All Tuesday screenings will begin at 7:30 pm and take place in The Church Cinema, located next to The Church Restaurant, 50 Dundas Street, North Dunedin.
All Wednesday screenings will begin at 7:30 pm and take place in The Red Lecture Theatre, located near the side entrance of the Scott building, across the road from the emergency entrance of the Dunedin Public Hospital on Great King Street.
Due to the non-commercial screening rights, most screenings are for members or 3-Movie Pass holders only. Please arrive early, since there is no guaranteed seating. We reluctantly reserve the right to change the programme if a film does not arrive.
Download our 2011 Brochure and membership form.
Opening Night
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Tuesday 01 March Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Låt den rätte komma in
Tomas Alfredson | Sweden | 2008 | 115 minutes | R16 violence, content may disturb
A strikingly original vampire movie set in a Swedish junior high school one winter in the 1980s. Oskar's wish for a friend seems to be granted when he meets Eli, a pale young girl who only comes out at night... "Very smart, very sweet, very sick and very special indeed." - Cinematical |
Wednesday 09 March The Big Screen
7:30 pm THE NEW WORLD
Terrence Malick | USA | 2005 | CinemaScope | 135 min | M low level violence
This account of the meeting between European and native cultures in 17th-century America provides a
dazzling assertion of the giant screen’s capacity to celebrate the splendour of the natural world. “A work of
breathtaking imagination… and in every sense a masterpiece.” – LA Times
STARRING ISABELLE HUPPERT
Intense, lithe, and passionate, Isabelle Huppert is one of cinema’s greatest actresses. A beguiling shape-shifter, she inhabits her characters, providing them with a dense, distinctive biography and a memorable presence. Her ability to make silences revelatory is astonishing.– Museum of Modern Art, New York
Wednesday 16 March Starring Isabelle Huppert
7:30 pm STORY OF WOMEN Une affair de femmes
Claude Chabrol | France | 1988 | 35mm | 110 min | M
An austere and compelling recreation of the real-life case of a housewife-turned-abortionist in Nazi-occupied France. “Emotionally brutal, morally disturbing and probably one of the masterpieces of the decade.” – New York Times
Wednesday 23 March Starring Isabelle Huppert
7:30 pm CLEAN SLATECoup de torchon
Bertrand Tavernier | France | 1981 | 35mm | 128 min | R16
Huppert and Philippe Noiret star in Tavernier’s inspired adaptation of Jim Thompson’s pulp novel Pop. 1280. This striking neo-noir straddles the line between violence and lyricism with dark humour and visual
elegance. “Tough, smart, and marvellously unpredictable.” – Time
Tuesday 29 March World Cinema Classics
7:30 pm JOURNEY IN ITALY Viaggio in Italia
Roberto Rossellini | Italy | 1953 | DV | 85 min | PG
“A trip to Italy opens up long-festering emotional wounds for a seemingly happy couple in Rossellini’s
fascinating film, long acclaimed as the key link between Italian neorealism and the modernist, subjective
cinema of the early sixties.” – Jason Sanders
Wednesday 06 April Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm BREACH
Billy Ray | USA | 2007 | 110 minutes
A rookie agent must spy on his intimidating superior in this suspense-laden thriller set in the headquarters
of the FBI. "Filled with tension, deception and bravura acting, Breach is a crackling tale of real-life
espionage and a compelling psychological drama." - LA Times
Wednesday 13 April Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW LION
Tom Peosay | USA | 2003 | 35mm | 104 min | M content may disturb
“An impeccably made, often moving account of the captive nation Tibet, forcibly annexed by China more than 50 years ago… Peosay’s film functions as both a breathtaking travelogue and a political provocation… A more concise and affecting summation would be hard to imagine.” – New York Times
Wednesday 20 April World Cinema Classics
7:30 pm SANSHO THE BAILIFF Sansho dayu
Mizoguchi Kenji | Japan | 1954 | DV | 123 min | PG violence
“A heart-rending melodrama in which the members of an exiled governor’s family are forcibly separated, the wife becoming a courtesan and the children slaves to the ruthless Sansho… Mizoguchi’s total mastery of composition and movement… make it one of Japanese cinema’s supreme masterpieces.” – Sight & Sound
Tuesday 26 April Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm SÉRAPHINE
Martin Provost | France | 2008 | 125 minutes
A moving dramatised portrait of the French 'naiive' painter Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a housemaid
whose artistic talents were discovered by an art-critic friend of her employer. - Winner of seven César
Awards in 2009, including Best Film and Best Actress
Wednesday 4 May French Connections
7:30 pm LE DOULOSThe Finger Man
Jean-Pierre Melville | France | 1962 | 35mm | 108 min | M violence, sexual references, offensive language
Melville’s most influential film, this hard-boiled crime classic stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, who may or may not be a police informant. “Terrific performances, and equally terrific camerawork… conjure a rivetingly treacherous, twilight world.” – Time Out
WORLD CINEMA SHOWCASE, Dunedin 06-18 May
Wednesday 25 May Women's Stories
7:30 pm WENDY AND LUCY
Kelly Reichardt | USA | 2008 | 35mm | 80 min | M offensive language
Michelle Williams stars as a young woman passing through the Pacific Northwest who loses her way – and her dog – in this deceptively simple film. “A lucid and melancholy inquiry into the current state of American society.” – New York Times
PEDRO COSTA
Few movies are as concretely rooted in physical reality or as profoundly attentive to their social context as Mr Costa’s. Staking out a radical middle between documentary and fiction, he has invented a heroic and quite literal form of arte povera, a monumental cinema of humble means. – New York Times
One of the most important artists on the international film scene today. – GreenCine
Wednesday 01 June Pedro Costa
7:30 pm COLOSSAL YOUTH Juventude em marcha
Pedro Costa | Portugal | 2006 | 35mm | 155 min | cert tbc
Costa revisits the Lisbon slums for the hypnotic, mysterious final film in the trilogy in which he follows Ventura, a Cape Verdean labourer who moves from his dilapidated home to a new housing complex. “A richer, more daring and compelling work is unimaginable.” – Cinemathèque Ontario
UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO INTER-SEMESTER BREAK
Wednesday 13 July Documentaries from Canada
7:30 pm McLUHAN'S WAKE
Kevin McMahon | Canada | 2002 | DV | 94 min
Media philosopher Marshall McLuhan was the 1960s’ hippest intellectual, coining the phrase ‘the medium is the message’ and inventing the concept of the global village. This elegant and visually elaborate documentary interrogates his work and investigates its pertinence for today’s connected world.
NEW ZEALAND
With the unexpected death of the great documentary maker Merata Mita on 31 May 2010, New Zealand lost the last member of its first generation of Maori directors. As a tribute to this illustrious group of motion picture pioneers, we have decided to include two of their most celebrated works in our 2011 programme, Merata Mita’s Patu! and Barry Barclay’s Ngati.
Wednesday 20 July New Zealand*
7:30 pm NGATI New Zealand
Barry Barclay | New Zealand | 1987 | 35mm | 93 min | PG coarse language
Barclay’s first feature film was a landmark as the first written and directed by Maori and is now something of a classic. The film follows a young doctor who discovers his Kiwi roots on a visit to a tiny Maori settlement on the East Coast where his father used to practise.
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation.
Tuesday 26 July Documentaries from Canada
7:30 pm THE STRANGEST DREAM
Eric Bednarski | Canada | 2008 | DV | 89 min
A profile of nuclear physicist Joseph Rotblat, the only member of the Manhattan Project to resign on moral grounds. The film traces Rotblat’s career as he goes from designing atom bombs to researching medical uses for radiation and campaigning against nuclear proliferation.
Wednesday 03 August Germany: Looking East *
7:30 pm THE WOMAN WITH THE FIVE ELEPHANTS Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten
Vadim Jendreyko | Switzerland/Germany | 2009 | 35mm | 93 min
Eighty-five-year-old Svetlana Geier is perhaps the greatest translator of Russian literature into German. This erudite documentary about her passion for literature gracefully unfolds to encompass a great sweep of history. “Compelling, moving and thought-provoking.” – Hollywood Reporter
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation.
NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2011, Dunedin 05-21 August
Wednesday 24 August Germany: Looking East *
7:30 pm THE CENTER Die Mitte
Stanislaw Mucha | Germany | 2004 | 35mm | 85 min
“Where exactly is the centre of Europe? Mucha and his crew travel around the continent examining the conflicting – and often hilarious – claims of over a dozen towns in half a dozen countries.” – Festival des
Films du Monde
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation.
Tuesday 30 August Ernst Lubitsch*
7:30 pm WILDCAT
Ernest Lubitsch | Germany | 1921 | 81 minutes
Silent diva Pola Negri stars in this surreally unhinged comedy as the fierce bandit-princess, Rishka aka the Wildcat. Lubitsch mercilessly parodies the military in their incompetent attempts to combat Rishka’s bandits. The Wildcat is probably the closest silent comedy came to the anarchic spirit of Monty Python.
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation.
Wednesday 07 September Ernst Lubitsch*
7:30 pm ERNST LUBITSCH IN BERLIN
Robert Fischer | Germany | 2006 | DV | 110 min
A documentary about Lubitsch’s early career in Berlin, featuring rare film clips, photographs, and newsreel footage, along with interviews with Lubitsch’s daughter, current German comedy directors, and noted film historians, tracing the genesis of the famous ‘Lubitsch touch’.
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation.
Wednesday 14 September Out of the Vaults-Bonus Lubitsch Classic
7:30 pm THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
Ernst Lubitsch | USA | 1940 | 35mm | 97 min | PG
Lubitsch applies his elegant ‘touch’ to this classic Hollywood comedy. Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart play sparring co-workers in a Budapest emporium who are unwitting lonely-hearts pen pals.
Wednesday 21 September New Zealand*
7:30 pm PATU!
Merata Mita | New Zealand 1983 | 16mm | 113 min | PG
As thousands took to the streets in protest at the 1981 Springbok Tour, battalions of filmmakers and photographers recorded their confrontations with police and rugby diehards. Thirty years on, Merata Mita’s assemblage of this footage remains an incredibly persuasive and thoroughly essential document.
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation
Tuesday 27 September Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Mike Leigh | UK | 2008 | DV | 110 min | M violence, offensive language
This captivating comedy revolves around Poppy, an irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher played by Sally Hawkins. “Leigh and his actors work mysterious magic…This is a movie about hitting the groove of everyday life and, nearly miraculously, getting music out of it.”-Salon
Wednesday 05 October Out of the Vaults
7:30 pm THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES Nran gouyne
Sergei Paradjanov | USSR | 1969 | 35mm | 125 min | GA
This extraordinary film traces the life of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat Nova (“The King of Song”) through a series of painterly images that have been strung together to form tableaux corresponding to moments of his life. “The result is a stream of religious, poetic and local iconography which has an arcane and astonishing beauty.”-2009 Time Out Film Guide
Wednesday 12 October New Zealand*
7:30 pm CAREFUL WITH THOSE KIDS
New Zealand | 2008-2010 | 35mm | 68 min total | PG violence, offensive language
This collection of recent NZ shorts features Kiwi kids who get up to no good in amusing and disturbing ways. With the award-winning hilarity of The Six Dollar Fifty Man and the Hitchcockian precision of the ever-suspenseful Careful… series.
*Casual admission will be possible, in exchange for a small donation
Tuesday 18 October Contemporary World Cinema
7:30 pm MEMORIES OF MURDER Sarin ui chu-eok
Bong Joon-ho | South Korea | 2003 | DV | 127 min | R16 violence, offensive language, sex scenes
A superb and suspenseful serial killer mystery. "Fundamentally serious - and achingly moving, especially in its closing scenes - the film is also grimly funny and quite deeply shocking. A triumph, it places Bong at the forefront of Korean cinema." - Tony Rayns |
