CINEMA REBORN JUNE NEWSLETTER - Dates for 2025, Links to Reviews and Reports, Im Kwon-taek Webinar on YouTube

A huge shout out to everyone who came out for Cinema Reborn 2024. Cinema Reborn has come quite a way since 2018 when it screened at AFTRS and had seventeen sessions and 770 admissions. This year Cinema Reborn screened in two cities, with seventeen titles screened over 65 sessions. All up there were 3422 admissions.   Among the successes was LE SAMOURAI  which has now been taken up for commercial screenings at the Randwick Ritz, the Hawthorn Lido and the Elsternwick Classic beginning on 27 June. If you missed Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 neo-noir masterpiece just head for the websites of the various cinemas mentioned and book now. Here is a link to an appreciation of the film by Janice Tong written after she saw the film at the Ritz in the recent season.  

CINEMA REBORN 2025

Lock in the dates now. Sydney Cinema Reborn will take place from 30 April-6 May at the Randwick Ritz. Melbourne screenings will be from 8-13 May at the Hawthorn Lido.

 

IM KWON-TAEK, KOREAN CINEMA AND KOREAN FILM CONSERVATION – A CINEMA REBORN WEBINAR

Now that the screenings of SOPYONJE (above poster)  and, in Sydney only, three more Im Kwon-taek films have been completed, here's a chance to learn a whole lot more  about the current state of Korean cinema by watching the recording of the Webinar organised by Cinema Reborn in conjunction with the Korean Cultural Centre of Sydney. The seminar was chaired by Russell Edwards and participants included Darcy Paquet, Quentin Turnour and Professor Kim Hyung-hyun. The subject is "Im Kwon-taek and Korean Film Restoration".

 

A recording of the webinar has now been posted on YouTube and you can find it if you click here

 

CINEMA REBORN SOCIAL MEDIA

Throughout the year Cinema Reborn posts on its Facebook page. There are news items, links to retrospective screenings and restorations plus lots of bits and pieces. You can keep up to date if you click on the page and click to Follow. We also have Twitter and Instagram accounts which give you lots of news in the lead up to each annual season.

 

THE GOLDEN COACH

Our screenings of Jean Renoir’s wonderful film were preceded by a couple of very heartfelt introductions. Both delved back into when they first saw the film and the effect it had. You can read  Peter Hourigan's memories  and Margot Nash's if you click on the links. 

 

IL CINEMA RITROVATO

The Cineteca di Bologna started its wonderful vent way back in 1987. Now in its 38^th year it will be taking over the city from 22-29 June. Click on this link for an amazing photo of the crowd that gathers every night at 10.00 pm in the piazza to top off a day of dozens of screenings in half a dozen cinemas. Scroll down to see the treats in store.

 

CINEMA REBORN REPORTS AND REVIEWS

You may have missed these so here’s a list of the media we noticed reporting on Cinema Reborn 2024.

Camille Scaysbrook's blog reviewing Midnight, The Suspect, I Know Where I’m Going and The Golden Coach

Alex Williams on I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! on the Roughcut blog

Charles Carrall interviews Philip Brophy on the Roughcut blog

Jason Di Rosso’s conversation with Philip Brophy about Body Melt

Honi Soit reviews (click on the individual title) of The Suspect  I Know Where I'm Going! Yeelen The Golden Coach Il Grido Journey to the End of Night Ishanou La Captive  Light Years The Dupes and Midnight          

Digby Houghton's report on Kinotopia

John McDonald's notes introducing I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!     

CINEMA REBORN UPDATE - MIDNIGHT, PLAN YOUR PROGRAM, WHO'S DOING THE INTRODUCTIONS

John Barrymore, Claudette Colbert, MIDNIGHT

People are still talking about the magnificent occasion in Ritz Cinema One watching Mitchell Leisen’s Midnight after hearing another of CJ Johnson’s  rousing introductions. That intro had the assembled audience spinning… 

Expat David Hare who has timed a visit to Australia to coincide with this year's Cinema Reborn season posted this on Facebook yesterday and it has to be shared.  "A huge tick for last night's opening screening for Cinema Reborn in Sydney of MIDNIGHT.

"After all these years since a slim DVD release in 2008 it's been a long wait for a more substantial premium release. The new 4K DCP which has been derived from original nitrate elements including the OCN is astonishingly beautiful. The deep blacks shine and glimmer and film grain abounds lusciously. Even the actors' wardrobe has never looked so tailored and literally tactile. The image quality is absolutely peak level Universal restoration team. Needless to say, watching this masterpiece with a near full-house was an additional pleasure after so many decades of personal viewing. The picture still remains my top film of 1939. So flawless is the cast, Wilder and Brackett's screenplay, Charles Lang's sumptuous B&W photography and Leisen's effortless control of tone. This and Remember the Night are the director's untouchable masterpieces

"Bravo Cinema Reborn 2024"

There is one more screening in Sydney Book here for  the Ritz on Monday 5 May at 10.30 am 

Biggest thanks of course to Universal Pictures who put in the hard yards and the money to restore this screwball comedy gem from 1939.

 

Brooke Adams, DAYS OF HEAVEN

Meanwhile there is a massive weekend of premieres and special occasions coming up. The Saturday night screenings of Le Samourai  and Days of Heaven  are selling fast  but there are plenty of tickets for the repeat screenings on Monday and Tuesday evening, both of which will be on the big screen of the Ritz’ Cinema One.

 

If you want to see the lineup and plan your Friday to Sunday viewing we’ve put up a page on the Cinema Reborn website which sets out the program day by day and hour by hour. A click on each film takes you through to the comprehensive program notes and links to bookings.

 

Finally we have to mention that today and over the weekend each of the films will have an introduction to set the scene. Here’s who will be doing the honours.

 

Philip Brophy will introduce JOURNEY TO THE END OF NIGHT

Helen Grace will introduce LA CAPTIVE

Jane Mills and Philip Brophy will introduce Philip’s classic shocker BODY MELT

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur will introduce via video ISHANOU

Russell Edwards and Professor Kim Hong Joon by video will introduce SOPYONJE

Noa Steimatsky will introduce IL GRIDO       

Lynden Barber will introduce DAYS OF HEAVEN

Bruce Beresford will introduce LE SAMOURAI

Bruce Koussaba will introduce YEELEN

Lucia Sorbera will introduce THE DUPES

Kathryn Millard will introduce LIGHT YEARS and do a follow on Q&A with Sandy Edwards

John McDonald will introduce I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING!

Margot Nash will introduce THE GOLDEN COACH

 

We hope you’ll find something to like amongst this year’s collection of restored classics.

Next week it's Melbourne's turn at the Hawthorn Lido. More details to follow...

CINEMA REBORN UPDATE - SESSIONS ON THE BIGGEST SCREEN - AUSTRALIAN CLASSICS

ON THE BIG SCREEN AT THE RITZ

 

Most of Cinema Reborn’s screenings will take place in the Ritz’s Cinema 5. It has over 200 seats and includes a stalls and a balcony section. It offers excellent viewing.

 

However, three sessions of our 2024 season will be screened in the Ritz’s pride of place the 700 seat Cinema 1 with its huge screen and excellent sightlines both upstairs in the balcony section and downstairs in the stalls.

 

The three sessions in Cinema 1 are:

 

MIDNIGHT 7.00 PM ON WEDNESDAY 1 MAY.

 

Our opening program (regular ticket prices) is the World Premiere of Mitchell Leisen’s classic 1939 screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore and Don Ameche. “One of the liveliest, gayest, wittiest and naughtiest comedies of a long hard season” wrote Frank Nugent in the New York Times way back in 1939. To that you can add David Thomson just a year or so ago who said “yes it’s a great script (by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett) but it’s a great script rendered with terrific feeling and panache (by Mitchell Leisen). 

 

Bookings for this session at this link

 

DAYS OF HEAVEN 8.15 PM ON MONDAY 6 MAY

 

Terrence Malick’s 1978 story of migrant workers fleeing west in 1915 has been called by Michel Ciment of Positif  ‘one of the most original, complex films in the contemporary cinema”.  Those who have seen the 4K restoration are still marvelling at the extraordinary qualities of Nestor Almendros’s Oscar-winning golden hour photography.

 

Bookings for this session at this link

 

LE SAMOURAI 8.15 PM ON TUESDAY 7 MAY

 

John Woo is one of many directors in awe of this film. He called it “the closest to a perfect movie I have ever seen.”  It has taken Cinema Reborn several years of asking before we finally got the rights to screen the superb 4K restoration. Seeing it on the biggest screen possible will be a fitting finale to our 2024 season.

 

Bookings for this session at this link

 

A FINAL SHOUT OUT FOR OUR AUSTRALIAN CINEMA SELECTION FOR 2024.

 

All told we are screening four Australian programs – two classic documentaries LIGHT YEARS from 1991, Kathryn Millard’s superb portrait of the great photographer Olive Cotton (above), a session which will include a post-film conversation and Q&A with Kathryn and eminent photographer Sandy Edwards at the session at 2.30 pm on Sunday 5 May. The second doco is Peter Tammer’s JOURNEY TO THE END OF NIGHT, from 1982 described by Phillip Adams as “vivid as any chronicle of war you will ever see”.  Melbourne film-maker Philip Brophy will be introducing the film at 4.45 pm on Friday 3 May.

 

Then we have two rather divergent titles from the national film heritage. First up is the World Premiere of the restoration of THREE TO GO a remarkable portmanteau from 1971 of three short films by then young directors Peter Weir, Oliver Howes and Brian Hannant. Also screening is an early short by Peter Weir 3 DIRECTIONS IN AUSTRALIAN POP MUSIC. Both films have been preserved by the National Archives of Australia. Richard Brennan who worked as Production Manager on THREE TO GO will do the introduction

 

Finally there is the cult classic and maybe the most overlooked Australian movie of the 90s BODY MELT, Quentin Tarantino’s favourite Oz movie of the time. BODY MELT is having its first screening in Sydney in over 30 years, in our first Friday Night Fright slot. Director Philip Brophy is coming up from Melbourne especially for the screening and will introduce the film along with scholar, critic and cinephile Jane Mills.

 

Click on the film titles to go through to the Ritz booking page or just roll up at the door.

 

AND IN THE MEANTIME

The Cinema Reborn 2024 page on the website of the Australian Cultural Fund enables our supporters to make a tax-deductible donation. All donations great and small are very welcome. The Australian Cultural Fund page can be found If You Click Here

CINEMA REBORN UPDATE - FULL PROGRAM NOTES ON THE WEBSITE, HONI SOIT REVIEWS

Things are falling into place as the digital files of our films start to arrive in Australia. It’s a complex business of delivery, with a huge amount of protection against piracy needing to be employed by both our suppliers and the cinemas we screen in. We’re fortunate that the terrific people at Jorr in Port Melbourne and the staff at the Ritz and Lido Cinemas give our stuff a great deal of attention. 

 

FULL PROGRAM NOTES POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE

Meanwhile we can report that our website has now got all the information you need to seriously consider all of the 2024 program. Long notes by John Baxter, Digby Houghton, Adrian Martin, Bruce Hodsdon, Janice Tong, Anjali Monteiro & K.P. Jayasankar, Darcy Paquet, David James, Russell Edwards, Quentin Turnour, Jane Mills, Anne Rutherford, Helen Goritsas, Rod Bishop,Tony Rayns, Lucia Sorbera, Eloise Ross and Adrian Danks have now been published and await eager readers. You can find them at https://cinemareborn.com.au/ when you click though to the 2024 program and then open up the page for each film.

 

HONI SOIT REVIEWS

Meanwhile we’ve been delighted to cooperate with the University of Sydney newspaper Honi Soit to allow a whole bunch enthusiastic young cinephiles to write some quite formidable reviews of some of the films in the 2024 program. So far these below have been published and we understand there are more to come. Very good reading.

 

Hilary Sutanto on ISHANOU

Madison Burland on LA CAPTIVE

Charlie Vlies Lawrence on LIGHT YEARS

Iris Brown on THE DUPES

Leanne Rook on MIDNIGHT

 

BOOKINGS AND SESSION TIMES

Advance bookings are open for the entire program at both the Ritz and Lido websites. Cinema Reborn charges regular cinema admission prices including for our Opening, Closing and Saturday Night Special sessions. The usual concessions are available via the theatre club membership which you can access via their websites and join online.

 

CHARITABLE DONATIONS

And as always… The Cinema Reborn 2024 page on the website of the Australian Cultural Fund enables our supporters to make a tax-deductible donation. All donations great and small are very welcome. The Australian Cultural Fund page can be found If You Click Here