. His dreams of prosperity are shattered by the Great Depression, and he is forced to work as an itinerant labourer. DESTO GORKOVO - 98 min, 1938, Mark Donskoy, Soviet Union The first part of a trilogy based on the memoirs of the writer Maxim Gorki dealing with early experiences that formed his outlook. This first part is constructed around Alexei's (Gorki's) observation of life with the grandparents that raised him. Although charged with a revolutionary romanticism and the lyrical spirit of the Volga this deeply humanist work is also recognised as a recreation of rural life in Czarist Russia. The characters are presented in terms of their ambitions and relationships within the family structure. |
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MAY 4th
NEVER ENDING APPRENTICESHIP - 19 min, 1979, John Dick, Australia Excerpts from an outdoor concert given by the Little River Band. The members give us an insight into their backgrounds, their hopes and aspirations. MEDIEVAL MYTHS AND MEDICINE - 14 min , 1975, Unknown, Unknown Explores some of the beautifully illustrated books in an ancient European library to give an insight into the mixture of fantasy and fact, particularly in relation to medicine, that passed for learning from the fifteenth century to more recent times. SPOTSWOOD - 95 min, 1992, Mark Joffe, Australia Wallace is an efficiency expert, managing the high-profile downsizing of a major auto parts factory. But when he is hired to evaluate a small moccasin factory which seems from another era, Wallace has to reconsider the rapid modernization he advocates, as he is confronted by the human faces such plans hurt. The fortunes of the staff and management at the moccasin factory recalls British Ealing comedies of the forties and early fifties. |
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MAY 18th
BONJOUR BALWYN - 60 min, 1971, Nigel Buesst, Australia At once more accessible and less ambitious than Brian Davies' 'Brake Fluid' (1970) to which it bears comparison, this is a loosely structured comedy about a young man, Kevin Agar (played by John Duigan), in transition from middle class suburbia to Carlton terraces while trying to keep a low circulation magazine afloat. The film maintains an amiably satirical edge particularly in a scene with a seedy theatrical producer, a Saturday night at the trots and the last scenes where Kevin, 'an egomaniac in a jam' turns to repossessing television sets. THE CLINIC - 92 min, 1982, David Stevens, Australia A day in the life of a clinic for venereal disease with an interwoven, often humourous, series of vignettes focusing on relationships but also consciously designed as a source of information about sex education and sexually transmitted diseases (the scriptwriter worked for 3 years in a clinic). The film's openness and generosity of spirit is reflected in the characterisation of Haywood's doctor who is only incidentally gay. It also succeeds in relocating ocker humor in a less satirical mode by maintaining a sense of the Australian idiom, even a microcosm of Australian society, without apparent sign of effort. |
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JUNE 1st
PUB MEAL at 6.30 pm THE ROOF NEEDS MOWING - 10 min, 1972, Gill Armstrong, Australia Absurdist humour with a surreal edge in this satire on the rituals of suburban living. THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY - 117 min, 1982, Peter Weir, Australia Weir's film is set against the backdrop of the 1965 Sukarno crisis in Indonesia. Guy Hamilton, a young wire service journalist, attempts to cover fairly complex events beyond his comprehension, coached by a diminutive local press photographer who acts as his mentor and 'conscience'. In the course of his reporting duties, he mingles with the more rarefied milieu of the press corps and foreign embassy staff and falls in love with Jill Bryant, who works at the British Embassy. Weir's cinema has always been marked by his strong fascination for 'other worlds', and in this film this interest takes the form of more or less broad-minded Westerners pitted against a developing country in turmoil. |
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JUNE 15th
VIVE LE TOUR - TWIST ENCORE - 18 min, 1962, Louis Malle, France Documentary covering the '62 Tour de France. It attaches itself not only to the athletes, but also the press entourage and the crowd, also brushing on the sensitive subject of drugs. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TAYTACHA - 29 min, 1985, Peter Getzels, Harriet Gordon, USA Follows a group of Quechua-speaking musicians and dancers as they leave their remote villages in the Andes of Peru and join thousands of other highlanders on the annual religious pilgrimage to the sacred peaks of Qollur-Rit'i. MY FAVOURITE YEAR - 92 min, 1982, Richard Benjamin, USA Benjy Stone is the junior writer on the top rated variety/comedy show, in the mid 50s (the early years). Its a new medium and the rules were not fully established. Alan Swann, an Erol Flynn type actor with a drinking problem is to be that weeks guest star. When King Kaiser, the headliner wants to throw Swann off the show, Benjy makes a pitch to save his childhood hero, and is made Swann's babysitter. On top of this, a union boss doesn't care for Kaiser's parody of him and has plans to stop the show. |
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JUNE 29th
JAPANESE MEAL or Takeaway at 6.30 pm IN SEARCH OF THE JAPANESE - 17 min, 1980, Solrun Hoaas, Australia Basically a satire on the enigma of Japanese culture as seen through western eyes involving an Australian businessman who hopes to open up a Japanese market for budgerigars by mastering the ways of the oriental mind. THE SNOW QUEEN - 19 min, 1975, Kazuhiko Watanabe, Japan Dolls are used to portray Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. A SURPRISE JAPANESE FILM - ?? min, 19??, ?? ??, Japan - Come along and find out what we have in store for you! |
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JULY 13th
TIME IN THE SUN - 60 min, 1940, Marie Seton, USA Time in the Sun is an attempt by Eisenstein's biographer, Marie Seton, to edit footage shot in 1930 to reflect Eisenstein's original concept of his epic Que Viva Mexico. The film deals with the lives of the Mexican Indians and their contact with the conquering Spaniards and Christianity. A bitter dispute with producer Upton Sinclair prevented Eisenstein from editing the film. HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS - 100 min, 1960, George Cukor, USA This is a romantic comedy about a travelling theatre company in the American West. They perform in frontier communities where they act out heroic tales, comedies and melodramas in a less romantic reality. Genre conventions are interwoven with a recurring theme in Cukor's films: the relationship between theatre and life. While there is a love triangle involving a gunfighter, much of the screen time is devoted to affectionate portraits of the social misfits who form the troupe. |
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JULY 27th
CALCUTTA - 22 min, 1970, Paul Cox, Australia A documentary on Calcutta showing aspects of life of its teeming masses set against a background of indigenous poetry and music. HOLY SMOKE - 117 min, 1999, Jane Campion, USA / Australia During a backpacking holiday in India, Ruth, a young Australian woman, experiences a spiritual awakening at an ashram. Convinced that she has found peace, harmony and purpose she decides to stay on with her newfound guru, much to the horror of her family in Australia. Luring her back to suburban Sydney on false pretences they employ the services of P.J., an American 'cult-exiter'. The deprogramming encounter that takes place over three days in a shack on an isolated outback farm becomes a battle of wits and wills over spirituality and sexuality. |
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AUGUST 10th
GROUP DISCUSSION after the feature. AUSTRALIAN DREAM - 85 min, 1986, Jacki McKimmie, Australia Dorothy is married to Queensland's Butcher of the Year who has political aspirations. She wants to be a writer but her fantasies are shaped by movies and women's magazines. The premise of the film is that it is better to dream than submit to a tawdry reality no matter how limited the dream might be. RABBIT PROOF FENCE - 94 min, 2002, Phillip Noyce, Australia Based on the true story of three Aboriginal girls, Molly, Daisy and Gracie, who, in 1931, were forcibly removed from their mothers and home in Jigalong, Western Australia, and sent to a settlement 2000 kilometres away to be trained as domestic servants and inducted into White culture. Upon arrival, the girls are instantly averse to their strange, rather grotesque new world, and decide to take matters into their own hands by attempting an escape and return home. |
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AUGUST 24th
ANTONIO GAUDI - 27 min, 1964, Jean-Francois Monette and Peter Tyler Boullata, Canada A study of the buildings of Spanish architect, Gaudi, particularly his Temple of the Holy Family. His style is a return to nature and origins. It shows a break away from straight lines to curved (warped) surfaces and from monochrome to rich colouring and ornamentation. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF - 108 min, 1958, Richard Brooks, USA A party is planned for the 65th birthday of family patriarch 'Big Daddy'. His son Brick, a one-time star athlete, has a drinking problem and is rejecting his wife Maggie. Brick's older brother Gooper and his wife hope to gain control over Big Daddy's estate. Big Daddy himself is just coming home from a clinic where he has been tested for cancer. When his doctor tells the family the results of the tests, the family's accumulated lies, frustrations, and secrets quickly begin to come out. |
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SEPTEMBER 7th
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - All welcome IT'S ALRIGHT IT'S ONLY A CUSTOMER- 29 min, 1973, Peter Robinson , Britain John Cleese plays four different Herberts - head office employees who have lost touch with the real world of customers and the company business, and are living in a world of their own. Ronnie Barker plays a long-suffering customer who is passed from one Herbert to another in his attempt to place a slightly non-standard order. BEDAZZLED - 97 min, 1967, Stanley Donen, UK Comic parody of the Faust legend that satirises life, love, desire and eternal salvation. Contemplating suicide, Stanley is approached by George Spiggott, a human representation of Satan who offers Stanley seven wishes in exchange for his soul. After some consternation Stanley agrees, only to be fooled by the slippery Spiggott, who slyly manages to skew all of Stanley's choices. |
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SEPTEMBER 21st
BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE - 28 min, 1970, Ron Iddon, Australia Shot in Queensland, the film examines development in styles of houses in Australia, from the slab hut to the contemporary brick house. MURDER BY DEATH - 94 min, 1976, Robert Moore, USA Millionnaire Lionel Twain invites the five most brilliant private eyes to a dinner - and a murder. Before long, a problem arises: The butler is found dead - and it's long before midnight! Will the five most brilliant minds of our time be able to see through the elaborate set-up staged by a criminal mastermind? |
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OCTOBER 5th
GROUP DISCUSSION after the feature. THE SECRET LIFE OF SERGEI EISENSTEIN - 56 min, 1987, Gian Carlo Bertelli, Switzerland This documentary on the great Russian film-maker Sergei Eisenstein, combines rare archival material with Eisenstein's own candid memoirs written in the last years of his life. As well as a major film director, Eisenstein was also a prodigious theatre designer, teacher, theorist and draughtsman. Many of his satirical drawings are shown in this film. Also featured are interviews with his famous friends and colleagues and extracts from all of his films. IVAN GROZNYI Part 1 - 95 min, 1944, Sergei Eisenstein, USSR Ivan the Terrible part I is Eisenstein's boldest and most successful experiment in stylisation drawing upon other arts - Wagnerian opera, Marinsky ballet and Japanese Kabuki theatre - which he had begun in Alexander Nevsky. Ivan's personal life is interwoven with the themes of Ivan's drive for empire and his alliance with the merchant class against the aristocracy. |
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OCTOBER 19th
PUBLIC ENEMY No 1 - 60 min, 1981, David Bradbury, Australia Biography of expatriate Australian journalist, Wilfred Burchett. Uses documentary footage and interviews with Wilfred Burchett to trace his career, which has been largely that of a war correspondent reporting the left-wing side of major conflicts since the 2nd World War. His support for left-wing causes led to his being labelled as a traitor in Australia. Includes extensive footage of Burchett's long association with Indo-China. BEFORE HINDSIGHT - 82 min, 1977, Jonathon Lewis, UK This film is an indictment of the role of newsreels in uncritical acceptance of the policy of appeasement, in turn pandering to Hitler and lightly writing him off. A suggested reason for this is the conception of the newsreel as entertainment rather than information. There are also implications for television news coverage. Interviews with Edgar Anstey, Jonathan Dimbleby, Ivor Montagu et al, are combined with relevant newsreel and documentary footage. |
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NOVEMBER 2nd
MA' BUGI': TRANCE OF THE TORAJA - 19 min, 1972, Eric Crystal, Unknown The Ma 'Bugi' ritual, in Sulawesi, seeks to restore the health and prosperity of a community. Songs, dances and offerings occur, to call up the spirits. In trances, the possessed dancers massage the sick and perform unusual feats, such as stabbing themselves. PHILADELPHIA - 125 min, 1993, Jonathan Demme, USA When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit. |
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NOVEMBER 16th
PRESIDENTS CHOICE ARRIVERDERCI ROMA - 24 min, 1979, Geoffrey Wright, Australia A young Italian migrant who cannot swim is introduced to the Australian ethos through his first school swimming lesson. The theme of mateship surfaces in both a positive and negative light, as the young Italian struggles to save his identity and life. CORNET AT NIGHT. - 12 min, 1963, Stanley Jackson, Canada Tells the story of a farm boy who is sent to town to find a hired hand for his father's field and returns with a cornet player, the influence of whose music was felt years after he left the farm. THE HAUNTING - 112 min, 1963, Robert Wise, USA Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for. |
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NOVEMBER 30th
GROUP DISCUSSION NIGHT THE SINGER AND THE DANCER - 52 min, 1976, Gillian Armstrong, Australia Set in the country, an older woman relives the bitter memories of her past through her friendship with a younger girl who is experiencing a very insecure relationship with her boyfriend. JANE EYRE - 96 min, 1944, Robert Stevenson, USA The fifth and arguably the best film adaption of Charlotte Bronte's archetypal romantic novel about a young orphaned governess who falls in love with her temperamental employer, a man with a tortured, mysterious past. |
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DECEMBER 1st
THE GRAND FINALE - Fancy Dress - prizes awarded MURIELS WEDDING -105 min, 1994, P. J. Hogan, Australia Ill at ease with the social world of her female friends, eighteen year old Muriel leaves the beachside resort town where she grew up to pursue her obsession with having a dream wedding. Although she does eventually achieve her wish to be princess for a day she is forced to reconsider her priorities after her mother dies suddenly. The exuberant parody later becomes a more sober examination of the dysfunctions of suburban family life and the nature of friendship. |