Sunday 15th
1:45 am - 3:25 am
DOGS IN SPACE
Dirercted by: Richard Lowenstein
Aus, 1986
An important Australian document, specifically of the Melbourne Punk sub-culture in the late 70’s this gritty, tenuously held together movie wins purely on the charm of it’s lack of pretension and gritty portrayal of it’s time and milieu. Stars Michael Hutchence as the inarticulate but gorgeous lead singer in a St Kilda Punk band called, you guessed it ‘Dogs in Space’. Spot the N.Z Punk songs playing in the background, the Nick Cave Sing along, the pub rock slam dancing, the Noah Taylor Cameo – it’s all there as well as a truly tragic love story.
3:50 am - 5:10 am
THX 1138
Directed by: George Lucas
U.S, 1971
Georges first film and a world apart from the Naive Idealism presented in Star Wars. Here a futuristic society is governed by soul-less consumerism as individuality is all but negated in a world of symmetric, computer component looking white on white sterility. A vicious sense of humour can be detected in the never ending babble of automated announcements of increased productivity and exhortations to buy more.
5:30 am - 7:30 am
CHERRY 2000
Directed by: Steve De Jarnatt
U.S, 1986
Melanie Griffiths (back in spunk days) as a Mad Max type Road Warrior Goddess in a post holocaust, desert, muscle cars and mayhem mission: to replace a sex robot belonging to a nervous inner city corporate shmuck. Yep - you can just smell the B-grade. But seriously this film has it all; Hawaiian shirts, Rocket Launchers, Sex robots, Pina Coladas, Whip Cracking, 80 hairstyles, Underground Lairs, Strange Futuristic clubs where lawyers negotiate contracts for all sexual encounters, Desert madness, flying machines and of course.... Cherry 2000. Sigh.
8:00 am – 9:40 am
DARK CRYSTAL
Directed by: Frank Oz, Jim Henson
U.S, 1982
This the ultimate extension of Muppetry. It is light years from the clumsy wooden marionettes of Gerry Anderson or even of the glove-puppet Kermit the Frog and the technical artistry of having him ride a bicycle, it is the creation of a complete, three-dimensional, wholly-artificial world in incredible, breathtaking detail - all sans humans. This is maybe one of the few films that comes anywhere near attaining the complexity of high fantasy as represented by J.R.R. Tolkien, David Eddings, Stephen Donaldson et al on film. Review from www.roogulator.esmartweb.com
10:00 am Breakfast Break
11:00 am – 1:10 pm
WINGS OF DESIRE
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Germany, 1987
‘Wim Wender's celestial tribute to life, love, Berlin, filmmaking, angels and the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, among many things’ – Washington Post.
A hauntingly beautiful (are you there Alex?) tale of the existence of Angels, walking amongst us, set in the still divided city of Berlin. They have been here since the beginning and they’re role is simply to bear witness, to watch, and the meditative pace of the movie captures beautifully the impression of the impermanence of our lives. Set against this is the story of an angel who falls in love and chooses mortality. Heartbreaking. Sublime.
1:10 pm Lunch Break
2:30 pm – 5:10 pm
FITZCARRALDO
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Germany, 1982
Based on a true Story (how tacky does that sound?) this is the tale of a Half Mad German opera Lover in the Late 19th Century obsessed with the idea of bringing culture to – by building an opera house in - the darkest and most inaccessible part of the Amazon. Equipped with a Ferry, an ice-making machine and a Phonograph with the best German Opera, Fitzcarraldo begins his quest to bring culture to the darkest corner of the jungle. Surreal, Epic and Beautiful. An ode to the power of folly.
5:40 pm – 7:00 pm
MICROCSMOS
Directed by: Claude Nuridsany & Marie Perennou
France, 1996
Three years to film, six months to edit this engrossing documentary of a small patch of ground in the corner of a field features life like you’ve never seen before. Specially developed cameras capture the incredible world of beetles, ants, bees, wasps, dragonflies, butterflies, snails, mosquitoes, darning needles, and dozens of other assorted bugs as they live out their lives and explore, eat, hunt, fight and mate. Incredible film with what promises to be a very special accompaniment.
FEATURING LIVE GLITCHED OUT ELCTRONICA ACCOMPANYMENT/ALTERNATIVE SOUNDTRACK BY R-70.
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