Catalogue

Citizen Kane

Dir. by Orson Welles | 1941 | 119 mins | PG

2K DCP digital format now available and also on 35mm print

Orson Welles’ greatest film! A group of reporters are trying to decipher the last word ever spoke by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: “Rosebud”. A sophisticated classic masterpiece!

The Trouble With Being Born

Dir. Sandra Wollner | Austria/Germany 2020 | 94 min | Drama/ Sci-Fi

Elli is an android and lives with a man she calls her father.   Together they drift through the summer. She shares his memories and anything else he programs her to recall. Memories that mean everything to him but nothing to her. Yet, one night she sets off into the woods following a fading echo.  The story of a machine and the ghosts we all carry within us.

It Must Be Heaven

Dir. Elia Suleiman | 97 mins | Comedy | Palestine 2019 | M in Aus | PG in NZ

Elia Suleiman escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home.

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Screwdriver

After fifteen years of imprisonment, Ziad struggles to adjust to modern Palestinian life as the hero everyone hails him to be. Unable to distinguish reality from hallucination he unravels and forces himself to go back to where it all began.

Working Woman

Dir. Michal Aviad, (female director) Israel 2018 | 93 min | Drama

Life at work becomes unbearable for Orna. Her boss appreciates and promotes her, while making inappropriate advances. Her husband struggles to keep his new restaurant afloat, and Orna becomes the main breadwinner for their three children. When her world is finally shattered, she must pull herself together to fight, in her own way, for her job and a sense of self-worth.

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The Third Wife

Dir. Ash Mayfair | Vietnam. 2018. | 97 min | Drama | MA 15+

In 19th-century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy landowner Hung. Soon, she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May’s hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love and its devastating consequences, May finally comes to an understanding of the brutal truth: the options available to her are few and far between.

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Wajib – The Wedding Invitation

(M) Dir. by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine, France, Germany, Colombia, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, 2017. 96 min | Drama

Writer-director Annemarie Jacir’s multi-award winning comic drama explores the lives of Palestinians living in Israel, and stars real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri. The title of Wajib translates as ‘duty’, and it’s duty that brings architect Shadi (Saleh Bakri) from Rome back to Nazareth, where his sister Amal (Maria Zriek) is to be married. Local tradition dictates that Shadi and his divorced dad, Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri), must drive around town delivering wedding invitations. Friction is in the air even before the duo clamber into Abu Shadi’s beloved and beaten-up old Volvo. Shadi thinks the exercise is outdated and meaningless. For his father, it’s about maintaining important community rituals. Bakri and son Saleh are terrific and earthily funny as the bickering duo who meet colourful characters on their cross-city travels. A Palestinian born in Bethlehem, raised in Saudi Arabia and educated in New York, Annemarie Jacir (Salt of this Sea, 2008; When I Saw You, 2012) brings a worldly, wise and witty eye to this hugely entertaining and illuminating slice of Palestinian life.

Bad Blood

(MA) Dir. David Pulbrook, Australia , 2017. 90 min | Thriller
Carrie is in love with her new fiancé Vincent, a handsome and successful author. Vincent is besotted with Carrie, she’s everything he’s ever dreamed of. However, he’s harbouring a dark secret from his past and on top of that he’s experiencing a series of strange daily occurrences. It’s almost as if someone is following his every move. Who’s following him? And what do they want? When Vincent asks Carrie on a romantic weekend away to celebrate their engagement, cracks start appearing that threaten their happy and secure relationship. And maybe even their lives. Bad Blood stars Xavier Samuel and Morgan Griffin.

Two Bits

(PG) Dir. James Foley, USA, 1995, 85 min | Drama
A day to remember…Al Pacino stars in this heartwarming critically acclaimed movie about a boy, his grandfather and the lucky quarter that brings them together. Gennaro is a youngster who will do anything to earn “two-bits” (a quarter – 25 cents) to get into the brand new neighbourhood movie theatre.

The Magnificent Ambersons

(PG) Dir. Orson Welles, USA, 1942. 88 min | Drama, Romance
35mm print available.
Orson Welles’ acclaimed drama follows two generations in a well-to-do Indianapolis family. Isabel Amberson receives a proposal from dashing Eugene, but opts instead to marry boring Wilbur. Time passes, and Wilbur and Isabel’s only son, George, is loathed as a controlling figure in the town. When Wilbur dies, Eugene again proposes to Isabel, but George threatens the union.

Nahid

(M) Dir. Ida Panahandeh, Iran, 2015. 105 min | Drama
Winner Un Certain Regard Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Avenir Prize. A young divorcee living with her son in a small northern city of Iran, wants to marry the man she has fallen in love with. According to the current rules, the father has the custody of children; however, her ex-husband has granted her that right on the condition that she doesn’t remarry. Struggling to keep both of her beloved ones, she has to think about the third option: Temporary Marriage (Sighe). However, this will get her into a predicament, as despite its being legal, Sighe is not well-received by the society at all. Would temporary marriage be a good solution for her?

Wednesday, May 9

(M) Dir. Vahid Jalilvand, Iran, 2015. 102 min | Drama
Why would someone give money away? What sort of consolation can that offer? On May 9, Jayal Ashtiyani, a teacher, has offered to provide a significant sum of money to a worthy person in need. His advertisement in the local Tehran newspaper has encouraged people to come to his office and make a convincing appeal. But how will he, and the police, deal with the throngs of needy candidates who assemble? How does he decide who’s actually the most worthy?

Neon Bull

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro | Brazil 2016 | 101 min

Wild, sensual and utterly transporting, Brazilian writer-director Gabriel Mascaro’s second fiction feature unfolds within the world of the vaquejada, a traditional exhibition sport in which cowboys try to pull bulls to the ground by their tails. Neon Bull explores the vaquejada through the eyes of Iremar (Juliano Cazarré), a handsome cowboy who works the events. While he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, Iremar’s real dream is to design exotic outfits for dancers.

X

(MA) Dir. Jon Hewitt, Australia, 2011. 85 min | Drama, Thriller
A high-class escort and a fledgling hooker find themselves on an out-of-control rollercoaster ride through the seedy clubs, strip joints and back alleys of Kings Cross. If they can get through the night, they might just have a chance at a fresh start. Stars Viva Bianca (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) and Hanna Mangan-Lawrence (Acolytes, The Square).