MIAF Day 2 – International Program #1; Focus on Belgium #1

REMINDER: The Australian Showcase is Saturday the 23^rd at 4.00pm. Tickets will most likely sell out so make sure you get your ticket secured.

International Program #1

The first twelve assorted films in the running for Best of the Festival. Mostly consisting of European and Asian films, the first international program gave us viewers a good taste of what is to be expected from the films up for the grand prize. What is that expectation? Complete and utter randomness. CGI, scratch, cel, cut-out, stop-motion; it was all there!

Here are my top picks for this screening:

About Killing the Pig/ Dell’ammazare Il Maiale (Simone Massi, 2011) – Very dark charcoal-looking animation with little colour but plenty of style.

My… My (Lei Lei, 2011) Heavily inspired by video games, a man chases a moose-man through a glitch-ridden world.

Auntie Nettle (Svetlana Zueva, 2011) Russian cut-out animation with almost an expressionist look about it. A haunting little film; like the nightmare of The Secret Garden, complete with piercing string music and grotesque visuals. Arguably the best film of the session.

How to Eat Your Apple (Erick Oh, 2011) – Exactly as it sounds, but with a bizarre, humorous twist.

Focus on Belgium #1

Before this session I didn’t even know Belgian animation existed. I’m sure glad I gave it a go. The session consisted of a fine mixture of historic and contemporary Belgian animation. From this collection of films there seems to be a pattern or theme with Belgian animation – as cheerful as a film may seem, it will inevitably have a negative conclusion.

Un Voyage Imprevu (Albert Fromenteau, 1944) – Proof that Disney set the blueprints of animation to the entire world, this film from the 40s resembles the forest setting and singing animals of the American animation powerhouse. The key difference is this film is a little crazier than Disney and didn’t have much of a story to go with it.

Goldframe (Raoul Servais, 1969) – Hilarious tongue-in-cheek film about a filmmaker, Mr. Golframe, who must be the first to produce a film in 270mm. He attempts this by dancing off against his silhouette.

To Speak Or Not To Speak  (Raoul Servais, 1970) – What begins as a humorous piece of social commentary mohps into a straight-faced and blatantly political piece of propaganda.

Compartments Or “I Am Not A Monster” (Hannah Letaif, 2011) – Totally insane animation that grotesquely exaggerates everyday tasks. Will be repeated at the Late Night Bizarre session.

What’s on around Melbourne-town? CineCult!

Looking for a super camp martial arts film starring Jean-Claude van Damme and supposedly based on a true story to fill in your Tuesday night? Well, we have just the thing.

This month at CineCult we are screening BloodSport (1988) which follows the career of Frank Dux, an French-Canadian martial artist who infiltrates Asia’s underground martial ring –‘Kumite’- in order to win the championship. Meanwhile the American government are trying to hinder him because they need him to fight on their side.

Cinecult takes place at 303Bar (303 High St Northcote) with the film starting at 7.30pm and open from 7.
A gold-coin donation at the door is all you need to experience the greatness that is this film.

Check out CineCult303 on blogspot and CineCult303 on Facebook for more updates.

Cine Cult- Viva

It is February, which means it is time for the February edition of Cine Cult. This Tuesday the 21st at 7.30pm we will be screening Viva (2007) a film by Anna Biller. Viva follows the sexual awakening of Barbi, a 1970s housewife who thought she and her loving husband Rick were the perfect couple- until the sexual revolution happened. Now Barbi, along with her neighbour Sheila, is questioning her role as a woman and as a wife, experiencing bondage parties, swingers’ gatherings, lesbianism, and much more.
Biller’s owed to the sexploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s is truly amazing and c complete homage to the genre. The situations, characters, clothing, dialogue and overall detail is completely realistic.

The screening is, of course, at the 303 Bar (303 High St. Northcote, http://www.303.net.au/) and starts at 7.30pm, though feel free to get there earlier for drinky-drinks and to grab a comfortable couch.

More can be found at the Cine Cult (http://cinecult303.blogspot.com.au/) or on Facebook under CineCult303.
Cine Cult is a once a month, not for profit, film night. We ask for a gold coin donation so that we may be able to source something even more amazing, crazy, weird, gross, crass, hilarious and enjoyable the following month.
Hope to see you there!

Lavazza Italian Film Festival Review: A Quiet Life (2010)

By Michael De Martino

(Claudio Cupellini, 2010, Italy, in Italian and German, Drama, 105 minutes)

A Neapolitan man, Rosario (Toni Servillo), runs a restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany. Suddenly Diego (Marco D’Amore), a man from his past, arrives on his doorstep and opens old wounds from Rosario’s past. The hidden life of crime is exposed as Rosario’s secrets unfold.

While I generally like to see a film with no prior knowledge of its content, this film will no doubt suffer criticism from those who are unfamiliar with the Camorra (Neapolitan mafia) and their garbage scandals. This information, which is only briefly touched on at the beginning of A Quiet Life, is absolutely vital to the story. Without this knowledge the film risks being dismissed as just another on-the-run style family drama.

A Quiet Life loses points not for being bad or ineffective, but because it’s not all that interesting. Only a handful of characters are ever presented, leaving little chance for suspense. Most of the action is merely fast editing which is frequently unnecessary.

In saying this, the film is entirely carried by a fantastic performance from Servillo. The wide emotional spectrum displayed by Servillo is executed with such expression that we have no choice but to remain engaged by his acting. Effective supporting roles from D’Amore and others further enhance this film being centred on the acting.

Although I wouldn’t go as far as saying this is a “must-see,” it is worth the experience. Especially if you happen to be Neapolitan.

6.8/10

Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) – Be There!

Follow @ausfilmreview

By Michael De Martino

From June 19-26 the Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) will be running at ACMI in Federation Square. Over 400 films will be screened at this ever growing animation event. Come and witness animation from all over the world and experience an array of visual and aural styles you never thought possible.

MIAF is my number 1 pick of all the film festivals available to us Victorians. It is easily accessible, tickets are very reasonable (especially the season pass), you are able to meet the filmmakers, and it focuses purely on hand-made cinema: animation, where the possibilities are limitless. There is so much variety that everyone will be able to appreciate certain aspects of it.

Last night I was fortunate enough to attend the Gala Opening screening where we were given a taste of what to expect from the collection of themed sessions. These films ranged from the themed nation – Poland, other international films, some classic UPA films, films from the UK’s Royal College of the Arts, some cut-out films as a part of the themed style, and films from our own back door. If I could judge the rest of this metaphoric book by the cover I witnessed last night, then I’d be saying this is gonna be one damn good book.

With an eclectic assortment of screenings to attend, the one I am most anticipating is the Australia Showcase which will be screened at 4:15pm on Saturday the 25^th. Last year’s Australian Showcase blew me away. I was truly astounded at this nation’s ability to create magnificent animation. If you have ever doubted Australia’s artistic abilities, prepare to have your faith regained because animation is where so much of Australia’s talent has been hiding, and I believe it is damn well time that more people realised this. At the end of the Australian session there is a meet & greet where the audience is introduced to the filmmakers. I’ve already got my spot booked!

If you get the chance at all this week you absolutely must make an effort to see at least one screening of this festival. It is one of the only festivals dedicated to animation in the country. You have my word that it will be a memorable experience. These Australian animators need your support and this is the way to show it.

For more information head to the MIAF official website or the ACMI website:

http://www.miaf.net/

http://www.acmi.net.au/miaf-2011.aspx

Melbourne Cinematheque 2011: John Hughes

We return to Cinematheque this week with a look at Australian film-maker John Hughes (no, not The Breakfast Club one). Hughes himself will be at ACMI this week to introduce his films; three of which have been selected from varying decades in his career. A ‘creative director’, Hughes’ work often centres on Australia, its history, its politics and its people, never shying away from the good or the bad.

Film-Work (1981) is an unveiling of the work of the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit throughout the 1950s. The Unit is a vital part of Australian film history; it allowed film-makers a chance to express themselves during the years when the Menzies government believed that they were undermining government policy. Focusing on various scenes in four films from 1953 through 1958, Hughes examines how these films and film-makers influenced the politics and society of the time and the legacy these films have had.

One Way Street: Fragments for Walter Benjamin (1992) is a homage to Walter Benjamin, a German-Jewish intellectual who committed suicide whilst trying to escape Nazi’s in France in 1940. Benjamin’s writings, philosophies and essays focused on socio-political history with Marxist leanings, national idealism and on the study of works such as Kafka and Proust. Hughes’ film in turn takes a visual look at Benjamin’s ideas, his philosophies, his legacy, and his history from numerous places around the world. Through interviews, archival footage and recordings from Benjamin’s graveside Hughes tries to find out who this man was and what he has become.

To finish the night is The Archive Project (2006), a look at the Melbourne Realist Film Unit. This indeed is an Archive Project- culminating twenty years of research into this group of activist Melbournian film-makers of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Said activists were those who supported the labour movement, and peace and housing campaigns, whilst championing American and European avant-garde cinema of the time. Complete with ASIO footage!

Melbourne Cinematheque: Eisenstein (week 2)

By Eleanor Colla

And so continues our viewing of Eisenstein and his Revolutionary Aesthetics! This week features a look at Ivan the Terrible Part I (1944) and Part II (1947), an account of the rule of Tsar Ivan IV, more commonly known as Ivan the Terrible due to his attempt at military campaigning that resulted in 24 years of wartime and gained little land, people, trade or resources for Russia. As well as this, Ivan’s advisors pilfered a city for goods, killing thousands in the process, and Ivan killed his son and future heir in a fit of rage.

Melbourne Cinematheque- Eisenstein’s Revolutionary Aesthetics

Eleanor Colla

If you’re anything like me then the word ‘Montage’ sends shivers down your spine and can only mean one thing: amazing Soviet cinema. Thankfully, the people running Cinematheque are like me and thus the next three Wednesdays (March 30- April 13) are dedicated to Sergei Eisenstein and his Revolutionary Aesthetics. Hailed not only for his films but also his film theories, Eisenstein has long been regarded as one of the world’s most driven and stylistic film-makers. Living and working in Communist Russia, Eisenstein was both highly regarded and under constant scrutiny by the Bolshevik State who controlled the film industry and completed only seven features and a few shorts across his 25 year career.

Melbourne Cinematheque 23rd of March: Urban(e) Visions @ACMI

By Eleanor Colla

Melbourne’s Cinematheque has been around for since 1948 and in existed in various forms, shifting through numerous names and venue changes. Currently, it is a volunteer- run event held weekly (Wednesdays, 7pm) at the Australian Centre for the Movie Image. Determined to bring viewers a mix of the classic and contemporary, the popular and the near-unheard of, Cinematheque also provides some fabulously dated Looney Tunes cartoons in between features.

This week is a look at ‘Urban(e) Visions’ with the usual double-feature format being scrapped and instead viewers will be treated to three films; two feature documentaries and one documentary consisting of seven short films. The first is John Smith’s documentary Hotel Diaries which charts the Bush and Blair administrations dealing with the “War On Terror” from 2001 to 2007. Filmed in various hotel rooms across Europe, the Middle East and the UK, each of these single-take entries turn the hotel room into a make-shift set: mise-en-scene, lighting and characters already provided. Whilst they can be viewed as single entities, these snippets come together to highlight the cumulative effect that this ‘War’ has had on individuals and countries as well as the geographical displacement it has imposed across the world.

The collection of shorts showing, billed under ‘Formal Environmentalism’, are by Steven Ball. Ball is a long-time fixture on both the London and Melbourne film scene (think the Super 8 Film Group) and here presents seven films ranging from under two minutes to nearly thirty. All were shot in England between 2003 and 2010 and beautifully exhibit the urban/suburban relationship. Traffic going across the London Bridge, cordoned-off streets and the pedestrians who have to navigate around them, stilted television broadcasts and numerous transitory environments found in everyday life join together to create a montage of public and private space and the freedom and constraint these suffer in the wake of technology.

To end the evening is Terence Davies’ Of Time and the City. Continuing on the autobiographical theme found throughout most of his work, Davies’ latest is an extremely personal documentary consisting of archival footage, television clips, music videos and homemade movies of Davies’ experience with his hometown of Liverpool in the 1940s-60s. A visual dance through suburbia, as a woman cleans a window, a man shaves, children sing in the school playground; all of these images influencing Davies leading to the creation of this collage of his childhood.

Event – In Conversation with Dexter creator, Jeffrey Lindsay @ACMI

We’ve all grown up with fairytales, designed to guide us into safe conduct and good moral order; tales of innocent victims “just like us” falling foul to villainous monsters and being rescued by gallant heroes. Villains bad, heroes good. Simple.

Well, these good and evil archetypes of childhood tales have broken beyond old bedtime books and followed us onto our screens and kindles today.  While these figures resonate with us still, our forest’s grown lot deeper, darker and more tangled…

“DARK TALES, SERIAL ARCHETYPES” (a final installment in ACMI’s “Fairytales Re-Imagined” symposium) delivered a deep, dark look at this – our modern relationship with these fairytale friends… and foes. More specifically, a look at the lure of the modern monster: the sociopathic serial killer.

Leading the dark expedition was bestselling author Jeff Lindsay, creator of pop culture’s dark darling du jour - Dexter Morgan. Alongside him, Academia’s representative – crime fiction aficionado and pop cultural raconteur Professor Sue Turnbull. Together, the duo explored pop culture’s fixation on this monstrously popular modern monster.

Naturally, analysis anchored on the dutiful Dexter – our favourite big bad wolf in grandma’s nightgown -  but also sampled earlier psychopathic pop stars Beowulf and Hannibal Lecter, before arriving at the uncomfortable truth: that the serial killer is Just. Like. Us.

Hunh. An evil reflection of own secret dark selves, posing quite the identity dilemma. At once terrifying and intensely interesting, we recognise the big bad wolf’s big eyes, long ears and sharp teeth but still tiptoe closer,  fascinated. Grappling for justifications we nod quickly: “Yes, he’s a serial killer but!…He avenges justice!… He likes kids!!…”. Right? And so the leap from Dexter the Devil to Dashing Dexter.  Behold – the cult of the serial killer.

Indeed, the ACMI theatre was a-hum with fans desperate to tiptoe closer still to the Dexterwolf,  as well as his bestselling creator. Lindsay indulged his audience, meting out one-after-another insightful tidbit and dark little pearl on such topics as rising sociopath statistics (scary%), the dark art of comedy, witching-hour writing routines and the cannibalism chat rooms which drove even him to morning martinis.

Finally, having tantalised his audience with just enough (and in coy reference to the popular DEXTER TV series) Lindsay concluded with: “Now go read the books. And to hell with the libraries – BUY them!”.

No doubt we will.